{"id":2301144,"date":"2026-02-26T13:20:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T13:20:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2301144"},"modified":"2026-02-26T13:20:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T13:20:45","slug":"university-of-kentucky-proposes-entertainment-district-near-kroger-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/university-of-kentucky-proposes-entertainment-district-near-kroger-field\/","title":{"rendered":"University of Kentucky proposes entertainment district near Kroger Field"},"content":{"rendered":"

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LEXINGTON, Ky. (FOX 56<\/a>) \u2014 Name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals for student-athletes have changed the landscape of college athletics, and they\u2019re forcing universities to get creative to raise money.<\/p>\n

The University of Kentucky is taking action with plans for a new entertainment district around Kroger Field.<\/p>\n

The university generates a substantial amount of revenue during football season, and campus leaders are aiming to elevate their earnings to the next level.<\/p>\n

LATEST SPORTS NEWS:<\/h3>\n

\u201cHow do you maintain the current traditions of tailgating in here and enhancing those tailgating experiences that we have?\u201d asked Associate Vice President for Planning, Design, and Construction Kevin Locke.<\/p>\n

The university is working on an entertainment district project near Kroger Field, which it said would \u201clink game-day energy with everyday campus life.\u201d<\/p>\n

A lot of asphalt and student parking currently surrounds Kroger Field. The new plans would call for possible change and construction\u2014think more green space and vendors.<\/p>\n

But that poses a serious question. What would this mean for student parking and tailgating?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would make parking much more difficult,\u201d said UK student Brooke Etter. \u201cSo hopefully finding a solution to that would also give you the best of both worlds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Potential changes include replacing the BCTC building on Cooper Drive and transforming some lots into green space with parking garages nearby.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is a good space to add more and additional ideas, and I think it would make it even more lively during football season,\u201d said Etter.<\/p>\n

LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS:<\/h3>\n

\u201cIt kind of looks pretty industrial around here and definitely needs more of a natural touch,\u201d added Copper Arvin, a fellow student.<\/p>\n

Project leaders are currently working with four options modeled after universities across the U.S. The expansion would offer food and beverage opportunities and retail space, attracting business year-round.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, it\u2019s not just game day, but there could be a lot more concerts and things like that that are integrating what the students are doing on that, you know, nine months out of the year,\u201d said Locke.<\/p>\n

While a finished product may be years away, UK officials hope to finalize a plan soon to secure funding.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/i><\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 56 News. <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LEXINGTON, Ky. (FOX 56) \u2014 Name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals for student-athletes have changed the landscape of college athletics, and they\u2019re forcing universities to get creative to raise money. The University of Kentucky is taking action with plans for a new entertainment district around Kroger Field. The university generates a substantial amount of revenue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2301145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[445878,438860,445205,445877],"class_list":["post-2301144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-associate-vice-president","tag-college-athletics","tag-kroger-field","tag-the-university-of-kentucky"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/University-of-Kentucky-proposes-entertainment-district-near-Kroger-Field.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2301144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2301144"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2301144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2301146,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2301144\/revisions\/2301146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2301145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2301144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2301144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2301144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}