Lexington, KY - The University of Kentucky won't play host to new Southeastern Conference member Missouri in a revenue sport for at least a year. Local business owners and community leaders, however, may want to begin now to prepare - at least if they wish to emulate the example set forth in Wisconsin.
Like the SEC, the Big 10 experienced growth last year by adding Nebraska from the Big 12. Community leaders in Madison, Wis., planned well in advance for the new addition by reaching out to their counterparts in Lincoln, Neb., in order to prepare for their visitors.
The Greater Madison Convention and Visitor's Bureau began organizing bus trips for Nebraska fans wanting to attend the game and helped secure banquet halls for fans who wanted to be in town but were unable to secure a ticket. The organization also paired with a Lincoln television station on a five-part series leading up to the game about Madison and the surrounding area.
Judi Frankel, public relations and communications manager for the bureau, said a surge in hotel reservations resulted, as well as a boost in the community's other economic areas. Those kinds of boosts could be mirrored in Lexington when Missouri eventually comes to the Bluegrass, because the similarities are strikingly similar to Nebraska's visit to Wisconsin.
Columbia, Mo., the University of Missouri's home, is 460 miles from Lexington - just less than the 483 miles that separates Lincoln from Madison. And the town's demographics are similar, as well: Lexington's 2010 population was reported at 295,803 while Madison's was a little more than 250,000. Frankel said exact numbers for the surge Madison experienced during that weekend last fall aren't currently available, but the impact Cornhusker fans were having was obvious just from the abundance of Nebraska license plates cruising around town.
"We wanted to really show off Madison," Frankel said. "It's all in good fun, right? Each team wants to win, but we wanted them to have a great experience as well. We wanted to be able to show off our beautiful city and its assets, so we wanted to put our best foot forward."
Editor's note:
Business Lexington.
See Scott Hamilton's full report on the expansion of the SEC in the February 3 edition of