Wildcats, Cardinals not on ESPN

Associated
Press

Kentucky
is exploring options for televising its football game
this fall with
Louisville after the Sept. 15
contest didn’t appear on ESPN’s schedule,

Kentucky’s athletics director said
Wednesday.

The rivals’
game has been on ESPN or ESPN2 for five straight seasons, and

Louisville won four of those meetings. This
year,
Kentucky fought to have the game, which
will be played in

Lexington,
moved from the first to the third game of the season.

Kentucky
athletics director Mitch Barnhart
told the Courier-Journal he was prepared for criticism if moving the game from
its traditional spot meant that ESPN didn’t pick it up. He said more important
factors than television figured into the school’s decision to move the game.

Barnhart
said

Kentucky
coach Rich Brooks “wants to have a better opportunity to have our players
ready. This year, for example, we’re going to go through the process of
redeveloping our offensive line. He wants them to have their feet on the ground
a little bit.”

ESPN has
released its schedule and those for ESPN2 and ESPNU for Sept. 15, and the game
won’t air on any of those networks. It also will not appear on CBS or Lincoln
Financial, which air Southeastern Conference games.

ESPN
Classic has expressed an interest in the game, the newspaper reported. Barnhart
said

Kentucky
is continuing discussions about getting the game on TV.

“It’s
important to get as much visibility for the game as we can get, and we’re
working at that,” he said. “We have a lot of conversations going on
through our league offices, and they have a lot of people calling them.
Obviously it’s a game that people would like to see.”