Kentucky will play Gonzaga at Spokane Arena

During Tuesday night’s open practice for the eastern Kentucky flood relief, John Calipari and Gonzaga head coach, Mark Few, announced a two-game home-and-home series that will start this year, November 20th in Spokane.

However, it doesn’t appear to be a true home-and-home.

On Thursday morning, John Calipari confirmed reports that instead of playing the first game at Gonzaga’s home arena, the McCarthey Athletic Center, aka “The Kennel”, the game will instead be played at Spokane Arena.

In his tweets, Calipari claims that the primary reason for this is the increased capacity for the game, going from 6,000 at the McCarthey Center to 12,638 at Spokane Arena. That is more than double the capacity, which will bring in more revenue and more fans.

When you take a step back and look at the series in terms of venues, it is in Kentucky’s favor. The Wildcats will play Gonzaga in a ‘neutral-home’ game, and then get Gonzaga in Rupp Arena next season.

Understandably, some fans are upset at the decision as the atmosphere at “The Kennel” would have been much cooler. Even a Gonzaga player tweeted his disappointment.

At the end of the day, the Big Blue Nation asked for a better Rupp Arena schedule, and despite this change that is still the case as the Kentucky Wildcats will play the Gonzaga Bulldogs at home and in front of 22,000 fans next season.