Memorial Coliseum

[Henogee1975]

$82,000,000 to renovate. Sounds extreme to me.

 

[kuhlkat]

Gold standard

 

[hoggwildcat]

Inflation

 

[megablue]

Wasn’t the baseball stadium over $50,000,000 ??

 

[Elliott Tim]

$82,000,000 to renovate. Sounds extreme to me.

It's only money.

 

[OHIO COLONEL]

What are they going to do to it? Especially for 82M?

I like the old, original Memorial. A lot of good memories.

 

[true-blue1]

The outside brick at Memorial needs painted or something because it’s so outdated.

 

[ORCAT]

The outside brick at Memorial needs painted or something because it’s so outdated.

I actually like the exterior look of Memorial (classic) but it should be kept up if it starts to show decay.

 

[AllBall]

What are they going to do to it? Especially for 82M?

I like the old, original Memorial. A lot of good memories.

Its already done.

 

[fs-ripcord65]

What are they going to do to it? Especially for 82M?

I like the old, original Memorial. A lot of good memories.

Although I was in Memorial Coliseum in 1952 when the Cuba Cubs won the KHSAA State Basketball Tournament there, I was only 5 years old, and I don't actually remember it. But I vividly remember being in Memorial Coliseum during the 1956 State Tournament, and more particularly do I vividly remember King Kelly Coleman going for 68 points in the Consolation Game on Saturday afternoon against Bell County. Final Score: Wayland 122, Bell County 89. Good memories, indeed ! ! !

 

[megablue]

 

[jc2010]

$82,000,000 to renovate. Sounds extreme to me.

To a guy who bought his first new car and house for less than $100 a month each, it sounds a little pricey. Sounds like enough to build two new ones.

 

[Mr Schwump]

Nay-sayers of the day called it a "white elephant." Said UK would never fill it, LOL. What was it, 11,500 seating capacity originally? Last time I was there was in the '80s I guess, saw a USA HS team that featured Shawn Kemp, Damon Bailey, Richie Farmer et al beat a team of Russians.

 

[StubbornPenny]

So very very much had to be done.

When we signed the SEC network contract it was mandated we have a modern facility.

The electric needed a 100% overhaul. From top to bottom, high voltage access for stages and trucks, to every lamp in the entire place.

Air conditioning needed to be installed. The facility did not have it, so every single bit of duct had to be a brand new run.

All the plumbing redone.

Build a brand new tv studio/control room, space for mobile truck’s and transmitters.

New courts.

Having to do all this within preexisting concrete walls

All this while keeping it open for multiple seasons. I worked at the student center 2012-2015, and we worked a lot of events at memorial. Renovations started in about 2013.

Not to mention COVID happened in between.

It would have been far easier to demolish it and build a new facility, but people would have freaked out. Working backwards in an old building is a nightmare.

So yeah, 82 million isn’t crazy.

 

[Stretch98_rivals101536]

No doubt in my mind that the renovations to Memorial were a major factor in bringing Kenny Brooks to UK.

 

[steelman100]

I wish we would play at least a exhibition game there. What will it seat.

 

[Big Blue Daddy 98]

This renovations were necessary on so many levels. I love old Memorial and have many memories from my time as a student there. However, this was long overdue.

I don’t think many of our fans realize just how amazing the athletics facilities are at UK. I’ve traveled all over the country and been to many of the P5 schools and have seen their facilities. UK is in amazing shape comparatively speaking. This is one more step to assure we stay at the front when it comes to facilities. The only thing really left to do is a possible tennis complex now.

Barnhart is not the favorite of quite a few in here, but he has made UK a very attractive school to all recruits from a facilities standpoint.

I spent an evening with a long time friend and Baylor booster (did his first 2 years as student at UK with me before transferring to Waco) the other evening. I drove him around and showed off the athletics facilities and campus. He was stunned. He also has been all over the country and was floored by how nice things are at UK.

I’m excited to see the newly renovated Memorial and how it helps our programs!

 

[flacat22]

$82,000,000 to renovate. Sounds extreme to me.

Are you signing the check?

 

[steelman100]

I wish we would play at least a exhibition game there. What will it seat.

 

[jeffky]

I wished we still played there Kentucky has a home winning record there that may never broken I believe 114 games

 

[podgejeff_]

I wish we would play at least a exhibition game there. What will it seat.

It only holds a little over 6k after the renovations.

Which means that won't happen.

 

[BStockfan01]

I was in the last game held at memorial. UK v UNLV NIT game the infamous perry stevenson dunk. That was actually a really fun atmosphere

 

[Henogee1975]

Are you signing the check?

Yeah

Actually the explanations make sense, but $82 sounded high that’s all

 

[JRandoUK]

$82,000,000 to renovate. Sounds extreme to me.

Well they’ve been putting back a Mil a year for the last 80 years since they’d done anything to upgrade it so We Good

 

[OHIO COLONEL]

Its already done.

Maybe I'm behind things here. I know that the interior has been redone a number of years ago....but the 82M is already done? The video talks about it starting next month and being done by Fall of '24. Guess I'm missing something.

 

[Elliott Tim]

I wished we still played there Kentucky has a home winning record there that may never broken I believe 114 games

Remarkable!

 

[permdaddy_rivals45705]

Maybe I'm behind things here. I know that the interior has been redone a number of years ago....but the 82M is already done? The video talks about it starting next month and being done by Fall of '24. Guess I'm missing something.

That video is over a year old.