Kentucky-based Central Bank has will become the first corporation to put its name on the Univ. of Kentucky's Rupp Arena after it "agreed to pay about $20 million over 14 years for the naming rights" to Lexington Center, which includes the basketball venue, according to Beth Musgrave of the LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER. The deal, which will officially rename the building Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center, will "help pay for" a more than $275M expansion of the convention center. Rupp Arena as part of the renovations will "get a new glass and metal exterior and four new hospitality suites for UK men’s basketball games" (LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER, 1/16). In Louisville, Jon Hale notes an agreement between UK and the Lexington Center Corporation agreed to in February '18 stated that the two parties would not change Rupp Arena’s name, though it "did open the door to sell corporate naming rights for the convention center" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 1/16). The naming-rights deal is between Central Bank and JMI Sports, UK's multimedia rights partner. The partnership is the third naming-rights deal that JMI Sports has signed for UK (Lexington Center).
