Kentucky Auditor Mike Harmon is calling for the University of Louisville’s athletic arm to put more money into the KFC Yum! Center. The agency that manages the arena is struggling to pay off construction debts despite soaring athletic revenues.
Harmon repeatedly criticized the University of Louisville Athletic Association, saying that taxpayers are paying too much for the arena where the school’s basketball teams play.
“I think they’re obviously benefiting the most when 75 percent of the arena cash flow comes from taxpayers in some fashion—either the TIF or Louisville metro,” Harmon said.
The Yum! Center opened in 2010 with construction financed on a $75 million appropriation from the state and ongoing infusions from the university, the city and a tax increment financing, or “TIF,” scheme that allows the organization to gather revenue from sales and property taxes gathered nearby.
Harmon accused architects of the Yum! Center deal of using flawed estimates of how much the authority would gather in TIF revenues, which have not lived up to expectations.
