Sept. 17, 1999

Associated Press Writer

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) – If Kentucky athletic director C.M. Newton has his way, there will be no Kentucky home for the annual Kentucky-Indianabasketball game.

The game, played each year in early December, currently alternates between Louisville’s Freedom Hall and the RCA Dome in Indianapolis.However, Newton said he’d be just as happy playing in Indianapolis every year, as long as the schools continue splitting tickets and gate receipts.

“We can put 18,000 (Kentucky fans) in a dome and only 10,000 in Louisville,” Newton told the Lexington Herald-Leader. “As long as we’re half the building and creating a Final Four atmosphere, it’s something we ought to investigate.”

Kentucky-Indiana games in Indianapolis have had an average attendanceof 38,521 this decade. In Louisville, the games have drawn an average of19,442.

Although such a move would mean no Wildcats-Hoosier games inKentucky, Newton said it would be worthwhile.

Kentucky fans would still have access to half the tickets, he said,and a game in the RCA Dome would give the Wildcats an early-season chance toplay in an atmosphere similar to what they experience in the NCAAtournament, whenall Final Fours and most regional finals are played in domes.

Earlier this week, in a story about efforts to move the seriespermanently to Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Star-News reported that schedulingconflicts at the RCA Dome would make it impossible to make the change until at least 2003. A motor-sports trade show and a religious convention already have reserved the facility for early December 2000 and 2002, respectively, stadium director Mike Fox said.

The Kentucky-Indiana series has alternated annually betweenIndianapolis and Louisville since 1991. Before that, the game rotated among Bloomington, Ind., Indianapolis and Lexington.