Kentucky rejected a proposal to revive a men's basketball series with Indiana, the Bloomington Herald-Times reported Wednesday.
The report included information in a letter from Indiana athletic director Fred Glass to Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart obtained through a public records request.
According to the report, Indiana re-opened negotiations with Kentucky on May 10. The proposal called for two years of a neutral site games followed by two games on campus. According to the Herald-Times report, Indiana was willing to play at Lucas Oil Stadium in December of 2012 and 2013, at Rupp Arena in 2014 and Assembly Hall in 2015.
Indiana assistant athletic director Jayd Grossman received a call from a Kentucky associate athletics director, saying Kentucky would refuse a contract longer than two years, the Herald-Times reported.
"It's their sovereign right to schedule as they see fit," Glass told The Herald-Times. "But we proposed a serious compromise that seemed workable to everyone. We can't accept a one-sided, take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum that freezes out our students and our season-ticket holders."
Barnhart released a statement later Wednesday to the Herald-Times.
"We currently do not have any agreements with more than two years remaining and would like to maintain the current flexibility of our future scheduling," he said. "If we entered into a four-year deal with Indiana, including the last two years at campus sites, not only would that alter our flexibility but it would also mean that we would have to end our home-and-home series with Louisville in order to keep our non-conference road schedule balanced. We are not interested in doing that."
"… We have held the last two games on our current schedule while continuing discussions with Indiana about playing this fall. December 15 and 22 are still options for the upcoming season and Lucas Oil Stadium is available for both dates. In the best interest of our fans, I would hope we can come to a conclusion to continue this storied series this December."
