Architect's Sketch Of KFC Yum! Center
KFC Yum! Center During Construction (Photo by "Censusdata")
Kentucky has lots of problems.
Back in 2000, a report found that 40% of the state population read below the 9th grade level.
More recent data indicate that Kentucky has the greatest number of child deaths related to abuse or neglect, as well as the the nation’s fifth-highest poverty rate.
Given this state of affairs, one would assume that the Bluegrass state’s officials would sagely to stretch the public dollar. After all, that’s the whole point of government spending, right? The greatest good for the greatest number, and all that.
Nope.
It’s not as though I actually have any faith in government to solve these problems. But perhaps it should have the decency to at least put on a convincing show of trying.
Not in Kentucky, though.
There, the government social policy panacea is…basketball. Specifically, a massive, publicly-subsidized home for the local college’s mediocre basketball team – a downtown eyesore given the absurd moniker, “The KFC Yum! Center”.
(The punctuation confuses me. Are we all supposed to shout “Yum”?)
Oh, it gets worse.
Guess who’s face adorns the KFC Yum! Center?
One might guess Abe Lincoln. After all, he was born in Kentucky. Or maybe even Muhammed Ali (the greatest athlete ever born in Louisville).
If you guessed either of those, you’d be wrong.
If, however, you guessed the man responsible for many of the state’s 10,000 annual deaths from heart disease, Colonel Harlan Sanders, you’d be correct! Now, true, his face shares space on the outside arena wall with the Pizza Hut and Taco Bell logos — but still…really? Colonel Sanders?
This whole insane project was funded by convincing a largely uncritical/apathetic public that the venture would somehow bring lots of jobs to the city. I have to think that the people building this have to know better. The most objective, methodologically-sound studies prove that even professional sports arenas “do not spur large-scale economic activity”. Sure, there are some construction jobs created in the short term. But the evidence suggests that ultimately, there’s no real economic boost for the city.
But don’t take my word for all of this. Visit the web site for the Louisville Arena Authority and the wretched facility itself . The only silver lining to all of this is that Lady Gaga is booked to play the KFC Yum! Center next year.
No doubt, she will show up in a chicken costume.
