Univ. of Louisville AD Tom Jurich has "warned city leaders looking to restructure the KFC Yum! Center’s deal, saying the school will stop playing at the downtown arena if it continues to feel unwanted," according to a front-page piece by Phillip Bailey of the Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL. Jurich appeared on WLOU-AM's "D&D Spill the Tea" on Saturday morning and said, "If they don’t want us in there just tell us -- we’ll leave.” Jurich suggested that UL "could build its own arena on the Belknap campus where 22 silos once stood." The comments were his "first public statements since a measure was filed in Metro Council calling on the city's partners to do more financially" to deal with $690M in outstanding construction bonds on the arena and "days after some members said the Yum Center’s lease agreement favors the university." Jurich indicated that UL would "help with any problems associated with the arena's debt, 'but I don’t want to be the only one that helps.'" He then said that it is clear UL "isn't wanted downtown even though the Yum Center has been an economic boon for the central business district." When station co-host and former Metro Council member Denise Bentley said that it would be disastrous if UL abandoned the arena, Jurich interrupted: “Well, I think we should. I don’t think we’re wanted down there, so I think we should" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 12/7). Jurich said that he "never was comfortable with U of L's teams moving downtown, but acquiesced to help the city and other Yum Center stakeholders once it was agreed that the women's basketball team could share the facility with the men's team." Jurich: "I never wanted to go downtown. I love downtown, but I wanted to build it on the campus. I wanted to build it on the silo site" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 12/6).
