The audience experience at Rupp Arena has long been a topic of interest among Kentucky Wildcats basketball fans.
As a blue-blood college basketball program with arguably the best fan base in the sport and an arena with a capacity of approximately 20,000, Rupp Arena should be one of the loudest and most intimidating environments in all of college basketball.
There have been stories in recent years of people in the lower arena being told to sit down during the game when they stood up to applaud, but one such incident allegedly occurring during the Kentucky-Louisville game created a lot of internet buzz.
A video posted to Twitter by the account @SadKentucky appears to show a police officer walking towards an individual in the lower arena who stood up and told him to sit down.
Another fan confirmed this story and said the police officer indicated that the standing fan(s) would be arrested.
Threatening arrest seems like a drastic measure to take for standing during a basketball game. However, it does indicate how much of a problem this is at Rupp Arena.
There are two sides to this question. On the one hand, it can be argued that fans have the right to stand up and cheer for their team. This is part of home field advantage, and we see this happening at other schools across the country. The argument is that fans paid to come to the game and cheer for their team, and they should be able to do that.
On the other hand, there are a lot of fans at Rupp Arena who are not able to stand for extended periods of time during a game, for whatever reason. There are areas of the arena where a person standing in front of it can block the view of the match. These concerns are valid.
Regardless of your position on the issue, most people would agree that threatening arrest seems a bit excessive.
What do you think of this reported controversy?
