What could Kroger Field entertainment district look like? Here are four options
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- UK presents four Kroger Field district concepts to create year-round destinations
- Designs include new retail, parking structures, open spaces and better pedestrian access
- Final plan hinges on funding, parking solutions; phase three begins in late March
Possible changes to the area around Kroger Field are still likely years away from completion, but for the first time UK has provided a glimpse at what a fan entertainment district around the stadium could look like.
In a meeting of the UK Board of Trustees athletics committee last week, university administrators displayed four options recently presented to the project’s steering committee by Sasaki, the architecture firm contracted to explore design possibilities.
“I think it’s super exciting,” UK athletic director Mitch Barnhart said after the meeting. “I think that from a campus perspective and from a fan perspective, both. Really neat concepts. A lot to get your arms around, a lot of moving pieces.”
The four options presented to the athletics committee are still in the preliminary phases of development. UK is in phase two of the project, focusing on concept alternatives. Phase three is set to begin in late March, when the committee will create a final plan. The final decisions will likely depend heavily on how much the project is estimated to cost. Until funding is secured, the project cannot be considered certain to even move forward.
But the university clearly wants it to happen.
“This effort aims to integrate athletics, academics, living and community life into vibrant, connected districts,” Kevin Locke, UK’s associate vice president for planning, design and construction, told the athletics committee during his presentation. “This isn’t just about football Saturdays. This is about transforming these areas into destinations 365 days a year.”
Since the exploratory phase of the project was approved last June, UK has described the fan district as a place that could include retail, dining and other entertainment options that would attract people to the facility outside of football games. While the bulk of the attention has focused on the area around Kroger Field, UK and Sasaki are also exploring the creation of a smaller entertainment district near Memorial Coliseum on the north end of campus.
The university took the first step toward future construction there with the purchase of the Coliseum Plaza building last week. That purchase was made with the intention to allow the current tenants (El Mariachi, Bangkok House, Tropical Smoothie Cafe and Coliseum Liquors) to continue operating, but it remains possible the final entertainment district plans will call for UK to begin construction before those leases expire.
Locke’s presentation to the athletics committee acknowledged the ongoing discussion about the area around Memorial Coliseum but focused on the possibilities for the football stadium.
Maps of the four options under consideration for the football stadium district were labeled Cooper Connector, Linear Corridor, University Crossroads and Central Green. The renderings included proposed new construction for future tenants and parking garages but did not specify what those tenants might ultimately be.
The Cooper Connector proposal is based on similar districts created near arenas for Ohio State University, the Green Bay Packers, Arizona State University and the Atlanta Braves. The majority of new construction would be located on the north side of Kroger Field along Cooper Drive.
That project would involve construction in the current green and red parking lots and intramural fields along University Drive. It would also replace the Bluegrass Community and Technical College building between Cooper Drive and the stadium. The Hillary J. Boone Tennis Center would be moved from just north of Cooper Drive to an area next to the baseball stadium that currently includes multiple university storage facilities.
Changes to the area would be less drastic for the other three proposals, which all focus on construction on the west side of the stadium in current parking lots. BCTC would remain in its current location in each of those proposals, though the tennis facility would still move in one other.
The Linear Corridor proposal includes ideas developed from studying similar districts created for Wake Forest University, the University of Kansas, Iowa State University and the Boston Red Sox. Construction would be focused in the current red, blue and orange lots along University Drive. Another parking garage would be constructed on the opposite side of the stadium at site of the current purple surface parking lot on Sports Center Drive.
Like the Linear Corridor proposal, the University Commons proposal focuses construction the west side of the stadium, but it includes an additional building at the current site of the intramural athletic fields on the corner of Cooper Drive and University Drive. The intramural fields would then move to the current site of the tennis complex, and a new tennis facility would be constructed near the baseball stadium.
The Central Green proposal includes the least amount of new construction, instead replacing the current red VIP parking lot between the stadium and University Drive with a large green space. There would be additional construction, though, at the current site of a senior center on the corner of Alumni Drive and Nicholasville Road.
That proposal was compared to similar green spaces near stadiums and arenas in Auburn, Alabama; San Antonio, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee and Boston, Massachusetts.
“I think that it’s fascinating when we travel and go places, we get to see different things in other cities,” Barnhart said. “So we maybe steal an idea from one and steal an idea from another one and find a way to best use that on our campus.”
Locke’s presentation was followed by a question from a board member likely shared by anyone familiar with daily campus life.
How will the university replace all the parking currently used by students, staff and hospital employees around Kroger Field?
“There would be a displacement where you’re taking surface parking away,” Locke said. “You would be making up for that parking by putting a parking structure in that area, potentially.”
The fan entertainment district proposal was created as a strategy for the athletic department to create new revenue streams following the NCAA’s House legal settlement that paved the way for schools to begin distributing up to $20.5 million annually in revenue directly to athletes.
That revenue creation remains the impetus for the project, but Locke told the athletics committee the steering committee is also focused on enhancing fan tailgating experiences around the stadium, providing open spaces or fitness-focused amenities that could be used year round and improving pedestrian access at key areas around the stadium.
“I think the nice part about it, it is not just an athletics project,” Barnhart said. “It is a university project that has a chance to enhance things for students and for faculty and for our fans. … These are big thinkers, and they come back with some really interesting things. And then hopefully there’s a way for us to be able to create a some revenue streams out of different things.”
Not included in Locke’s presentation was any mention of the proposed new men’s basketball practice facility.
The Board of Trustees in September approved the predesign phase for a new multi-use facility that could house a basketball practice facility as well as a UK HealthCare Sports Medicine ambulatory space, sports-related research space and other related areas. That proposal did not specify a location for the facility, but it was expected to be included in the fan entertainment district near Kroger Field.
The university’s quarterly construction report presented to the Board of Trustees at last week’s meeting noted a design team had been selected for the predesign phase with the goal of substantial completion by July 2027. That update said the facility would be constructed “adjacent to the Nutter Training Facility” on Sports Center Drive, but a UK spokesman said potential locations for the facility remain in flux. It is possible the facility could ultimately be one of the unnamed new buildings in the entertainment district proposals presented to the athletics committee.
“It’s gonna have to be involved in all those conversations,” Barnhart said. “Where does all that fit as we go through these pieces? Where you have those conversations, and where that gets placed, could have an impact on parking or egress or Ingress, or all sorts of things.”
This story was originally published February 24, 2026 at 6:30 AM.