With only a few professional teams across the commonwealth, college athletics are the biggest show in Kentucky. 

And we get down to the financials behind it on this week's Access Louisville podcast. Josh Heird, athletic director for the University of Louisville, and Marc Hill, deputy athletic director for the University of Kentucky join the show as special guests, alongside Louisville Business First Editor-in-Chief Shea Van Hoy and Managing Editor David A. Mann. 

Making it even more special was the fact that we recorded the show in front of a live audience at the Baird Conference Center, located on the 29th floor of 500W Jefferson Street in Downtown Louisville. Baird is the sponsor of the Access Louisville podcast.

LBF's Stephen P. Schmidt recently wrote a big story on the financial landscape of college sports, which really served as the impetus for this show. On the program, we cover a range of topics and I've picked out a few selections below.

College athletic departments went into the red in order to create revenue sharing programs. When do they get back in the black? 

Hill said UK went into the red for the first time recently, as a result of the revenue sharing program. But "we have a three-and-a-half year plan to come back get back in the black. We've been able to have some ventures on the league level in order to do that. We want to come back whole on the other side," he said.

Heird added that an athletic department has to be looked at holistically as a part of a University.

"I wish that the narrative would shift a little bit ... look, almost every athletic department is losing money. But it's a department within the university as a whole. So, what is the value of that department to the university," he asked. Adding that it's a question that the university leaders around the country are having to navigate right now.

Additional revenue sources for departments and contract lengths for college athletics 

There's a lot of conversations out there on new revenue in the wake of new spending by departments.

"This industry is gonna get really creative — and has gotten really creative. And we're going to find all the opportunities we can," said Heird.

That said, the idea that millions of dollars are going to start raining down on athletics departments is in accurate, he added. For instance, some athletic departments are trying concerts in their stadiums — but that's only generating so much new revenue. 

Hill added that UK doesn't want to put too much pressure on the backs of fans and supporters to generate new revenue. 

Heird also touched on the controversial move this year to schedule the UK and UofL basketball game in November rather than December. 

He explained that scheduling is a complicated process with a lot of different considerations — and it becomes even magnified when TV scheduling gets involved.

"I think everybody was mad just because it was different than it used to be," he said of this year's schedule. "At the end of the day, we want to play the University of Kentucky because our fans love it. I think there fans love it. I think it's good for the state."

We also chatted about the length of college player contracts — both officials explained why multi-year deals are not on the table at most negotiations. And we discussed the potential for congressional involvement in the college sports as a couple of competing pieces of legislation have made it to the desk of lawmakers. 

You can hear more in the episode itself. 

Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. You can follow it on popular podcast services including Apple Podcast and Spotify.

Access Louisville Live: Our next live podcast is 4 p.m. Oct. 29. Join us as we talk money and college sports with University of Louisville AD Josh Heird and University of Kentucky Deputy AD Marc Hill. Details and registration here.

What's a city without a robust arts scene?

Kim Baker, president and CEO of Kentucky Performing Arts, joins us on the Access Louisville podcast this week. 

Kentucky Performing Arts operates the  W. L. Lyons Brown Theatre, Old Forester's Paristown Hall and The Kentucky Center on Main Street. Editor Shea Van Hoy speaks with Baker about a range of topics, including how the live entertainment business is going, a major construction project at the Main Street facility and much more. 

The arts business has definitely changed in recent years. The Covid-19 pandemic kept people out of live events for an extended period of time, meanwhile the era of streaming entertainment took hold giving more people to do at home. 

There were lessons learned from that period though, Baker said.

"At the heart of our mission, is really to connect and inspire through the arts. And I feel like, during that shutdown, we connected to people and to other organizations really throughout the country that we had never connected with before," Baker said. "That was because we were trying to figure out how to stay alive, and how to stay in business."

"We also realized the importance, from that, of staying connected."

There's also been a major change in the world of fundraising, she notes. Both individuals and corporations have reconsidered how they give.

"People give in different ways. That's created some challenges," she said, adding that arts do need civic and private sector support. 

You can hear more in the episode itself. Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. You can follow it on popular podcast services including Apple Podcast and Spotify.

