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Kroger Field approved despite opposition by student and faculty trustees

Commonwealth Stadium is now officially Kroger Field, but two members of the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees voted Tuesday against the 12-year, $22.2 million name-change deal with the grocery chain.

The deal was opposed by representatives for faculty and students on the board of trustees.

Former Student Government Association President Rowan Reid, who was at her last trustees’ meeting, said she had heard too much opposition from students and others about the “commercialization” of a long UK tradition that recognized UK’s role in the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Trustee Lee Blonder said she looked up the minutes from the 1973 meeting in which UK President Otis Singletary recommended the name Commonwealth Stadium, which “would recognize the fact the stadium actually belonged to the commonwealth.