All Entries Tagged With: "new basketball arena"

Louisville Basketball Arena Update

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An inside look at the University of Louisville’s new basketball home at the KFC Yum! Center indicates that things are coming together nicely with the official completion date just 163 days away. The Louisville Arena Authority has installed a new interior web cam here.

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Duke Possible Opening Foe In Louisville Arena

The observer likes the sound of that, Louisville vs. Duke on the marquee at the opening game of U of L’s new 22,000-seat downtown arena.

How ironic is Host’s involvement anyway? He’s involved in everything involving the arena.

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Jim Host Shows Off Louisville Basketball Arena

Cool under fire Jim Host, the man you want in your fox hole, the individual with the vision, the muscle, the finesse, the man responsible for making the new University of Louisville basketball arena possible. 

Jim Host

He says the arena will be the ultimate, the most comprehensive, the finest NCAA basketball facility in the nation, the state of the art, better than most NBA facilities.

The man acquired the financing on the eve of a national economic crisis, made light work of the political process (even getting the enthusiastic support of Kentucky Senate Chairman David Williams, the legislative behemoth who gained power opposing everything in sight), and continues to shepherd this incredible project through every imaginable hurdle.

In his own inimitable style, Host conveys the scope and splendor of the new facility, which will open in November 2010:

Courier-Journal Video

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Never one to shy away from elephants in the room, Jim Host told WHAS-11 that the University of Kentucky would be much better off playing its annual December games in Louisville at Freedom Hall.

Host said, “(University of Kentucky basketball) in my judgment would be far better off to play in Freedom Hall because there they won’t have any conflicts with UofL dates. The problem the University of Louisville and UofK have always had, is UofL doesn’t get their dates until the very end, having to do with the Big East Conference (scheduling).  University of Kentucky basketball is trying to schedule December dates for playing Indiana and other teams like that.  So I think what you’ll see and I don’t know this to be the case . . . I think you’ll see (Kentucky basketball) staying at Freedom Hall which would make sense to me.”

That, of course, raises the very real possibility of both programs playing other teams at different Louisville venues on the same day. That would be incredible “Game Day” programming for ESPN, broadcasting from the basketball capital of the world.

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Lighten Up Louisville

A night view of Louisville’s riverfront confirms that the future of University of Louisville basketball remains bright with the continuing emergence of the new downtown arena from the remains of the old LG&E gridwork. The new arena will underscore the depth of affection for U of L while showing what this community can accomplish despite what seemed at times to be overwhelming obstacles. Keep that in mind the days and weeks ahead.

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