Lexington Mayor Jim Gray yesterday said that he “will ask for about $20 million from the General Assembly in the upcoming legislative session to start working on potential changes to the Rupp Arena district, but that request won't be backed by Rupp's main tenant, the University of Kentucky,” according to Linda Blackford of the LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER. UK President Eli Capilouto yesterday said that he will “not support state funding for the project because it would compete for state funding with building projects on campus.” Capilouto: "My focus is the core of our campus and that has to be our priority, and we can't be involved in something that competes for what we see as our priority: educating the next generation of Kentuckians.” Gray in a statement yesterday “emphasized the integral partnership between UK and Lexington, and his opinion that the proposed Arena, Arts and Entertainment District will support the school.” The Rupp Arena task force is “considering replacing or renovating city-owned Rupp Arena, and possibly creating an arts and entertainment district in the neighborhood around Rupp.” A consultant is expected to “make a final recommendation in January about whether to replace or renovate" the facility. Blackford notes there has been “little discussion about how such a project would be financed.” Gray said that Rupp would be “the centerpiece of the Arena, Arts and Entertainment District, but the entire district was about more than Rupp.” Capilouto said that UK “would remain involved in discussions about Rupp, particularly from the perspective of a long-term lease-holder.” But he has said that “future athletics facilities should be self-financed” (LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER, 12/13).
ON THE SAME PAGE: In Louisville, Kyle Tucker notes a joint statement from Capilouto, UK AD Mitch Barnhart and men's basketball coach John Calipari “referenced a ‘challenging economy’ and the school community needing to be ‘unified’ in pursuit of ‘finite state dollars.’” Calipari yesterday on his radio show said, “The premise of that message is basically there's only so much money in this state. And let me just ask you all here, if it’s a choice between good dorms, up-to-date classrooms, fixing up our campus, or re-doing Rupp, where do you think the money should go? I think the classrooms and dorms and all. That’s what I believe.” Tucker writes now the question is “whether -- and if so, how -- the city of Lexington can fund any major arena project without UK’s support.” The city’s feasibility study estimated a renovation of Rupp “would cost between $110 million and $130 million compared to a price tag of $300 million to $325 million for a new building” (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 12/13).
