J Batt believes change can help Kentucky athletics

J Batt is off and running at Kentucky as the new athletics director and Champions Blue, LLC. CEO. There is a ton of work to get done in a college sports landscape continues to change. The new leader in Lexington believes that can be a good thing.

In a 10-minute meeting with the media in Downtown Lexington, Batt discussed a plethora of topics on Monday. The current state of college athletics where things seem to be changing daily and the lack of guardrails is felt almost hourly was quickly brought up. Despite the current Wild West feel to college sports, Batt feels that Kentucky is built to thrive in this current environment due to the current infrastructure in place.

“College athletics is going to continue to change and having a structure that provides the ability to be nimble as it makes those changes is essential,” said Batt. “And Champions Blue, the work that’s already been done to put that in place, it’s ready-made to hit the ground running. Can’t wait to get here and get to work.”

Champions Blue is the holding company that the department moved to last year to give itself more flexibility and ability to generate revenue. There is a board and Batt will work directly with that board along with JMI to get the University of Kentucky athletics department where they need to be in this evolving world. Batt said JMI “does an incredible job” and will be an “incredible asset” for the athletic department. This structure will help UK expand revenue, fund rosters with efficiency, and give the teams in Lexington a legitimate chance to win championships.

J Batt is not scared of change. He is embracing it.

“I think it’s an opportunity. And change in college athletics is an opportunity for us to accelerate through it, Batt said. “And part of why I’m here, part of what’s so exciting about being here, is as that change happens, we’re built to take advantage of that and take ground.”

“Change in college athletics is good for UK athletics. Change in college athletics is good for UK athletics.”

Kentucky’s new leader was hired to enhance revenue and taking the athletic department into a new era. J Batt is quickly embracing that change and seems ready to make a big splash in Lexington.