Is Rupp The "Gold Standard" For College Arenas?

Updated: 7:11 AM ET Sun, Feb. 13, 2011

Jerry Tipton: Gold standard? Rupp Arena might already be it
Arena stacks up to those of other top programs

Jerry Tipton / Herald-Leader Staff Writer

When asked last week whether he favored a renovation of Rupp Arena or the construction of a new multimillion dollar playhouse, Kentucky Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart cited something said by CoachJohn Calipari a week or so earlier. Whichever course is taken, Calipari said, it should reflect UK's status as "the gold standard" of college basketball.

"Very well said," Barnhart said. "... We have to make sure our facilities have the gold-standard look."

So what does "gold standard" mean?

A check of other elite college basketball programs shows that Rupp Arena, as is, looks pretty golden.

Let's compare Rupp Arena to home courts for North Carolina, Duke, Indiana, Kansas and UCLA. Of the six programs most strongly identified with college basketball success, only North Carolina's Smith Center was built after Rupp Arena. UNC opened the Smith Center in 1986. Rupp opened 10 years earlier.

Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium opened in 1940, Indiana's Assembly Hall in 1971,

Kansas's Allen Fieldhouse in 1955 and UCLA's Pauley Pavilion in 1965.

All have undergone renovations in recent years that included new scoreboards, video boards, upgraded locker rooms and modernized concourses. None have luxury boxes, so Kentucky has not fallen behind in that revenue-generating idea.

Seating capacity means a lot to UK fans who want the "big" emphasized in Big Blue. Again, Rupp Arena compares favorably. Only North Carolina's Smith Center (21,750) comes close to Rupp Arena's listed capacity of 23,000.

Of course, the other schools are just as proud of their home courts as Kentucky is of Rupp Arena. North Carolina calls the Smith Center the "premier basketball arena in America." Duke calls Cameron Indoor Stadium, which was the largest indoor arena in the South when it opened, the "crown jewel of college basketball's classic venues."

Kansas is more modest. KU simply refers to Allen Fieldhouse as "one of the best places in America to watch a college basketball game."

Perhaps the gold standard is already in place.

Good post, I love Rupp. but its time to update and build a new arena, And make it the best in College basketball.