By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The Kentucky high school girls’ state basketball tournament will be played at Northern Kentucky University’s BB&T Arena once again next March before changing the venue to Rupp Arena in Lexington for the first time.
Simon Kenton’s Pioneers were among the 16 teams that played in the girls’ state basketball tournament at BB&T Arena last March.
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association Board of Control made that decision during a meeting on Wednesday in Lexington.
The girls’ state tournament was held at BB&T Arena the last two years with St. Elizabeth Heathcare as the corporate title sponsor. The KHSAA voted to extend that contract one more year and then use Rupp Arena for the five-day tournament in 2019 and 2020.
“I’m just very disappointed,” said Stan Steidel, athletic director at Holmes High School who headed a committee that helped bring the girls’ state tournament to BB&T Arena. “We had two great tournaments up here in a row and I guess we’ll have another one next year. I don’t know what the rationale is to pull away and go to Rupp Arena.”
Total attendance for this year’s girls’ state tournament in March was listed as 33,258 for 15 games played over five days at BB&T Arena. That ranks among the top five total attendance figures in the history of the event.
The 2016 tournament attendance figure was 31,947. Two of the sessions that included games involving Northern Kentucky teams drew 6,056 and 5,697 fans, which rank among the top five session totals in tournament history.
Stan Steidel
Representatives from BB&T Arena and NKU most likely used those statistics when they made a bid at Wednesday’s meeting to continue hosting the state tournament for the next three to five years. But the board voted to accept Rupp Arena’s bid and have the tournament there for the first time.
“We are very fortunate to be in a position where there are multiple cities competing for the right to host our girls’ basketball tournament, as that has not always been the case,” KHSAA Commissioner Julian Tackett said in a press release posted on the khsaa.org website. “BB&T Arena is an outstanding facility and has proven to be a great fit over the last two years. At the same time, the board recognizes the potential to draw greater audiences by moving the event to a venue like Rupp Arena.”
Rupp Arena has been the site for the boys’ state tournament every year since 1995 while the girls’ tournament has been held at smaller arenas around the state. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green hosted the girls’ tournament from 2001-15 before it came to BB&T Arena in 2016.
Campbell County played in the girls’ state tournament at BB&T Arena two years ago and had a large contingent of fans at both of its games because they didn’t have to travel. But coach Beau Menfee also likes the idea of playing at Rupp Arena, the home court for the University of Kentucky Wildcats.
“Being local is a great thing for us up here,” Menefee said. “At the same time, going to Rupp Arena would be great for many of these girls. They’ve been UK fans their whole lives so it would be a dream come true for them playing on that floor, just like it is for the boys. Who wouldn’t like to walk out on that floor and play in that iconic place?”
Locating the girls’ state tournament at Rupp Arena included an option to reconsider the venue for 2020 if a corporate title sponsor cannot be obtained.
Steidel, who was a member of the KHSAA Board of Control for several years, said St. Elizabeth Heathcare provided more financial support than any previous corporate sponsor of the girls’ state tournament, but he declined to release a figure.
“It’s not my place to say what St. E paid, but I know for a fact it was more than they were getting in Bowling Green,” Steidel said. “They’re just an outstanding sponsor. I hope whatever they decide to do (after next year) we get a chance to sit down with them and do some special things for the schools up here that would benefit (St. Elizabeth) — something where they would get more recognition for what they’re doing in the area they serve.”
