Kentucky Basketball ditches Papa John’s for new Rupp Arena pizza

Breaking news from the world of Rupp Arena concessions: Papa John’s Pizza will no longer be served at Kentucky Basketball games.

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, Hunt Brothers Pizza will be the official pizza of Rupp Arena and its concession stands beginning this fall. However, Commonwealth Stadium will still have two Papa John’s pizza stands, so Papa isn’t completely leaving UK’s campus.

For what seems like forever now, Papa John’s have been the official pizza of both UK and their biggest rival, the Louisville Cardinals. UofL’s football stadium is named the Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, but as the Herald-Leader notes, founder John Schnatter also has ties to UK. In 2015, the John Schnatter Family Foundation donated $8 million for a free enterprise institute.

It does, however, look like the split was more on Papa John’s end.

“The agreement with Papa John’s expired,” Sheila Kenny, director of marketing for Lexington Center Corporation, said. “They evidently did not wish to renew as they did not respond to our Request for Proposal for a supplier.”

Alas, we’ll always have this fond memory of Papa John:

Read the full story here.