Enhancements coming to Kroger Field as UK looks to generate new revenue
With a new football coach in place, UK is moving ahead with several renovation projects at Kroger Field.
The board of governors of Champions Blue, the nonprofit LLC created to manage UK’s athletic department, reviewed five projects estimated to cost around $25 million at its Thursday morning meeting: adding seat backs to the north and south upper deck; adding seats to the existing club areas; creating new terrace-style “back-of-bowl” seating areas; adding standing-room only premium space in the form of scoreboard patio clubs; and constructing a west end zone field club.
The projects are expected to generate almost $4 million in annual revenue, before debt service, from UK football games once completed. They could generate additional revenue from other events in the stadium, like concerts.
“When we surveyed, the fans were obviously craving more experiences,” UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart said after the meeting. “I think that’s the new landscape that we’re in. We want to make sure that we preserve enough opportunities for all of our fans in different segments of the stadium, but continue to be thoughtful about how we can deliver those experiences. Then those are things that also increase our revenues a little quicker.”
The addition of seat backs to the first few rows in the north upper level will be completed in this offseason as the seats on that side of the stadium were already scheduled to be removed for stadium maintenance. The other projects are scheduled to begin the following offseason.
Of the projects, only the west end zone field club had been previously announced by UK. The final version of that project is smaller than originally conceived. Now, the club will be at field level with no seating. Fans with tickets across the stadium will be able to purchase access to that club for an additional charge.
The cost of that club dropped from $50 million in the original plan approved by the UK Board of Trustees last June to $10 million.
UK hopes to use the savings in that end zone club space to help fund the other new projects.
“There’s lots of little pieces to that,” Barnhart said. “The construction costs, to go with opportunity costs as to as it relates also to the number of people that can affect. So, there’s lots of little moving pieces in all that, that we’re trying to come together in one.”
The back-of-bowl seating enhancements would involve construction of new loge boxes on the under the original end zone luxury suites opened in 1999. The scoreboard patio clubs would be a standing-room area fans from across the stadium could purchase access to.
UK estimates the projects would decrease total seating capacity at Kroger Field by fewer than 400 seats. The projects are designed to increase revenue as UK looks to move its athletic department back to financial independence following the advent of revenue sharing with athletes.
Those discussions played out with the backdrop of a disappointing 2025 football season that threatened to affect future ticket sales. UK fired Mark Stoops, the program’s career wins leader, after the season and replaced him with former Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein.
Since Stein was hired as coach in December, UK has received more than 1,000 new season ticket deposits for the 2026 season, according to Barnhart. Often, season ticket deposits translate to more than one ticket purchase.
This story was originally published January 15, 2026 at 10:18 AM.