LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — It feels nothing like football season outside with temperatures in the mid to upper 90s on the day before the season opener. But at Kroger Field, and in the surrounding parking lots, the weather matters little, and it looks every bit like college football.
“We’re excited to welcome BBN back to Kroger Field,” said UK Operations Director and Associate Athletics Director Scott Geisinger roughly 36 hours before kickoff.
Geisinger and his staff are helping the TV and stadium crews with their final preparations, while making many of their own centered around media credentials, parking permits and more.
“We want everyone to have a fantastic time whether it’s your 50th season here, or your first season at Kroger Field,” Geisinger said.
Kroger Field will have a few new bells and whistles that fans will notice once they come inside for Saturday’s 7:45 p.m. start against Southern Mississippi.
“We updated all the ribbon boards. They all have video capability with enhanced resolution and we updated all our lights with L-E-Ds,” Geisinger explained. “We’ll have the ability to do light shows during timeouts and breaks. So, we’re excited about what's going on inside the stadium."
Outside the stadium, the tailgaters have marked their spots with tents, and some were doing some additional set up work on Friday morning.
“This is the best part about summer ending,” Mike Madison said, while taking a break from working on the flat screen TV.
“We’ll be here watching games all day,” he said.
A few feet away David Allen was testing out the group’s new custom-made trailer.
“It’s got two 65” televisions,” he boasted. “Been coming (to Kroger Field) all my life, but this is the first year with this,” he said of the trailer. “It’ll get a lot of use, a lot of cheeseburgers,” he joked
Kentucky will host 8 games this season, which is a lot, when there’s only 12 games on the schedule. Theoretically, they could end up with 9 home games this season thanks to the new College Football Playoff system.
“If we are (seeded) anywhere 5 through 8 when the seeding comes out, the first round is hosted at a home site,” Geisinger noted, while sharing that the school has submitted a bid to host that round, should the team qualify.
“We’ll see where we land at the end of the year,” he said of that possibility.
For now, it’s the very beginning of a new season, and there’s nothing like it in a college town like Lexington, or any other.
“We've got 4 straight home games so hopefully everyone is pacing themselves, ready for Saturday and ready to bring it the entire month of September,” Geisinger said.
We know the staff and the parking lot parties will be ready to bring it.
