Kentucky Wildcats: Are We Ready For Some Football?

This past Saturday, April 16, the University of Kentucky Wildcats football team held its annual spring game at Commonwealth Stadium. The attendance was announced around 28,000 which is respectable, but a far cry from the 50,000 plus a few years ago. Since head coach Mark Stoops’ arrival in Lexington, the improvement of the football facilities has been noticeable and much needed. The renovation of Commonwealth Stadium has brought it inline with complimentary stadiums around the country, bringing the Wildcats’ home field into the 21st century. The multi-million dollar, state of the art practice facility will be ready this summer. UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart has shown a commitment to the football program that the Big Blue Nation really hasn’t seen before.

Yet, after all the capital poured into the program and the promise of back to back years of 4-1 starts, the much needed bowl game has remained elusive. The majority of the BBN heads into the upcoming 2016 football season with a mantra made famous by fellow SEC member Missouri: Show me.

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The 2016 football season, even more so than other seasons, is critical for the success of the program. The athletic department has spent money and the fans have financially and emotionally bought in. At some point, there has to be an on-field return on the investment. The long suffering Kentucky football fans deserve a bowl game.

The SEC is the deepest and toughest conference in college football. Upward mobility is difficult as the traditional powers have a lock on the top of the both the East and West divisions. Usually. Over the last few seasons, SEC newbies Missouri (back to back SEC title game appearances) and Texas A&M (Heisman trophy winner Johnny Manziel) have managed to make impacts that the Cats have not. Florida has been down. Tennessee has been down. And the Cats have not been able to move up the SEC East rankings and instead have become the game Vanderbilt knows they can win.

Head men’s basketball coach John Calipari is often quoted “scared money don’t make money.” And that is true. To make money, you have to invest money. And that’s what UK has done with the football program. There have been significant upgrades at Commonwealth Stadium that have positively impacted the average fan. The concourses are bigger, the concession stands are better and more seats have backs to them to add to fan comfort. But the flashiest additions have been reserved for media (the upgraded press box) and the big time donors to the athletic department.

In today’s college athletic environment, the need for big pocketed donors cannot be overstated. All the major upgrades to facilities have to come from somewhere. As the football program looks to change its fortunes, the focus on the big time donors and improvements has seemingly been done at the expense of the average fan, fans that have kept Commonwealth remarkably filled even during the program’s downtime. Instead of stadium wide wifi (like most stadiums), the BBN gets luxury tailgating suites (to the tune of $8,000 plus per game). I can certainly understand the need to increase revenue, but most universities make the extravagant fan features available after the Ws pile up. When done in reverse, it looks like the university is more interested in money than the support of the regular season ticket holder and those that buy single game tickets.

The entire Big Blue Nation wants the football program to be a consistent bowl game invitee. And I certainly believe that Coach Stoops is the man to get Wildcats to that level. However as the players and coaches move toward that goal, the athletic department shouldn’t lose sight of the thousands of fans that have faithfully bought their tickets and supported the team when it certainly wasn’t performing at a high level. We’re all in this together, BBN. We’re all ready for some football, some winning Wildcat football.

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