Mac Rating: 5.00 | Votes: 1 | Date: 10/07/2026 04:03:00

Central Bank Center is an entertainment, convention, and sports complex spread across an 11-acre site in downtown Lexington, Kentucky. Its centrepiece, Rupp Arena, opened on October 17, 1976, with a concert by Lawrence Welk and his Champagne Music Makers attended by approximately 20,000 people. At launch it was the world's largest indoor arena built specifically for basketball, with a capacity of roughly 23,000. The arena was named after legendary University of Kentucky basketball coach Adolph Rupp. Rupp Arena has served as the home court of Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball since November 27, 1976, and set an attendance record of 24,480 for a Wildcats victory over Louisville on January 2, 2010. During a 2019 offseason renovation, nearly half of the original upper-level bleachers were replaced with chairback seating, reducing the basketball capacity to 20,545 and concert capacity to approximately 20,500. ESPN ranked the arena the third-loudest venue in college basketball in 2010. It hosted the 1985 NCAA Final Four and multiple subsequent tournament rounds. The broader complex includes a 100,000-square-foot convention centre that received a 300-million-dollar expansion completed in 2022 with contemporary exhibit space, 16 meeting rooms, and a 24,300-square-foot ballroom. The historic 900-seat Lexington Opera House, built in 1886, is part of the campus and stages concerts, touring Broadway shows, and special events. A 366-room Hyatt Regency Hotel connects to the facility. The complex was renamed Central Bank Center in 2020 under a 14-year naming rights agreement with Central Bank of Lexington, while Rupp Arena retains primacy in the arena's identity. Concert programming has brought Elton John, The Rolling Stones, George Strait, Billy Joel, Guns N' Roses, Taylor Swift, Drake, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and many others to the arena. Elvis Presley was scheduled to perform on August 23, 1977, but his death a week earlier left a lasting mark on the venue's early history.