Kentucky plans more events at Kroger Field: Five fun ideas UK could try
In the new college sports era of universities sharing revenue with athletes, the search by schools for ways to generate more income is urgent.
At the University of Kentucky, that quest has turned toward the school’s football stadium. Specifically, are there ways to make more use of Kroger Field that will yield more money for Wildcats sports?
UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart says that Kroger Field is typically used no more than 20 times a year.
“To have an opportunity to maybe jump that to 25 or 30 would be awesome,” Barnhart said Tuesday after the initial meeting of the Champions Blue LLC board of governors, the new entity that oversees UK sports.
The much-discussed idea of building an entertainment district near Kroger Field would obviously be more viable with the venue in use more frequently.
Other universities have, in recent years, made use of their football stadiums in nonconventional ways.
In August 2023, the University of Nebraska drew 92,003 fans to Memorial Stadium to see the Cornhuskers women’s volleyball team defeat Omaha 3-0.
On Oct. 15 of that year, the University of Iowa packed 55,646 fans into Kinnick Stadium to see Caitlin Clark and the Hawkeyes women’s basketball team defeat DePaul 94-72 in an exhibition game.
Of course, the number of events that can draw crowds large enough to merit use of a football stadium is small.
Here are five suggestions of events — of varying likelihoods to actually happen — that might draw crowds worthy of the use of Kroger Field.
1.) A men’s basketball exhibition. The risk of wintry weather would make playing a regular season hoops contest at Kroger Field impractical.
But an October exhibition game can work.
This season, Mark Pope’s Wildcats are slated to play presumptive preseason No. 1 Purdue in an exhibition at Rupp Arena on Oct. 24.
On Oct. 24 of last year, it was 64 degrees in Lexington.
The weather for the Iowa-DePaul women’s exhibition was “mid-50s, partly cloudy, with swirling winds.” That did not stop Iowa’s Clark from dropping a triple-double — 34 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists — on DePaul.
If you can play basketball outdoors in Iowa City in October, you should be able to do it in Lexington.
2. The NHL Winter Classic. In fairness, this isn’t my idea. It’s Barnhart’s.
“We’ve got a (NHL) franchise that sits up in Columbus. We’ve got one down in Nashville,” the UK AD said Tuesday. “Could there be a meeting (in the middle) and do the Winter Classic in here?”
The NHL started playing a game outdoors in 2008. In that time, regular-season hockey games have been played at Fenway Park, Wrigley Field and the Cotton Bowl, as well as various other football stadiums and baseball parks.
Twice, in 2014 at Michigan Stadium, and in 2019 at Notre Dame Stadium, the NHL has taken the Winter Classic to a college football stadium.
It is 214 miles from Bridgestone Arena, home of the Nashville Predators, to Kroger Field. The Columbus Blue Jackets play their home games at Nationwide Arena, 191 miles from UK.
For the Winter Classic, the NHL typically goes for venues with more historical cachet than Kroger Field.
However, if UK could somehow get the Winter Classic with a Columbus-Nashville matchup, the event should be able to draw fans from both home cities as well as curious Kentuckians.
3. A Diamond League track and field event. The Diamond League is an annual series of one-day track and field competitions that draw the sport’s elite athletes. Truly international in scope, the only U.S. event on the 15-meet schedule this year was the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon.
I have no idea how realistic, if at all, it would be to try to get an additional U.S. date added to the Diamond League’s worldwide schedule.
However, I do think an elite competition that included former Kentucky Wildcats track stars such as Sydney McLauglin-Levrone, Masai Russell, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Alexis Holmes, Abby Steiner, Kendra Harrison and Daniel Roberts could be promoted into a big draw in Lexington.
4. A U.S. Women’s National Team soccer exhibition. The USWNM played twice in Louisville at the venue now known as L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium in 1999 and 2004.
Last year, the top-level U.S. women’s team drew 13,543 to Lynn Family Stadium in the Derby City for a “friendly” against Argentina.
The USWNT playing in Lexington would be a big deal — and there is vibrant soccer interest here.
5. Concerts. Over the past four years, Kentucky-born country music stars Chris Stapleton (2022) and Tyler Childers (this year) have held spring concerts at Kroger Field.
Moving forward, Barnhart says UK wants “to venture into (the concert) space as much as we can.”
As was recently noted by country music superstar Luke Combs on “The Mostly Sports Podcast,” the commonwealth of Kentucky produces “unmatched” country music talent.
What If UK tried to put together a biannual music festival at Kroger Field that brought Kentucky’s most-prominent singers home to perform on the same card?
“You know, (hosting concerts) does take a toll on your stadium, make no mistake about it,” Barnhart says. “It takes a toll on your stadium. So what it does to the field and ... we’ve got to be really thoughtful about that.”
What events would you like to see UK try to bring to Kroger Field? Let me know, and I’ll share good ideas in a later article.
This story was originally published August 15, 2025 at 6:45 AM.
