What if, say, in the summer of 2019, you decide to open a bar or restaurant near the arena?
Then what happens if fans can't come because of something called COVID? What if you get through COVID, and U of L starts losing games as fast as they can play them? In other words, what if you built a business, and nobody came?
That's what the past five years have been for businesses around the Yum! Center — COVID and bad men's basketball. Not anymore. U of L's men's basketball is back! If your business made it this far, it may be OK.
U of L's announced average men's attendance so far this year is 14,200 and trending up. I'll buy that. But last year's average attendance was reported to be 11,057. That doesn't seem right at all. They may have sold that many tickets, including season tickets, but there were times last year there might have been more fans at a high school wrestling match. No offense to wrestlers. There were game days when the Yum! Center was quieter than the library.
Thanks to Pat Kelsey and his hard-working team, fans are coming back and the arena is roaring again!
Yes, U of L needed to win again almost as much as the downtown businesses needed them to win.
I'm Bill Lamb, and that's my Point of View.
