Major questions around Barnhart’s job, UK athletics still need to be answered | Opinion

College athletics exist because of fans.

Without fans, there would be no advertising revenues. There would be no market for merchandise. There would be no need for venues, boosters or sponsorships. Indeed, fans are all that really separates a game of touch football in the backyard from an SEC Championship. The more fans a program or conference or sport has, the more possibilities and revenues it opens up. Fans matter.

This is what caused me to write a letter to UK President Eli Capilouto when it was announced that the University of Kentucky would transition Mitch Barnhart from Athletics Director to an administrative position at a cost of about $1 million dollars a year, not counting all the lost revenue associated with a lifetime ticket package for football, basketball and baseball.

That decision, which has yet to be fully explained, sent entirely the wrong message to the wider UK community, smaller athletic programs struggling to compete and, of course, Big Blue Nation – the fans. The lack of transparency and forethought surrounding the decision is inexcusable.

Instead of a written response to my letter, I was invited by Dr. Capilouto to stop by Maxwell Place to talk about the future of the Athletics Department as part of his “listening tour.” But there is no real listening left to be done. UK has already converted its athletics program into a limited liability company and negotiated away its multimedia rights through 2040.

With no real public input, transparency or discussion of appropriate governance standards, one of the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s most visible and treasured brands has been handed over to a handful of individuals who stand to benefit significantly from holding the keys to the UK Athletics kingdom.

So what now? According to an article in The Athletic, Champions Blue, LLC promises to raise funds for UK athletics through the development of an entertainment district near Rupp Arena – shops, restaurants and maybe even a hotel. That means the shops, restaurants and hotels already invested in downtown Lexington must compete against a company that owns all the rights to UK athletics, has all the access to UK athletes and whose debt obligations are fully backed by the financial strength of the University of Kentucky and, ultimately, the taxpayers of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

The same article proves the point – UK has already approved a $141 million loan to athletics. Dollars received from students and taxpayers will be lent to a business that will compete against private enterprises. Does that seem fair? Is that a good use of tuition and taxpayer dollars? The ability to manipulate the market, drive existing businesses out of business and engage in predatory business practices are self-evident. And if it works in Lexington, they’ll try it elsewhere.

In the old model, the athletics department clearly worked for the university under the authority of its Board of Trustees. The new model effectively concentrates all authority in the LLC’s managers. In The Athletic article, they bragged about it. But how were the managers selected? Who selected them? Do they have conflicts of interest? To whom are they accountable in a genuine and tangible way? How are they compensated?

None of these questions have been adequately answered. Therein lies the problem. Even if Championship Blue is a good idea, the execution has been deeply, deeply flawed. The decision to put Mitch Barnhart into a cushy executive role was just the tip of the non-transparency iceberg, it seems. If Dr. Capilouto remains unwilling or unable to answer these and other questions about governance and transparency, then the problem is not confined to athletics. It is a Board of Trustees concern.

I come back to the fans. We are consistently asked to support UK and its student athletes, and it brings great joy to many of us to do so. But a plan that tends to exploit fans more than it respects them is unfair and unwise. By being non-transparent with regard to governance and appropriate guardrails around its new enterprise, UK is coming closer and closer to squandering its most precious asset – the trust and faith of BBN.

And without fans, well ...

Brett Setzer is CEO of Brett Construction Co. and a major booster for UK’s football program.