Rupp Arena’s downtown location makes getting to games tedious for some students on south campus

dent center, which in itself sits across campus from the Woodland Glen dorm buildings, which house hundreds of students.

“Probably the biggest factor is just how far the arena is from campus, but I know that’s not really an easy fix,” senior Tucker Clark said.

The mens basketball team played inside Memorial Coliseum, situated right across the street from the student center, before moving to Rupp Arena in 1976.

While the arena is much farther than Memorial Coliseum, it provided a massive increase in maximum capacity, with Rupp Arena able to hold over 20,000 fans.

Calipari also recognized that there is a limited number of lower-level student tickets, which he cited as part of his motivation to give back to students.

“The reason this building is where it is is so we can take care of season ticket holders and students,” he said. “The issue becomes, alright, we’ve got all these good seats, but we’ve got seats up top. All I’m saying to the students is if you’re here and in this building, we want to do some stuff to reward you.”

It’s also important to mention that, while many students enjoy the eRupption Zone ex- perience, not all fans are in love with its location being right behind the basket.

Unlike several other college basketball arenas that feature student seating behind both baskets, Kentucky’s is only behind one basket, with many students feeling that the location simply doesn’t make sense.

“It doesn’t get rowdy enough at these smaller games,” senior Matthew Just said. “I think a lot could change if they expanded the student section to the lower levels a lot more.”

Another student, sophomore Aaryan Joshi, said he only comes out to games

“So, how do we give students more access, yet not take away from tennis or track or baseball? It’s a hard juggling act.”

At the end of the day, Calipari said he wants students to remember that he is not only at Kentucky for his players, but for the entire student body, even saying that he welcomes students to stop by his office if they want to talk to him or have complaints, though whether or not students could actually do this is uncertain.

Whatever students request for bettering engagement, whether it be shuttles to Rupp Arena, locker room tours, open practice visits or otherwise, Calipari expressed interest in making it happen.

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By Ayden Parece sports@kykernel.com

Kentucky basketball, despite being one of the largest brands in college basketball, has long been criticized for its lack of a true student environment. While there are a variety of factors that could be contributing to the issue, the location of the arena may be near the top, with students, particularly those living on south campus, often complaining about the distance between their dorms and the arena.

“I’d love to get to more basketball games. It was a great atmosphere the one time I went but it’s difficult to find ways there from where I live,” freshman Gus

Howlett said. Howlett is far from the only one to feel this way, though with sophomore Liam Dreesen echoing the sentiment.

“Being a student at UK, I just feel like I should have easier access to be able to go to the games, especially with the best sport on campus being basketball,” he said. “Transportation is one of the most annoying things about Rupp Arena’s location because it’s a pain to walk there, and parking is its own annoyance.”

While the trip from south campus to downtown Lexington may not be too bad for students with proper transportation, Howlett was unsatisfied with the accommodations the university made.

“It’s 100% easier for north campus students to get to Rupp, you can pretty much walk from there,” he said. “Buses won’t take you there. I can’t drive my car because I’ll have to pay for parking.”

Caleb Sloan, a freshman at Kentucky, agreed with Howlett’s sentiment.

“I haven’t been to any basketball games this year actually,” Sloan said. “I love basketball but I don’t want to pay for an Uber on top of the ticket, and I don’t want to walk to get my truck and drive over there.”

While some students may be willing to bite the bullet and pay to park, they’re faced with another task. Students at UK, in large, park at Kroger Field, Kentucky’s football stadium in the complete opposite direction of Rupp Arena.

The trip to Kroger gives students the exact same dilemma: whether or not to walk to Kroger Field or wait on a bus, which students already established were unreliable.

Sophomore Holly Burwig spoke about how, for south campus students, going to a basketball game at all requires prior planning.

“It’s more convenient for people on north campus to attend games,” she said.

“They can kind of go on a whim because Rupp is right there, whereas students that are farther away need to plan more around getting there.”

While students like Bur- wig may be willing to plan ahead to go to games, others, including freshman Cooper Fogle, often just don’t go to games.

“My parents are season ticket holders, but I don’t have a car, so I don’t make it to many games,” Fogle said. “I usually go on the weekends when my parents are able to pick me up.”

While there were students who took a more objective stance, such as sophomore Carson Schirmer, the overwhelming response from students on south campus was that Rupp Arena’s downtown location with no reliable form of transportation, made getting to basketball games unnecessarily tedious and, in some cases, not worth it at all.