LEXINGTON, Ky. – Tickets for the 2014 Big Blue Madness at Rupp Arena will be available Saturday, Sept. 20 at 7 a.m. ET at the Memorial Coliseum ticket windows on Euclid Avenue and online at Ticketmaster.com. Madness, the first open practice opportunity for UK’s 2014-15 men’s and women’s basketball teams, is Friday, Oct. 17 at 7:00 p.m. Broadcast info will be released at a later date.
Tickets are free again this year, and there will be a limit of four tickets per person at Memorial Coliseum. Online orders will have a minimal service fee attached, and there will be a limit of four tickets per household. All duplicate orders will automatically be cancelled. All patrons require a ticket, regardless of age. Please note that due to the anticipated stage set-up inside Rupp Arena, the view may be partially obstructed during a portion of the event for the following sections: 11, 34-44, and 238-241.
Camping Out
At the request of campus public safety officials, fans wishing to line up ahead of time at Memorial Coliseum are asked to do so no earlier than 5 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 17. At that time, campers are encouraged to be courteous to their fellow Wildcat fans and use caution when crossing the Avenue of Champions, over onto the Coliseum block to occupy a spot in line. Public safety officials will be on site to aid and assist in a safe move-in. Campers displaying unsafe/disorderly conduct risk being removed from line. The Athletics Department will provide portable restroom facilities, but the use of permanent, wooden-type structures; portable generators; and propane tanks or other open flames used in cooking is prohibited due to safety concerns. Alcoholic beverages or tobacco products are not permitted.
A maximum of four (4) control cards per tent will be issued to those camped out on Friday, Sept. 19, beginning at 2 p.m. Fans will receive a maximum of four (4) tickets per control card on Saturday morning. Fans are encouraged to start lining up for Saturday morning’s ticket distribution by 6 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20. All fans must be present to obtain their control cards and only one control card per person will be accepted at distribution. Control cards will not be distributed after 7 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20 and all persons with control cards must be in line by 7 a.m.
Parking and Transportation
As lines for Big Blue Madness ticket distribution begin next week, Parking and Transportation Services would like to remind the campus community of the parking options available to Big Blue Madness ticket seekers.
Fans camping out for the Big Blue Madness ticket distribution may utilize the Wildcat Plaza area located directly across Avenue of Champions from Memorial Coliseum for a maximum of five minutes to drop off campers or unload their vehicles; campers may also pay to use the metered spaces directly north of the Joe Craft Center for short-term unloading needs. Campus safety officials request that campers not block bike lanes and/or sidewalks with their vehicles at any time. Vehicles left unattended or creating a traffic hazard will be cited and/or towed. After unloading, campers must relocate their vehicles to the Black Lot, located south of Alumni Drive across from Commonwealth Stadium, where free parking will be available from Wednesday, Sept. 17 through Saturday, Sept. 20.
Free bus service will be available to transport fans back to the Memorial Coliseum vicinity. Lextran buses serve the Commonwealth Stadium area from 7 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. From 6 p.m. to midnight, the CATS Yellow Night Route will be in service. From midnight to 5 a.m., the CATS Bus On-Demand Service may be utilized by calling 859.221.RIDE (7433). For more information on bus routes and service, please visit www.uky.edu/pts/buses-and-shuttles_campus-shuttles. Riders can view real-time location of all CATS buses at http://uky.transloc.com or with the free Transloc app. Riders can view the actual location of Lextran buses with the MyStop Mobile iPhone app or at www.lextran.com/bustracker.
Beginning at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 19, the gates of the South Limestone Garage (PS #5, located next to Kennedy’s Wildcat Den) will be open and the structure will be available for free parking. The garage will remain open overnight; however no camping or sleeping in vehicles is permitted. Cars must be removed by 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20.
New Dorms near Coliseum
With two new dorms complete on the Lexington Avenue side of the Joe Craft Center, campers are asked to be respectful of students residing in these buildings and not gather or otherwise loiter on the grounds of these new dorms near Memorial Coliseum.
