University of Kentucky can’t move ticket holders’ seats after Rupp renovation, judge rules
A Franklin Circuit judge has stopped the University of Kentucky from changing the seats of two UK men’s basketball ticket holders. Under a proposed change, those tickets would have been given away to the highest bidder.
Judge Phillip Shepherd granted the order to John Meyers and Kathy Walker. Both of them sued UK after they were told they would lose their current tickets and get new ones handed out in order of donations to the K Fund, a sports booster organization.
In January, UK told 178 lower arena and courtside ticket holders that aging infrastructure required them to rebuild the risers, which would change the configuration of seats. Everyone would still get tickets, but each ticketholder would pick where they now wanted to sit based on the K Fund Priority list. The deadline was to be Friday, March 29 at 5 p.m.
According to the order, UK can proceed with the renovations, but they cannot give away Meyers’ or Walker’s tickets.
Meyers and Walker both had worked out deals for lifetime donations in exchange for lifetime tickets.
Shepherd did not rule on whether those agreements constitute contracts. But he wrote, “the Plaintiffs raise a substantial question whether they have a valid, enforceable contract under KRS 45A.245 that is outside the scope of sovereign immunity, and whether those contracts were breached by UK when it moved forward with its plan to perform a seat reconfiguration by sending each of the Plaintiffs their respective ‘Happy New Year’ letters about the new seat selection process.”
Shepherd said UK has shown renewal terms in annual letters that tickets are a license and not a property right. But “that does not negate the fact the Plaintiffs have offered proof sufficient to show a substantial possibility that there are enforceable, written contracts that fall outside the scope of sovereign immunity,” he wrote. “Likewise, Plaintiffs have shown that UK has followed a long tradition of providing season ticket holders with lifetime assignments of particular seats, and event the ability to transfer those seats to a spouse or child, over the course of a lifetime.”
He will rule on the matter of contracts at a later date. The judge also ordered the two parties to go to mediation over the matter.
“We’re delighted with the ruling,” said Joe Childers, attorney for Meyers and Walker. “This does not prevent the university and Lexington Center from going forward with planned renovations for safety reasons. The only thing the judge has done is taken these six tickets out the mix and said these are reserved for John Meyers and Kathy Walker.”
The renovation affects about 178 ticketholders with 536 seats. The changes would affect even former basketball players who have a special deal on basketball tickets. It’s not clear if others will join the current lawsuit.
“We’re reviewing the decision and considering the options,” said UK spokeswoman Kristi Willett.
