‘It’s greed.’ UK basketball ticket lawsuit pulls back curtain on K Fund dealing | Opinion

John D. Meyers has deep, deep ties to the University of Kentucky.

His grandfather, H.H. Downing, played basketball for UK starting in 1907 and chaired UK’s math department while coaching tennis for 30 years. His uncle, John DeMoisey, was an All-American basketball player at UK in the 1930s. Between Memorial Coliseum and Rupp Arena, his family has had season basketball tickets at UK for decades.

But now Meyers is suing UK Athletics and its fundraising arm, the K Fund, for changing the terms of their agreement, and forcing him to give more money to keep his Rupp floor seats. A request for an injunction that would stop UK from taking Meyers’ seats for the 2024-2025 season is set for March 20 in Frankfort Circuit Court.

“It’s greed on the part of UK athletics,” said attorney Joe Childers, who is representing Meyers. “They’re reneging on a deal they made in writing. We understand there are quite a few season ticket holders who are upset about it.”

Meyers’ lawsuit pulls the curtain on the strange and mysterious distribution of UK basketball tickets, long a source of fascination in this community, where tickets are a kind of currency passed down through generations.

According to the lawsuit, in 2013, Meyers, who is executive director of the Kentucky Bar Association, held 10 tickets, six in the upper arena and four in the lower arena. As part of a way to give money to the tennis program, Meyers began discussing a plan with K Fund employees.

At the time, UK was starting to put high dollar seats on the floor, according to the lawsuit. “Since the floor seats were newly added and did not offer any elevation above floor level to the spectators, UK was unsure whether those seats would be valued according to their expectations.”

Meyers chose Floor Seats 11-12 in Section 30.

In the written agreement negotiated with UK, Meyers agreed to pay the annual price of the tickets, including a total contribution of $400,000 with a credit of $180,000 for UK to “resell” the four lower arena seats, and $220,000 more to be paid over 10 years. Meyers would get the right to purchase those tickets, or the right would be passed to his wife. The agreement does not specifically say the ticket purchase is guaranteed for their lifetimes, but most season ticketholders have had the right to buy tickets for their lifetime, with the ability to pass the right to descendants one time.

A few years later, Meyers turned in his six upper arena season tickets and the K Fund credited him $25,000 toward the remaining $220,000 pledge. “Under the agreement, as amended, the annual payments were to continue for four payments, beginning in 2024, at the rate of $15,000.”

But in January, the K Fund informed Meyers that they were “reseating” part of Rupp in order to replace aging risers on the sideline, and he would get new tickets through a new seat selection process that gave priority based on the “K Fund Priority Point Rank system,” the lawsuit said.

That meant donors who give more than Meyers can take his seats, “in violation of the contract existing between the parties.” The price of his tickets in his section would $2,000 per seat in addition to an $8,000 donation to the K Fund.

“The letter informs John that due to the priority ranking system, 342 seats would be selected before he could bid on two seats. The system would freeze the ranking on March 29, 2024, at 5:00 p.m.,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit concludes: “After UK had accepted 85% of Plaintiff’s capital contribution, amounting to approximately $340,000, UK breached the agreement ... by forcing Plaintiff to give up his prized seats and enter into a ticket lottery with a low priority ranking, thereby insuring that Plaintiff would no longer have access to floor seats closest to mid-court, in violation of the contract.

“UK maintains that this reallocation of seating priority is due to ‘equity’ considerations; however, the truth is that UK is attempting to extort even higher capital contributions. from its long-time faithful fans in exchange for priority seating.”

UK has not responded to Childers.

On Wednesday, UK spokeman Jay Blanton said reseating has happened before at Rupp and at Kroger Field, and Meyers’ agreement with UK “is not a contract for a particular seat location.”

“We’ve worked to keep everyone informed, communicate clearly and ensure that we are doing everything possible to ensure the safety and well-being of our patrons, who we value very much,” he said.

Meyers is asking for injunctive relief to stop UK from taking their tickets.

UK basketball tickets have always been a source of envy and controversy; when Rupp opened in 1976, the lower arena audience reflected a snapshot of Central Kentucky “privilegentsia,” a circle that has gotten even more wealthy. In 2002, President Lee Todd stopped letting coaches and administrators give their tickets to car dealers for the free use of automobiles, amidst a big cleanup of the athletics department. The excellent seats offered to legislators and Board of Trustees members are considered a nice slice of the perks of those jobs.

In 2005, a story in this paper said: “A onetime fee, ranging from $313,000 to $500,000, got a pair of the sideline seats for life.”

Not any more apparently.

Obviously, UK basketball has been semi-professional for a long time — prices of everything, from coaches to equipment have climbed and climbed. Someone has to pay for it, and there are many all too willing to keep paying more, both to the K Fund and for tickets.

The sky will always be the limit, unless a judge decides otherwise.