ESPN College GameDay to Return to Rupp Arena on Saturday

LEXINGTON, Ky. – With the Kentucky-Kansas game as its backdrop, ESPN College GameDay will be at Rupp Arena on Saturday for the first time since the 2013-14 season. Doors will now open at 9 a.m. with free admission for the general public. Fans are encouraged to attend the event.

The ESPN College GameDay crew of Rece Davis, Jay Bilas, Jay Williams and Seth Greenberg will air its popular game-day show on ESPN starting at 11 a.m. inside Rupp Arena, though there will be SportsCenter segments filmed prior to the show throughout the morning. 

The GameDay crew will preview the UK-Kansas game, which will tip at 6:15 p.m. on ESPN. Bilas, Dan Schulman and Maria Taylor will be on the call for the game.

Normal game-day policies at Rupp Arena will be in place, including the bag policy that requires that bags do not exceed 12” x 6” x 12”. Rupp Arena will also use walkthrough metal detectors, as it has all season. For more information on the game-day policies, please click here. Signs will be permitted at the show, though they are subject to screening for the telecast.

Paid parking will be available in the High Street and Manchester Street parking lots throughout Saturday.

 

All students attending ESPN College Gameday and/or the UK-Kansas game in the eRUPPtion Zone may begin lining up at the Rupp Arena student gate no earlier than 5 a.m. on Saturday. Rupp Arena staff will coordinate with students in line to determine their intent to attend the 6:15 p.m. game vs. Kansas. 

Students with an eRUPPtion Zone ticket that are attending both ESPN College GameDay and the 6:15 p.m. game vs. Kansas will receive numbered wristbands and be required to return to line at the student gate by 2 p.m. Upon return to the student gate at 2 p.m., students will be placed in numbered wristband order in preparation for arena doors opening at 4:30 p.m. Students who return to the student gate after 2 p.m. will be placed at the end of the line.  

In addition to ESPN College GameDay, the Paul Finebaum Show will also be in town Friday to broadcast live from the Rupp Arena lobby, just off High Street. The Paul Finebaum Show will be from 3-7 p.m. Like GameDay, fans are encouraged to attend and admission is free.

Kentucky and Kansas will meet for a third season in a row but for the first time in Rupp Arena since Jan. 9, 2005. This season’s game is the second straight matchup in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.

Though UK has been a frequent featured school on ESPN College GameDay – it’s the eighth straight season Kentucky is making a College GameDay appearance – it will mark the show’s first visit to Rupp Arena since Davis, Bilas and the crew attended the UK-Florida game on Feb. 15, 2014.

Saturday’s event will mark the sixth visit to Lexington, only behind Kansas and Duke’s seven trips. The most memorable trip was on Feb. 13, 2010, when a record 22,144 fans attended the show in John Calipari’s first season at Kentucky. Another 15,087 attended the morning GameDay show on Feb. 23, 2013.

All told, this will be UK’s 13th ESPN College GameDay appearance, behind only North Carolina (15), Duke (14) and Kansas (14). The show also featured last year’s game in Lawrence, Kansas.