Kentucky is gutting Memorial Coliseum for a makeover. Here’s how to own a piece of history.
For more than 70 years, Memorial Coliseum has been home to some of the biggest sports moments in Kentucky Wildcats history.
Whether those moments are connected to the men’s basketball, women’s basketball, gymnastics, STUNT or volleyball programs, plenty of Kentucky fans hold a special connection to the historic venue on UK’s campus.
And now, with Memorial Coliseum in the midst of an $82 million renovation project, you have the opportunity to take part of the old Memorial home with you.
On ukteamshop.com, four different items connected to Memorial Coliseum are available for purchase, ranging in price from about $90 to about $300.
▪ Memorial Coliseum display case with a piece of a Memorial Coliseum seat ($89.99)
▪ Memorial Coliseum seatback with sublimated plate ($99.99)
▪ Memorial Coliseum display case with a piece of a Memorial Coliseum seat number ($129.99)
▪ Memorial Coliseum framed seatback shadowbox with sublimated plate ($299.99)
These four items are available for purchase as significant changes are made to the venue, which was built in 1950.
Four UK programs — gymnastics, STUNT, volleyball and women’s basketball — will not play home contests inside Memorial during the 2023-24 season while significant upgrades are made to the now 73-year-old facility.
Seating improvements, the construction of event space and the installation of air conditioning are all among the planned changes to Memorial Coliseum.
The building also hosts several non-athletic university events like commencement activities, the DanceBlue dance marathon, student group meetings and orientations.
“It’s a university facility, it’s used for a lot of things. It’s really, really important for a lot of reasons to get it right,” Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart told the Herald-Leader last summer while also noting that another priority in the renovations is to highlight the facility as a memorial to Kentuckians who served in the military.
Barnhart has also said a UK Athletics Hall of Fame could be incorporated in the new-look Memorial Coliseum, which was the home of the UK men’s basketball team from 1950 until 1976.
The UK men’s team played an NIT basketball game at Memorial in 2009.
