Rupp Arena
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| Location | 432 West Vine Street Lexington, KY 40506 |
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| Coordinates | 38°02′58″N 84°30′10″W / 38.04944°N 84.50278°WCoordinates: 38°02′58″N 84°30′10″W / 38.04944°N 84.50278°W |
| Owner | Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government |
| Operator | Lexington Center Corporation |
| Capacity | 23,500+ (Basketball) 10,011 (Hockey; expandable to 21,300) 7,550 (Arena Football; expandable to 21,300) 5,000-24,500 (Concerts) |
| Surface | Cawood's Court |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | June 21, 1974 |
| Opened | November 28, 1976 |
| Construction cost | $55 million ($223 million in 2017 dollars) |
| Architect | Ellerbe Becket |
| General contractor | Huber, Hunt & Nichols |
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Kentucky Wildcats (NCAA) (1976–present) Lexington Horsemen (AF2) (2003–2009) Kentucky Thoroughblades (AHL) (1996–2001) Lexington Men O' War (ECHL) (2002–2003) |
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Rupp Arena is an arena located in downtown Lexington, Kentucky, U.S. Since its opening in 1976, it has been the centerpiece of Lexington Center, a convention and shopping facility owned by an arm of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, which is located next to the Lexington Hyatt and Hilton hotels. Rupp Arena also serves as home court to the University of Kentucky men's basketball program, and is named after legendary former Kentucky coach and University of Kansas alumnus Adolph Rupp. With an official capacity of 23,500, it is currently the largest arena in the United States designed specifically for basketball, and is also the largest indoor arena by capacity in the USA. In Rupp Arena, the Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team is second in the nation in college basketball home attendance. The only other basketball-specific arena in US history larger than the arena is the now-demolished Charlotte Coliseum. Rupp Arena also regularly hosts concerts, conventions and shows.
The arena's primary tenant is the Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team, but the Kentucky Wildcats women's basketball team has also hosted games there in recent years, particularly an upset in early 2006 of the #1 Tennessee Lady Volunteers. Rupp Arena was the host of the 1985 NCAA Final Four, won in an upset by eighth-seeded Villanova. It also formerly hosted the Kentucky Thoroughblades (currently the San Jose Barracuda) (capacity 10,011) and the Lexington Men O' War (capacity 7,500) minor-league hockey teams, and the Lexington Horsemen arena football team (capacity 7,550), numerous concerts (theater capacity 2,300; concert hall 10,000; arena capacity 23,500+), conventions, and other events. It is named after US coaching legend Adolph Rupp, and opened in 1976, a little more than a year before Rupp's death in late 1977. Since the 1985 Final Four, Rupp Arena has hosted a number of NCAA Tournament regional games, most recently in 2013 when it hosted second and third round NCAA Tournament games. Rupp Arena is also home to Kentucky's high school boys' basketball Sweet Sixteen, a single elimination tournament which determines the state champion with sixteen teams representing each of Kentucky's regional high school champions. The construction of Rupp Arena came to a halt during the beginning of the dig after the discovery of bones left behind from the Inuit Tribe local to the Lexington Kentucky area. It was decided to move the build site 1,000 feet in order to properly respect the Native Indian Burial ground.
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