There’s a big change at the KFC Yum! Center, new hardwood has been installed and it’s just in time for the upcoming basketball season.Panel by panel, a crew of around 20 carefully installed the new flooring at the KFC Yum! Center on Thursday morning.”It’s very important for us to check everything going on, making sure the paint is right, making sure it looks the way it was supposed to when we ordered it,” said Michael Sullivan with Events & Guests Services at the KFC Yum! Center.The job may seem simple, but it takes a few hours to make sure every floorboard fits perfectly. Sullivan says while the floor doesn’t look different than in years past, there is one major change. “It’s eight feet shorter in total, so we have a little bit more space on the baseline to add extra seating and have extra room to play with on the end of the court,” Sullivan told WLKY.Since the KFC Yum! Center opened in 2010, the flooring has never been replaced. After a number of NCAA Tournaments between the men’s and women’s teams and other uses, it was well past its prime.”One of the main things is there’s only so many sanding and repainting as you can do on the court, and we had done the amount that we could do. So, we were never going to be able to refinish it again,” Sullivan said.Sullivan says it was critical for this new flooring to be installed now, as the start of the basketball season is just days away.Officials say the cost of the new flooring is under $200,000.
There’s a big change at the KFC Yum! Center, new hardwood has been installed and it’s just in time for the upcoming basketball season.
Panel by panel, a crew of around 20 carefully installed the new flooring at the KFC Yum! Center on Thursday morning.
“It’s very important for us to check everything going on, making sure the paint is right, making sure it looks the way it was supposed to when we ordered it,” said Michael Sullivan with Events & Guests Services at the KFC Yum! Center.
The job may seem simple, but it takes a few hours to make sure every floorboard fits perfectly. Sullivan says while the floor doesn’t look different than in years past, there is one major change.
“It’s eight feet shorter in total, so we have a little bit more space on the baseline to add extra seating and have extra room to play with on the end of the court,” Sullivan told WLKY.
Since the KFC Yum! Center opened in 2010, the flooring has never been replaced. After a number of NCAA Tournaments between the men’s and women’s teams and other uses, it was well past its prime.
“One of the main things is there’s only so many sanding and repainting as you can do on the court, and we had done the amount that we could do. So, we were never going to be able to refinish it again,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan says it was critical for this new flooring to be installed now, as the start of the basketball season is just days away.
Officials say the cost of the new flooring is under $200,000.
