KFC Yum! Center

KFC Yum! Center
KFC Yum! Center in 2011
Map
Address1 Arena Plaza
LocationLouisville, Kentucky, U.S.
Coordinates38°15′27″N 85°45′14″W / 38.25750°N 85.75389°W / 38.25750; -85.75389
OwnerLouisville Arena Authority
OperatorAnschutz Entertainment Group / ASM Global
CapacityBasketball: 22,090
Volleyball: 21,500
End stage: 17,500
Max: 22,090
SurfaceMulti-Surface
Denny Crum Court[2]
Construction
Broke groundNovember 28, 2006[1]
OpenedOctober 10, 2010
Construction cost$238 Million[3]
ArchitectPopulous (formerly HOK Sport)[4]
Louis and Henry Group[4]
C.L. Anderson Architecture[4]
Jill Lewis Smith Architects[4]
Project managerPC Sports[5]
Structural engineerWalter P Moore[6]
Services engineerSmith Seckman Reid, Inc.
General contractorM. A. Mortenson Company[6]
Tenants
Louisville Cardinals (NCAA)
Men's basketball (2010–present)
Women's basketball (2010–present)
Women's volleyball (2011–2017)
Louisville Xtreme (IFL) (2021)
Website
kfcyumcenter.com

The KFC Yum! Center[7] is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Downtown Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is named after the KFC restaurant chain and Yum! Brands, the parent company of KFC. Adjacent to the Ohio River waterfront, it is located on Main Street between 2nd Street and 3rd Street, and opened on October 10, 2010.[8][9] The arena is part of a $450 million project that includes a 975-car parking structure and floodwall.

The Louisville Cardinals men's and women's basketball teams from the University of Louisville are the primary tenants of the arena complex.[8] The U of L women's volleyball team began using the arena as a part-time home in 2011,[10] and made the arena its main home in 2012.[11] With 22,090 seats for basketball, it is the largest arena in the United States by seating capacity designed primarily for basketball,[a] and the second-largest used for college basketball, behind the JMA Wireless Dome at Syracuse University, a venue built to house football and lacrosse in addition to basketball. The arena's current attendance record for a sporting event is 22,815, set March 9, 2013, against Notre Dame (men's basketball). The current attendance record for any event is 23,085, set March 9, 2019, when Metallica played their WorldWired Tour.[13]

From April to May 2021, it was home to the Louisville Xtreme of the Indoor Football League,[14][15] but they were voted out of the league after five games.[16]

  1. ^ "Ground Broken for New Louisville Arena – 2006". City of Louisville. November 28, 2006. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  2. ^ Brown, C. L. (October 10, 2010). "Court at KFC Yum! Center Still Honors Crum". The Courier-Journal. Louisville. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  3. ^ Green, Marcus (October 10, 2010). "Civic Keaders Hope KFC Yum! Center Will Be Growth Magnet". The Courier-Journal. Louisville. p. A1. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d "KFC Yum! Center, 2010". University of Louisville Library Digital Collections. Archived from the original on October 5, 2015. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  5. ^ Miller, Bart (November 1, 2010). "Home Court Advantage". Structural Engineer. Archived from the original on January 25, 2013. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  6. ^ a b "KFC Yum! Center". Emporis. Archived from the original on April 9, 2013. Retrieved September 14, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference CJ_041910 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b Green, Marcus (May 22, 2007). "Hotel Removed From Arena Plan". The Courier-Journal. Louisville. p. A1. Retrieved May 22, 2007.
  9. ^ Green, Marcus (April 27, 2008). "First Look Inside the Arena". The Courier-Journal. Louisville. p. A1. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
  10. ^ "Volleyball Opens BIG EAST Play at KFC Yum! Center" (Press release). University of Louisville Department of Athletics. September 21, 2011. Archived from the original on January 2, 2014. Retrieved September 22, 2011.
  11. ^ "Women's Voileyball: 2012–2013 Schedule". University of Louisville Department of Athletics. Archived from the original on July 9, 2015. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  12. ^ Pilgrim, Jack (October 8, 2019). "Rupp Arena Unveils New Upper-Level Chair Back Seats". Kentucky Sports Radio. Archived from the original on October 9, 2019. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
  13. ^ WKYT News Staff (March 11, 2019). "Metallica concert breaks KFC Yum! Center attendance record". wkyt.com. Archived from the original on April 1, 2019. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  14. ^ Weiter, Taylor (February 22, 2020). "Louisville Xtreme indoor football team to play at KFC Yum! Center". WHAS11.com. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
  15. ^ Gazaway, Charles (February 22, 2021). "Louisville Xtreme to call KFC Yum! Center home". WAVE3.com. Archived from the original on February 22, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
  16. ^ "IFL TERMINATES MEMBERSHIP OF LOUISVILLE XTREME". IFL. June 14, 2021. Archived from the original on June 14, 2021. Retrieved June 15, 2021.


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