Whether you agree with the expansion or not, UofL's administration realizes that stadium size is a great source of fan pride (well maybe not in this state, but at every other SEC school it is), and says A LOT about your football program. If it wasn't, you all wouldn't be on here getting worked up about the prospect of UofL passing us up in stadium size.
The fact of the matter is we never, I repeat, NEVER, should have shrunk our stadium to begin with.
We were sold a bill of goods as the reason for shrinking the stadium, and as usual with all-things from the UK PR machine, we bought it hook, line, and sinker, and asked for seconds.
Whether they can fill their expanded stadium is beside the point. The point is that they are continuing to place MUCH, MUCH more of an emphasis on all things football, and you're kidding yourself if you don't think they've passed us up in the area. The sad thing is that while we're sitting back watching them pass us up, we make these silly arguments like 'well stadium size doesn't matter', 'well they'll never be able to fill up that big stadium', 'well Bobby Petrino isn't as good of a coach as they say', 'well the ACC isn't that big of an upgrade over the Big East'. Come on man. Sometimes you have to call a spade a spade. Ignoring the problem isn't going to help our program. Change at the top will.
Instead of directing our anger where it belongs (namely Mitch Barnhart and athletic department which has neglected this football program for years) we are directing it at the program who is passing us up.
While our athletic department is worrying about where to next fork over our millions in football revenues, their athletics department is worrying about:
1. hiring the BEST possible football coach (regardless of character issues) they can get (like every other SEC school),
2. getting the best athletes they can get, despite character issues (like every other SEC school),
3. having the largest/best football stadium in the state, with the best football fan-experience (like every SEC school)
4. and making sure they always one-up us in the area of football (like every SEC school).
I'm afraid as long as Mitch Barnhart is our athletics director, this is what we'll get.
As a UK fan I'm embarrassed that a school like Louisville, with half of the fanbase, tradition, resources, boosters, advantages, etc, has passed us so greatly in the area of football. I'm mad about it honestly. There is absolutely no reason that a school that was in Conference USA a few years ago for crying out loud, should be ahead of us.
Do me a favor. Go back and look at what has happened to the nation's most popular sport at UK and UofL since the arrival of Mitch Barnhart.
One program has GREATLY improved their football program and all-things football-related, while the other has decreased attendance, decreased stadium-size, decreased winning, and decreased national perception.
Those are the facts. They hurt me to say as much as anyone, but I'm mad about the neglect of the nation's most popular sport and the biggest revenue earner by Mitch Barnhart.
If you're not mad about it and how Louisville has passed us up than you need to be.
Here's the difference between us and Louisville.
Both schools put in a 10 out of 10 effort on the sport of basketball, but Louisville puts in an 8 out of 10 effort in the sport of football, while our athletics department puts in a half-hearted, 5 out of 10 effort. That 5 out of 10 is mainly just doing the bare minimum that they can get by with to make the appearance that they care about football and avoid the complete boycott that we witnessed at the end of the Joker tenure.
Are we finally making a $110 million 'renovation'? Yes. Guess how much Texas A&M is investing in their stadium renovation? $450 million. That's a middle-of-the-pack SEC team you're talking about investing over four-times as much as us. Do we honestly expect to beat teams like that when we're investing a quarter of what they are? I mean seriously, come on man. We have to stop lying to ourselves and direct our anger where it belongs.
You might be able to get by with that when you're investing in basketball and softball, but you're not going to get by with a half-hearted effort when you're dealing with the arms race that is college (and more specifically, SEC) football. If what I'm saying makes you mad, it should. We've been neglected in the sport of football for far too long, and I'm mad about it.
If you care truly about the most important sport at the university, you should be too. I'm afraid that if Mitch Barnhart is here 10 years from now (or even sooner) we're going to be having this exact same conversation about Western Kentucky passing us up. If you think that's a silly thought, go back and look at the rise of the UofL football program, and come back and tell me how silly it is.