Let there be light!
MBB/WBB: After the lightning strike, the power is back on at the CFSB Center
A week after a lightning strike caused a power outage on parts of Murray State’s campus, including the CFSB Center, power has finally been restored. Murray State Director of Athletics Nico Yantko released the following letter today after the lights came back on:
Racer Nation,
First and foremost, I want to thank you for your unwavering support of all of our sport programs and each of our student-athletes, coaches, and staff. We truly appreciate your patience and understanding during these unprecedented circumstances this past week. We hope you and your loved ones stayed safe and warm during the storms that impacted our region.
We are excited to inform you that power has been restored to the CFSB Center. Sunday's women's basketball game against Belmont cannot come soon enough!
I want to commend our student-athletes and staff for the way they have handled this incredibly fluid situation. They did not skip a beat in their preparation and effort despite the circumstances, and have represented Murray State with the utmost perseverance and class.
Additionally, I want to thank President Bob Jackson, the Facilities Management team, campus leadership, and so many in our department, including leadership team members Brock Rydecki, Josh Brunner, and Devin Gregory, who worked tirelessly to navigate these rapid changes and were able to help us put these games on and communicate quickly and effectively to keep our fans informed as best as possible.
I would also like to extend a special thank you to President L. Gregory Jones and AD Scott Corley at Belmont, Chancellor Austin A. Lane, AD Tim Leonard, and head coach Scott Nagy at SIU, and President Mark A. Nook, AD Megan Franklin, and head coach Ben Jacobson at Northern Iowa, along with Missouri Valley Conference Commissioner Jeff Jackson and the entire team at The Valley offices, for their willingness to step up and help us navigate the challenging circumstances together.
As you are well aware, the past week has been unprecedented as a result of the lightning strike last Saturday (Feb. 15) that caused a campus-wide power outage, forcing us to delay our women's basketball game against Northern Iowa (Feb. 15) and relocate our men's basketball contests against Northern Iowa (Feb. 17) and Southern Illinois (Feb. 19).
There is no doubt that all of us would have loved to play the two men's basketball games inside the CFSB Center in front of the BEST FANS IN AMERICA.
We immediately began to work diligently with our campus partners, the Missouri Valley Conference and other key stakeholders to navigate the power outage and give us the best competitive advantage possible. That ultimately meant moving the contests out of Murray on short notice, with the help of the Belmont, SIU, and Northern Iowa athletics administration.
The decisions to relocate both men's basketball games were made after exhausting all potential options, including reaching out to numerous venues St. Louis, Nashville, Cape Girardeau, Owensboro, and numerous regional locations, along with Racer Arena, which is unavailable due to an on-going HVAC project and frigid temperatures. The threat of potential severe weather due to the recent winter storm was also considered.
As we have stated in prior communications, it is not uncommon for the visiting team to assume hosting duties in such events.
We understand that there has been frustration around this situation. We feel that frustration and absolutely hate the circumstances, but the power outage was an unfortunate act of nature that led to what transpired over the last week.
That is why we made it a priority, as we always do, to notify you as quickly as possible about the game changes against Northern Iowa (Feb. 16) and Southern Illinois (Feb. 17) through GoRacers.com, the Go Racers App, our social media platforms, and email notifications to ticket holders. We also worked with the Murray Ledger-Times and did radio interviews in-game to try and share this news to as broad of an audience as possible.
We are excited that power on campus has been restored, and that we will be able to close out the season with all of you inside the CFSB Center. You will find our remaining home games below:
Women's Basketball vs. Belmont – Sunday, February 23 (2 p.m.) – Pink Out
Men's Basketball vs. Indiana State – Tuesday, February 25 (7 p.m.) – Senior Night/Joe Everson Halftime Painting Performance
Women's Basketball vs. Missouri State – Thursday, February 27 (6 p.m.)
Women's Basketball vs. SIU – Saturday, March 1 (2 p.m.) – Senior Night
As a reminder, ALL women's basketball games are FREE thanks to our friends at Community Financial Services Bank (CFSB).
Again, I want to thank you for your continued support of our basketball programs and all of our teams as we traverse into a competitive spring season. We truly have the BEST FANS IN THE COUNTRY and we hope to see you for these final home games inside the CFSB Center!
Go Racers!
Nico Yantko
Murray State Director of Athletics