– Sweet 16 a Sweet debate

Something came up in the news around Kentucky today that sparked my interest. The (KHSAA) which stands for Kentucky High School Athletic Association announced today that they would change the format of the Sweet 16 for the first time in 95 years due to potential scheduling conflicts with Rupp Arena.

The semifinals, a doubleheader that has been played on Saturday morning for more than fifty years, will move to Saturday night while the championship will be played at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. The Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday format of the Tournament will remain the same. The thing that really got me thinking about this is the statement below made by the KHSAA Commissioner Julian Tackett.

“It is important that the two largest and most tradition rich clients sharing the arena work together on a solution when there comes that time that we both need the facility”

After I read this statement this morning, I got to thinking to myself and asked these questions: Is it ok for the head of the KHSAA to have such a high opinion for one university in the state? Shouldn’t the person in this position be neutral when talking about the universities of this state? In addition, why is such an important traditional basketball event held exclusively in Lexington?

Although there have been stretches where this event has been held in Louisville the majority of the time it has been held in Lexington. Shouldn’t this event be shared between the two equally? Shouldn’t this event be rotated back and forth each season?

The possibility of a small rural Kentucky school defeating a large consolidated school or schools from Lexington or Louisville for the state championship are a large part of the statewide appeal for the tournament. With that said the Sweet 16 should be held in both Lexington and Louisville to give the folks of Kentucky the chance to see and experience the culture of both of these cities. And what about the local kids getting a chance to play in front of the local crowd every other year in the Yum Center?

Another thing to consider is crowds for the boys’ tournament usually total around 120,000 fans during the week and the finals typically draw 15-20,000 spectators. I hear all of the time how more events need to be drawn to the Yum Center and the downtown area. Wouldn’t this be a great boost for the Louisville downtown district every other year?

Unlike the Commissioner of the KHSAA, I believe that there are two very important tradition rich Universities and two very important cities in this state. Both deserve the spotlight and attention that this event brings with it every year.

Hey Mayor Fischer I’m pretty sure that the current contract with Rupp Arena and the Sweet 16 will be coming to an end in 2014. Instead of chasing your pipe dream of getting an NBA team why don’t you take on a more realistic challenge. Get to work and help bring back the Sweet 16 to the city of Louisville and the Yum Center.