Access Louisville Live: Our next live podcast is 4 p.m. Oct. 29. Join us as we talk money and college sports with University of Louisville AD Josh Heird and University of Kentucky Deputy AD Marc Hill. Details and registration here.

Soccer is big in Louisville — but is the stadium big enough?

LBF Reporter Stephen P. Schmidt is on the Access Louisville podcast this week to talk about his recent interview with John Neace, chairman of Soccer Holdings. Soccer Holdings owns Louisville City FC, Racing Louisville FC and the venue where both teams play — Lynn Family Stadium.

The stadium has 11,700 permanent seats, with a total capacity of 15,300 when standing room is considered. But in  the interview, Neace told Schmidt efforts are under way to look at ways to increase the capacity to 15,000 permanent seats in an effort to satisfy the requirements of being part of a Division 1 U.S. Soccer league, which the United Soccer League (USL) plans to launch in 2028.

Of course, this topic also gets us talking about the recent news that the United Football League's new Louisville Kings franchise is planning to use the venue starting in March. The stadium’s size was an ideal fit for the new UFL team — a team that was officially revealed just last week. 

Late in the show we talk about a couple of other projects going on around town, including the Kentucky Humane Society's new facility. 

The nonprofit is planning to build a new $37 million Animal & Community Campus off Preston Highway at 1111 Orchard Ave. CEO Alisa Gray recently told LBF's Joel Stinnett. Stinnett is also on this week's show and notes that the approximately 54,000-square-foot headquarters will allow KHS to consolidate the majority of its services and staff into one location, Gray said, while increasing space for dogs and cats by 30%.

We also go over the news that a new 27-story tower proposed in Downtown Louisville recently cleared a hurdle with a downtown building getting approval for demolition. 

Accesss Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. You can follow it on popular podcast services including Apple Podcast and Spotify.

Access Louisville Live: Our next live podcast is 4 p.m. Oct. 29. Join us as we talk money and college sports with University of Louisville AD Josh Heird and University of Kentucky Deputy AD Marc Hill. Details and registration here.

Will you be at Lynn Family Stadium next year when a new American football team kicks off? 

We chat about the newly unveiled Louisville Kings on this week's Access Louisville podcast. Reporter Stephen P. Schmidt has been following news of the new team all week — from initial rumors and speculation, to the actual announcement and eventual a chance to hear from the people behind it. 

On the show he tells us about the ownership structure of the league, how Louisville was decided upon and how it fits in the sports landscape of Kentucky. We also chat about how we think fans will react to it. Louisville supports its baseball and soccer teams but other sports, such as minor league hockey, have come and gone. 

After the sports discussion we chat about a major merger involving the largest law firm in Louisville — Frost Brown Todd. 

Reporter Olivia Estright is on the show to tell us about the firm's merger with Gibbons P.C. of New Jersey, creating a new 800-lawyer national firm named FBT Gibbons LLP.

The combined firm will serve Fortune 500 clients to growth-oriented start-ups and mid-sized businesses across the nation. 

If you follow the legal scene here in Louisville also be sure to check out our recently announced 20 People to Know in Law. 

Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. It's available on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Access Louisville Live: Our next live podcast is 4 p.m. Oct. 29. Join us as we talk money and college sports with University of Louisville A.D. Josh Heird and University of Kentucky Deputy A.D. Marc Hill. Details and registration here.

We've got a roundup of recent restaurant news on this week's Access Louisville podcast. 

We start with Ramen House’s relocation. Reporter Michael L. Jones details how the popular eatery moved from its original spot in MidCity Mall to a new, larger location at 204 South Spring Street, previously home to Gary’s on Spring. The move was prompted by the expiration of the Ramen House’s lease and the owner’s desire for a long-term arrangement, which was complicated by the MidCity Mall's potential sale. 

The owner, Jonathan Ham, took on the role of general contractor for the new space, facing numerous challenges including a flooded basement, the need to replace major appliances, and even a break-in that resulted in stolen tools. 

Despite these setbacks, the new location offers expanded kitchen space, a parking lot, and plans for a cocktail menu once the liquor license is secured, Jones said.

After that, we chat about By Golly’s Bar & Grill, an Ohio-based pub-style restaurant chain, in Clarksville, Indiana, which opened at the site of a former Hooters. Jones explains that By Golly's is using the Louisville area as a launchpad for regional expansion

We also highlighted the growth of Parlor, a successful local pizza chain, which recently moved its New Albany, Indiana location to a more visible spot on West Market Street.

