UK Basketball: Annual game in Louisville no longer works for Kentucky

Kentucky is not playing a home game in Louisville this year, and Chris Woolard, UK’s associate athletic director for basketball operatons, says it is just not conducive for the school¿to schedule a game in Freedom Hall in any more.
“That was a very attractive game in past when you had high-profile opponents. It has been harder to get that game with a high-profile opponent in Louisville if Kentucky does not go back to return a game at a neutral site closer to that school. That has changed over the years,” Woolard said. “With Freedom Hall getting older and older, it is a tougher place to host a game. With older buildings, it gets more challenging to host games.
“Then we have not had great success getting into the (KFC)¿Yum!¿Center (where Louisville plays) to host a game. It is something we have looked at. It is a great venue, great building. We enjoyed playing there (In the NCAA tournament). But I’m not sure folks in Louisville or at the Yum! Center want to see Kentucky playing regular season game there.”
He noted that leaves Kentucky with few options when it comes to scheduling an annual game in Louisville as it has done before this season. However, he said that doesn’t mean coach John Calipari is not sensitive to what fans want.
“You have a guy in coach Calipari who does listen to the fans. It is amazing how much he tries to connect or get feedback from Big Blue Nation, whether it is through his Twitter account or Facebook,” Woolard said.
“Maybe at some point we will be coming back to play. Kentucky went to Freedom Hall hoping to get a sold our crowd or close to it, but that has been dwindling. With Rupp (Arena) holding 24,000 and being sold out, it is tough to take a game from there unless it is a home run to host another game.”
Kentucky has played a game at Freedom Hall every year since the building opened in 1957.