Why Kentucky rebranded arena as Historic Memorial Coliseum after $82 million renovation
When Kentucky opens NCAA Tournament play at home Friday, Kenny Brooks and the Wildcats will have a chance to show off their shiny facility to a national audience.
There just might be some confusion about what exactly to call the home arena now.
Since moving the volleyball, women’s basketball, gymnastics and stunt teams back in the facility last fall after a year away due to an $82 million renovation, UK has taken to calling the arena on Euclid Avenue “Historic Memorial Coliseum.” But that piece of branding came without any concrete announcement about a name change.
Asked for clarification this week, a UK spokesman confirmed the official name of the arena, which was also the home of the men’s basketball team from 1950 until Rupp Arena opened in 1976, is still Memorial Coliseum without the “historic” addition.
“We have been calling it Historic Memorial Coliseum in order to celebrate the rich history of the building — an appreciation of the people it represents and everything that has happened there, as well as the craftsmanship of the unique architecture and art deco elements of the building,” Tony Neely, UK’s assistant athletics director for athletics communications and public relations, said in a statement provided to the Herald-Leader.
There is certainly no shortage of history to celebrate in the building.
The men’s basketball team is 307-38 in the building, including a 2009 NIT game played there. The longest game in UK basketball history, a three-overtime win over Temple, was played there in 1957. Dan Issel and Pete Maravich combined for 115 points in a Kentucky win over LSU there in 1970. The pep rally celebrating the 1978 national championship was held there.
The women’s basketball team is 502-174 in the building since taking over the facility in 1976, including a 14-2 mark in the renovated arena this season. Valerie Still, Rhyne Howard, and A’dia Mathies are among the program legends that starred there.
More recently the volleyball, gymnastics and stunt teams have begun to carve out their own traditions. The volleyball team celebrated a national championship in the building in 2021.
While those teams have played in the arena throughout the 2024-25 school year, renovations have remained ongoing to the portions of the building not needed during games. UK will not host the grand opening for the renovated facility until next month.
As part of that ceremony, the school will dedicate a new memorial to Kentuckians who have died in military service. (Memorial Coliseum was originally dedicated to the more than 10,000 Kentuckians who died in World War II and the Korean War.)
Honoring those veterans only adds to the “historic” nature of the building. There is also a historic marker in the parking lot behind the building commemorating Adamstown, the predominantly Black community located at the site before the university purchased the land.
“It is historic in its nature,” UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart said in July. “Going back to the days of Adolph Rupp, beginning of his coaching in this building, and all the things that have happened in the history of basketball leading up to our move to Rupp Arena in men’s basketball.”
Considering there are at least 15 arenas around the country that use the name memorial coliseum in some form, there is an argument to be made for distinguishing Kentucky’s building from the others.
But in the age of corporate naming rights as schools look to raise more revenue, UK’s Memorial Coliseum appears safe for now. Even prior to the renovation the athletics department has occasionally used historic as an adjective to describe the building in promotional materials.
The renovation brought the capitalization of the H in historic as part of the name on UK’s website, but whether that branding sticks long term or not, the history of the building will remain noteworthy.
This story was originally published March 20, 2025 at 6:45 AM with the headline "Why Kentucky rebranded arena as Historic Memorial Coliseum after $82 million renovation."