How much does the new Rupp Arena court cost? And what will happen to the ‘old’ one?
The Tayshaun Prince Game. The return of Rick Pitino. Victories over No. 1-ranked teams, winning streaks that spanned multiple seasons and the footfalls of national champions.
The court that’s currently on the floor in Rupp Arena has been home to more than two decades of Kentucky basketball memories. And it was the playing surface for the Wildcats for the final time Tuesday night.
UK’s game against Miami marked the last game the Cats will play on the Rupp Arena court. This edition of it, at least. The playing surface that was first installed in 2001 will be permanently replaced before Saturday’s game against UNC Wilmington, giving way to a new court — the third iteration in the current home of Kentucky basketball.
UK revealed earlier this month that Rupp Arena would be getting a new court for the first time in 22 years. The floor that has hosted the Wildcats and their opponents since the 2001-02 season was nearing the end of its lifespan, according to Brian Sipe, the general manager of Central Bank Center, which includes Rupp Arena.
As part of its contract with UK, the Lexington Center Corporation, which manages and maintains Rupp Arena, is responsible for the playing surface, and Sipe said UK last year requested a new court to debut during the 2023-24 season. He said the current court has been refinished every couple of years since its installation, but there’s a limited number of times that kind of work can be done on a playing surface, and this one was down to its final refinish.
The original announcement from UK featured a first look at the design of the new court. Such a massive change is not always well met — to put it mildly — in the world of social media, but the response here seemed to be fairly universal.
“I think all the press about it — and all the social media comments — were just about how cool it looks,” Sipe said. “And I think there’s a general excitement. I haven’t heard anything negative. So that’s a good thing, right?”
Two features of the current court that often drew the ire of Kentucky fans will be gone this weekend.
The checkerboard pattern that was visible on the sidelines and baselines is no more. That space will now be painted a solid “Kentucky Blue.” And the rebranding to “Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center” that took place before the 2020-21 season included the addition of two prominent logos — derisively referred to as “bumper stickers” by some fans — with that wording. The new “Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center” logos are more discreet and in line with the overall design of the court.
Markers honoring late Kentucky basketball legends Cawood Ledford and Bill Keightley will be maintained in the new design, which also includes a feature that is at least partly responsible for the positive reviews: a contrasting wood stain outline of the state of Kentucky that stretches across more than half of the playing surface.
Sipe said the design and implementation was a collaboration between UK Athletics and Robbins Sports Surfaces, the company that actually built the new playing surface.
“We’re kind of the facilitator, per our contract with (UK),” he said. “We have to provide the court. But all of the design, color schemes, everything — all of that goes through the university.”
How much does the Rupp court cost?
The cost of the new court is also covered by the Lexington Center Corporation, and that price tag came out to a little more than $200,000.
An official at Robbins Sports Surfaces told the Herald-Leader that Rupp Arena ordered its “All-Star Plus” court, which was specially customized for the building. The same model is used by half of the teams in the NBA, and it’s billed as the “preferred choice” of top NCAA programs on the company’s website.
The new Rupp Arena court will specifically be made of Northern Hard Maple from Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and the portable surface includes 232 panels that can be removed when Rupp Arena is hosting non-basketball events.
The new floor has been in town for weeks, and it was actually installed in Rupp Arena earlier this month as part of a test run that also served as a training session for the team that will be responsible for changing over the court when other events happen in the building. Part of that test run included drilling into the new court so the basketball goals could be attached for games.
Why now and what’s next for UK’s court?
Why is the new Rupp Arena court being installed now, after the basketball season has already started?
The ongoing renovations at Memorial Coliseum forced the UK volleyball team into Rupp for this season, and — to accommodate the net used in those games — holes had to be drilled into the basketball playing surface, near center court. Officials didn’t want to drill those holes into the new basketball court, so they delayed installation until after volleyball season was finished.
With the SEC champion Wildcats earning the right to host NCAA Tournament games in Lexington this week, the turnaround will be a quick one for the Rupp crew. If Kentucky defeats Wofford in the first round Thursday night, the Cats would host either James Madison or Baylor at 7 p.m. Friday.
The plan is to start removing the current playing surface as soon as UK wraps up its final volleyball game, so a win Thursday would mean work into the wee hours of the following night to get the new basketball court ready for Saturday’s 4 p.m. tipoff against UNC Wilmington.
The Miami game marked the end of an era.
UK actually lost the first game on its new court in 2001 — a 64-52 defeat to Western Kentucky — but plenty of memories were made that season. Tayshaun Prince nailed five consecutive 3-pointers in a 79-59 win over North Carolina in the fifth game on the new court, and once-beloved Rick Pitino — this time playing the villain as Louisville’s first-year head coach — made his return to Rupp three weeks later, coming out on the wrong end of an 82-62 UK victory.
Tubby Smith’s Wildcats beat No. 1-ranked Florida on the surface in 2003. John Calipari’s Cats did the same thing to top-ranked Tennessee 16 years later. In fact, Calipari won his first 54 games as UK’s coach on that court, going undefeated in each of his first three seasons — the final one while leading the eventual 2012 national champions — before losing to Baylor on Dec. 1, 2012.
After Tuesday’s win over Miami, the Wildcats have a 325-45 record on the floor. That total includes the 2,000th win in program history — an 88-44 victory over Drexel on Dec. 21, 2009.
The center court piece from the original maple playing surface that was home to UK from 1976-2001 can still be seen on display in Rupp Arena, but other pieces of that court were sold to UK fans when it was dismantled 22 years ago.
The second Rupp court is likely headed toward a similar fate.
Sipe said his team has been in contact with multiple companies, including Fanatics, that would be able to cut up pieces of the court with the intent of selling them to fans. Those talks are ongoing, but Sipe said he hopes to have an announcement on how fans can purchase a wooden chunk of UK basketball history by the end of the calendar year.
“Because of the prestige of the university’s program, I think a lot of fans would want to own a piece. So we’re trying to figure out the logistics of that.”
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