In other pizza news, we note that Louisville Pizza King recently opened a third location on West Oak Street. 

Late in the show we discuss a new season of “Wrestlers,” a show that previously aired on Netflix and showcased Louisville’s Ohio Valley Wrestling organization.

And lastly Jones shares a story about Groundhog Archeology, in which Patrick Donley, a local artist, discovered valuable historical artifacts beneath his Germantown studio after a groundhog unearthed china and bottles dating back to the post-Civil War era.

Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. It's available on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Have you ever talked up the taste of Louisville's water to someone visiting the area? If so you wouldn't be alone.

On this week's Access Louisville podcast, Editor-in-Chief Shea Van Hoy speaks with Spencer Bruce about the reasons behind that — including the marketing effort that aims to make Louisvillians feel proud of the water. Bruce shares a story about a time that he overheard a restaurant waiter bragging about the taste of the water to a tourist — music to his ears, of course.

"It's important that the community, that our customers trust us," Bruce said on the show. He added that there's an educational effort underway as well, rather than just pure marketing.

"We like to say we want to raise next the generation of children to understand the value of water." 

Bruce also shares some updates on a few milestones from the Louisville Water Co., including a bond it just took out to fund some new infrastructure projects. 

In August, Louisville Water announced it sold $233 million in bonds, the largest sale in the company’s 165-year history. This bond sale was the first issuance since 2022 and more than 75% of the funding supports four projects: upgrades to the Crescent Hill Water Treatment Plant (the largest treatment plant in Kentucky), installing new residual lines for water treatment, supporting regional growth along the Interstate 65 corridor and relining the Crescent Hill Reservoir.

"Like every utility it's critical that we reinvest in ourselves," he said.

Louisville Water supplies drinking water to nearly one million people in Louisville Metro and surrounding communities. On average, the company produces 131 million gallons each day.

Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. It's available on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Louisville's fall music festivals are bigger than ever — but is that a good thing or not?

We discuss that question this week on the Access Louisville podcast. 

Danny Wimmer Presents’ two annual festivals at the Kentucky Exposition Center — Bourbon & Beyond (Sept. 11-14) and Louder Than Life (Sept. 18-21) — look a lot different this year. The festivals now have 2.4 million square feet of space. They also utilize some indoor space at the Expo Center for merchandise sales, cooling off and bathrooms.

Going in, we admit we had our worries. 

The Expo Center is massive and there's a lot of concrete that can hold in heat. On the show we give our takes on how the first leg of the two consecutive festivals went. We recorded this show on Thursday, Sept. 18, just hours before Louder Than Life was to start, so we couldn't weigh in on that one just yet. We also talk about how the festival experience was — everything from the sound mix to the artists we watched. 

Later in the show we shift from music to bourbon with Reporter Stephen P. Schmidt telling us about his recent visit to Bardstown, Kentucky for the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. He talked about how a change in the footprint of that festival changed the experience. While he was in Bardstown, Schmidt also visited a new tasting room for Old SteelHouse Distillery. And, around the same time, he visited Heaven Hill Distilleries brand new office. 

Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. It's available on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Several Louisville companies are led by CEOs that have chosen not to live in Louisville.

But how much that matters seems to be up for debate — and we chat about that on this week's Access Louisville podcast.

LBF Senior Reporter Joel Stinnett is on this week's show to talk about an in-depth report that he just finished on CEOs leading Louisville companies from somewhere else. Humana Inc., Yum Brands and Papa Johns International Inc. are a few big examples, but there are others as well. 

For the story, Stinnett talked to executives who said that not having the CEO present can impact both the community and the workplace culture.

“When company leaders reside here, things get done,” including building stadiums, zoos, parks and so on, John Schnatter, former CEO of Papa Johns International Inc. told Stinnett. Others, such as Scott Catlett, formerly chief legal officer at Yum Brands Inc., spoke about how it can impact morale inside the workplace.

On the other side of the issue, we heard from local executives like Trever Pawl, head of the Louisville Economic Development Alliance, who said the Louisville companies that have CEOs based elsewhere are among the largest and best-run in the world.

