Champions Blue LLC endorses pre-design phase for potential basketball practice facility and multi-use development
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 9, 2025) — Champions Blue LLC’s Board of Governors has endorsed the pre-design and programming phases for a visionary multi-use facility that could feature a dedicated Kentucky basketball practice facility, UK HealthCare Sports Medicine ambulatory spaces and sports-related research areas.
The facility would bring together UK Athletics, UK HealthCare and the University’s academic enterprise in a dynamic development and collaboration.
The facility, envisioned as a cornerstone of an emerging Sports Adjacent District, reflects the University of Kentucky’s commitment to advancing excellence across disciplines. The project will explore opportunities to integrate UK HealthCare into the space, reinforcing its role in community health and sports medicine.
“This project represents the kind of forward-thinking collaboration that defines our university’s mission,” said UK President Eli Capilouto. “By bringing together athletics, health care and research, we are building a future where innovation and impact intersect, advancing Kentucky in every sense.”
The location of the new facility is still to be determined during the pre-design phase but is expected to be an integral part of the Sports Adjacent District.
The pre-design phase will include the development of schematic floor plans, conceptual renderings and a rough order of magnitude cost estimate. Stakeholders from UK Athletics, UK HealthCare and other university units will work together to ensure the facility aligns with institutional goals.
“We’re looking forward to creating spaces that reflect the excellence and ambition of the University of Kentucky,” said Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart. “This facility has the potential to elevate all our programs while also expanding our reach in sports medicine and research. This project provides a distinctive opportunity to build something that reflects the best of what UK does.
“Over the past 24 years, UK Athletics has invested over $768 million in capital projects. Exploring these future projects shows our commitment to continuing to build for the future.”
Stakeholders from UK Athletics, UK HealthCare and other university units will collaborate to ensure the facility aligns with institutional goals and long-term strategy.
Relocating Kentucky basketball to a proposed new facility would open up significant space in the Joe Craft Center, allowing for a reimagined, women’s sports–dedicated complex attached to Historic Memorial Coliseum.
Just last year, UK completed the $82 million renovation to Historic Memorial Coliseum – the largest investment in women’s sports in school history.
Also at the Champions Blue LLC Board of Governors meeting, the Board heard updates on partnerships that represent the collaborative strategies being pursued.
The “Downtown Studio” at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center – a “trilateral” collaborative effort between the UK College of Communication and Information, UK Athletics and JMI Sports, the University’s longstanding multimedia rights partner – was showcased.
The facility is a 20,000-square-foot production center and learning lab. The state-of-the-art facility helps develop premium sponsored content and provides hands-on opportunities for UK student-athletes to work and learn alongside professionals in digital media like broadcast news, sports programming, promotions, podcasts, and social content.
Champions Blue LLC, a public, non-profit subsidiary of Beyond Blue Corporation, was established in April 2025 to support the university’s athletic competitiveness and financial trajectory. The Board of Governors plays a key role in advising university leadership on strategic investments and facilities planning.
As an affiliated corporation, Beyond Blue allows the University to abide by all public entity rules and laws and for the UK Board of Trustees to approve strategies, budgets and investments, while creating a level of policy separation and operational distinctiveness to focus on one core business.
The exploration of the Sports Adjacent District was previously approved by the UK Board of Trustees in June 2025, further reinforcing the university’s commitment to integrated development and long-term growth.
In August, at the inaugural meeting of the Champions Blue Board of Governors, UK and JMI Sports, announced the extension of a historic multimedia rights agreement.
Valued at more than $465 million, the partnership ranks among the largest in college athletics, an indication of UK’s aggressive strategy to meet the challenges of the new era in collegiate sports.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.