College GameDay is Coming Back To Rupp

With the Kentucky-Kansas game as its backdrop, ESPN College GameDay is coming back to Rupp Arena on Jan. 28 for the first time since the 2013-14 season.

The ESPN College GameDay crew of Rece Davis, Jay Bilas, Jay Williams and Seth Greenberg will be in Lexington on Saturday morning to broadcast its popular pregame show. The show will air live at 11 a.m. inside Rupp Arena and will air on ESPN. 

Fans are encouraged to attend the event. Admission is free for students and for the general public. Doors will open at 9:30 a.m. with paid parking available in the High Street and Manchester Street parking lots. Students in line for the eRUPPtion Zone will receive a wristband to keep their place in line. Fans may begin lining up no earlier than five hours prior to doors opening.

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.

The GameDay crew will broadcast live with the UK-Kansas game as the evening’s main event. Bilas, Dan Schulman and Maria Taylor will be on the call for the 6:15 p.m. game on ESPN.

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.

Next 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.