‘We’re just fortunate to have the global companies here that are reinvesting the way they are at a pretty rapid pace.”

Also on this week's show

Later in the show, Stinnett tells us about a new bourbon development coming to Broadway. Von Payne Spirits is planning to open a “Gothic-inspired” distillery and tasting room inside the former Whiteside’s Bakery Co. building at 1400 W. Broadway, according to a news release. 

We also chat about the Courier Journal recently announcing plans to move out of its building. The news outlet's longtime home on Broadway is still for sale, however.

Additionally, we discuss Bourbon & Beyond — one of two music festivals planned in Louisville in September (the other being Louder Than Life). Danny Wimmer Presents, the company behind those festivals recently struck an interesting deal with University of Louisville Athletics, which we talk about on the show. 

Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. It's available on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify (which are linked above.) You can also listen in the player above.

A plan to tear down Liberty Hall in Downtown Louisville, also known as the Oddfellows Building, in order to build a new pickleball facility is attracting the ire of preservationists.

We talk about the plans and the response on this week's Access Louisville podcast. LBF Senior Reporter Joel Stinnett is on the show to share details of a press conference he attended on Tuesday, Sept. 2. 

Steve Wiser, of the Louisville Historical League, said during the press conference that he was shocked by the plan for pickleball courts, calling it 'a joke."

Louisville Business First broke the news recently that the Omni Louisville Hotel is planning to build a $12 million pickleball-focused entertainment venue on the property, according to a permit filed with Louisville Metro Planning and Design. The 14,000-square-foot venue would feature four indoor pickleball courts, four outdoor pickleball courts, an indoor restaurant and bar, outdoor yard-game areas and flexible event and gathering spaces, according to the filing. 

The Oddfellows building is one of two downtown structures we chat about on the show. 

Reporter Olivia Estright is also on the show to talk about the recent acquisition of the 800 Tower apartments. The residential building, at 800 S. Fourth St., was purchased by FNMA for just over $20 million, according to a deed filed in June, following foreclosure proceedings against the previous owners.  

We also chat about listening sessions for the proposed revamp of the Belvedere in Downtown Louisville; and a site in Downtown Jeffersonville, Indiana where the mayor wants a grocery store to be built. We also discuss a new tavern that's heading into space in New Albany. 

And at the very end of the show, I mention a report that Isaacs & Isaacs has a new CEO. That gets us talking about our favorite TV lawyer commercials. 

Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. It's available on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify (which are linked above.) You can also listen in the player above.

A building in the heart of Downtown Louisville could be up for a revamp, which we chat about on this week's Access Louisville podcast.

LBF Senior Reporter Joel Stinnett is on the show to share his latest reporting on the  Kentucky Home Life Building at 239 S. 5th Street. 

He notes that the Mississippi-based Thrash Group — plus an unnamed local partner — are planning to convert the building into a mixed-use development with residential units, a hotel and first floor retail, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the project. There are some legal hurdles to clear first, however.

The Thrash Group has submitted an application to Mayor Craig Greenberg’s Downtown Louisville Building Conversion Program to help fund the project, Louisville Metro Government Press Secretary Kevin Trager confirmed. The project is one of four finalists still being considered for funds.

Though ornate, the building has not been with out its difficulties.

Earlier this year, police converged on the vacant 20-story structure, which is across the street from Louisville Metro Hall, after intruders allegedly cut a gas line while trying to steal copper wire, as WDRB News reported. WDRB is Business First's newsgathering partner. Officials told WDRB that the inside of the building is covered with trash, debris, glass, scraps of copper and various discarded tools strewn everywhere. 

That's just the top of the show. 

We also discuss a building in the Highlands that formerly housed Bakersfield and Hopcat, which Stinnett reported is on the market. That gets us into a talk about restaurant turnover in the Highlands.

Additionally, Reporter Olivia Estright is on the show to talk about a potential new Aldi location in Southern Indiana and the potential sale of a golf course in New Albany. We also chat about the latest with the Monon South Trail, a vote to unionize at the BlueOval plant in Glendale, Kentucky, a looming shutdown of I-65 next year for road work and the news that VSimple is moving to Louisville. 

Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. It's available on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify (which are linked above.) You can also listen in the player above.