Here’s a new 2017 thing that some fans might’ve missed at the time: Kentucky football’s stadium is called Commonwealth Stadium no longer.
Yep, Kentucky’s field is named after a grocery store now, ICYMI
Shoulda just held out for Publix.
Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports
In May, UK announced the naming rights to the stadium had gone to Kroger, the second-largest grocery store chain in the United States. The agreement will pay the school $1.85 million annually for 12 years.
Kroger has 112 locations in Kentucky, according to the store’s website, and there are 11 Kroger stores in Lexington, Ky. alone. There’s even a Kroger Marketplace inside the stadium.
Wait, they named it after a grocery store?
Yep, and Kentucky is the first SEC school to sell a corporate sponsorship for its football stadium.
“I love our fans and want to make sure that we’re always listening, but at the end of the day, I’ve still got to put the enterprise of making sure that our young people have the best opportunity to compete in the SEC,” Kentucky AD Mike Barnhart said in May. “If I said to our fans, ‘What’s most important: How we get there in terms of the names and things like that, or do you want us to compete well and have really quality student-athletes?’ I think they would all say something, ‘Let’s go do the best for our student-athletes.’”
This isn’t the first time Kentucky’s athletic department has had a significant re-brand — take for instance the new Nike logo it rolled in the spring of 2016 which well, looked interesting.
Wildcat fans were a little surprised when their team’s new stadium name was announced.
A snapshot of the general reaction:
There was a brief, funny moment when it was called “Roger Field.”
When the stadium workers were putting the letters up to spell out “Kroger Field,” they worked from the end of the sign to the beginning. But the crew didn’t finish the sign before the end of the day, leaving just “Roger Field” on the front the whole next morning.
Kentucky’s Deputy Director of Athletics Dewayne Peevy took the humorous mishap into an opportunity for a promotion for Wildcat football. He decided to allow all those named Roger to come to the stadium and get free tickets to UK’s Week 2 game against Eastern Kentucky. He ended up giving up nine free tickets, one taken by someone who had the first name Roger, and eight with the last name Rogers.
Sure, Kroger Field will take some getting used to, but don’t be surprised if more big college football programs follow suit and team up with a corporate sponsor.
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