The Kentucky Wildcats Athletics Department released more details today about Big Blue Madness. It is the biggest preseason event in college basketball, and the athletics department is expecting to run out of tickets and have to turn away fans. In fact, they had to turn about 5,000 fans away from Mark Pope's introductory press conference, which shows the excitement level for this fanbase and Big Blue Nation to see their basketball program on top again.
This event is known for selling out, which led to "the campout" the night before, in which there were rumors of Coach Pope bringing. The campout was basically a pre-game party to the pre-season party. There will not be a campout this year as no tickets will be sold in person. The tickets will go on sale on the Ticketmaster website, and they will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis. Once the tickets are gone, they are gone.
How do you get tickets? On September 27, this coming Friday, you will need to login to the Ticketmaster.com website or the Ticketmaster app at 5 pm EST, and be ready to race everyone to the checkout finish line. There will be no way to purchase tickets in person, and this will be your only option. The tickets will be free, but that will only increase the demand and a rush for the tickets. If you want tickets, plan to be ready before 5 pm EST on the 27th, with credit card information stored and an account already logged in.
The athletics department does plan to keep some tickets back for students, and more information will be available on UKStudentTix.com about that shortly.
The other significant detail announced today is that this year, Big Blue Madness will be sponsored by Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Bluegrass. Thus, the official name for the event for 2024-2025 is "Big Blue Madness, presented by Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Bluegrass."
Finally, and very importantly, the event will take place at 7 p.m. and will feature both the Men's and Women's basketball teams. Pope is on record for saying that this year will feature things never seen in college basketball. What does that mean? It's your best guess, as we must wait and find out at the event.