PAPA JOHN'S CARDINAL STADIUM

'Papa John's Cardinal Stadium', called by some "The Oven," "The Slice," or "The Pizza Palace," is a football stadium located in Louisville, Kentucky, USA and serves as the home of the University of Louisville football program. It opened in 1998, making it the next-to-last football stadium in NCAA Division I-A (now Division I FBS) to open in the 20th century, with SMU's Gerald J. Ford Stadium being the last. The official seating capacity in the horseshoe-shaped facility is 42,000.

Contents

History and fundraising

Physical features

Possible expansion

References

External links

History and fundraising

The construction of Papa John's Cardinal Stadium is now viewed as the most important project in the history of the University of Louisville, for its effects on both the campus and the mentality of UofL. With the Kentucky General Assembly refusing to fund any of the stadium's cost, UofL alumni and fans raised an unprecedented $63 million in private funds, by far the largest private fundraising effort in the state's history. The cost not only included construction, but also the purchase and removal of the South Louisville Rail Yard, a historic rail car repair shop which had once been an economic staple of the South Louisville and St. Joseph's neighborhoods for over 50 years. The factory's shift horn was saved and installed in the stadium's north end zone scoreboard, and sounds every time the Cardinals score.
Additionally, the new parking at the stadium allowed the university to move some parking for commuting students there, in turn allowing redevelopment of on-campus parking lots into campus housing and athletic facilities. This allowed UofL to create a more traditional campus, rather than its previous commuter school feel. Without the stadium, the university would not have been able to cost-effectively add campus housing, since the only developable land adjacent to campus is privately owned and very expensive. Several of the lots have also been rebuilt with sports facilities, namely the Ralph Wright Natatorium and the Yum! Basketball Practice Facility. Two TARC bus lines run from the stadium to the Belknap Campus on the order of once every five minutes during peak times.
In 2000, Central Avenue was widened and extended from Taylor Boulevard to Crittenden Drive in the largest non-interstate highway project in Louisville's history, which has been the focus of a major redevelopment project. Because the road connected Churchill Downs, an entrance to the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center (which is home to Freedom Hall) and the university's new baseball venue, Jim Patterson Stadium, all located within a mile of each other, the road has now been dubbed as "Louisville's Sports Corridor."
The stadium was named for "Old" Cardinal Stadium, which is located at the KFEC, but with corporate naming rights providing a linguistic distinction. Papa John's Pizza founder and CEO John Schnatter, a native of nearby Jeffersonville, Indiana, donated $5 million for the naming rights to the stadium.

Physical features

A unique aspect of the facility is that there are no bleachers — every seat is a chairback seat. This particular feature is fairly common in European soccer stadiums and the NFL, but is very rare in college football.
At the north end of the stadium is the Howard Schnellenberger Football Complex, which houses the football offices and the conditioning center for the football team. Also at the north end is a bronze statue of Johnny Unitas, the most famous football alumnus of the university. As part of game day tradition, each Cardinal player touches the base of the statue before entering the field prior to kickoff. In 2006 the $10 million Trager Center, an indoor practice facility that matches the stylish architectural appearance of PJCS, was opened just north of the Schnellenberger Complex, providing a dry and warm area to allow undisrupted practices in Louisville's highly variable weather.
The stadium has also hosted soccer matches, including fixtures for the US women's national team; concerts; auto shows; the Ray Adams Charger Classic, a local high school football event; other high school football games, notably the local rivalry game between St. Xavier and Trinity; and the evangelist Billy Graham; as well as the annual DCI Louisville drum & bugle corps competition.
It is also the annual site of the Kentucky state high school football championship games. In 2004 the Kentucky/Tennessee High School Football All-Star Game was moved (on a bi-yearly basis) to the stadium as part of a compromise with the University of Kentucky about whether the two schools' Governor's Cup rivalry game should be played as the first game of the year, with UK wanting the game moved further back in the season.
An interesting feature is the Brown and Williamson Club located at the rear of the stadium's press box. It contains several large ball rooms and is rented out for receptions to bring in additional revenue. It is also often used by the school to host prominent visiting speakers. The venue overlooks the school's new Jim Patterson Stadium and Jewish Hospital Sports Medicine complex, which was completed in 2005.
At the start of the 2006 football season, a new state-of-the-art high definition scoreboard was installed in the north end zone. It is three times as large as the previous scoreboard and has the phrase "The Ville" emblazoned atop it. A new red LED scoreboard was also installed in the south end zone, as was a lighted "University of Louisville" sign around the upper rim of the exterior of the east stands, which increases the stadium's visibility from Interstate 65.

Possible expansion

'UofL Football Attendance by Year'
Year	Average Attendance
1998	38,115
1999	36,777
2000	38,547
2001	37,682
2002	36,473
2003	36,771
2004	40,531
2005	41,101
2006	42,283 ★
Big East Conference Average	39,035

'Big East Average Football Attendance'
School	Average Attendance
West Virginia	58,773
Louisville	41,001
Pittsburgh	40,272
Syracuse	40,252
Connecticut	40,000
South Florida	38,865
Rutgers	33,184
Cincinnati	22,423
Big East Conference Average	39,035

There has been talk of an expansion to the stadium for several years as interest and ticket sales surged with the football program's success under former head coach Bobby Petrino. In October 2006, an official rendering and details were released of what an expanded stadium would look like and cost. The plan calls for an additional 21,600 seats and 70 suites added via a new upper deck on the side opposite the main press box area, all for a price tag of $63 million, which is almost identical to the cost to build the original stadium. The new capacity of 63,600 would be much closer to the 67,530 at rival Kentucky.
Athletics director Tom Jurich has stated that the project will proceed based on the response on surveys sent to season ticket holders and boosters to gauge public support. The last game that failed to sell out was a Tuesday night game against Tulane University in 2003, although the school often struggled to sell out in the stadium's first few years. The lowest average attendance was around 38,000 in 2002, with averages above 41,000 every year since 2005.
On August 27 2007, Papa John's and founder John Schnatter donated $10 million in support of the expansion, representing the largest donation the athletic program had ever received. Because the expansion would still require approval from the Kentucky General Assembly, the earliest it could be completed is 2010. The deal will also extend Papa John's naming rights through 2040.^[1]

References

1. Stadium plan gets million boost

External links

★ Official stadium site

★ UofL Stadium Expansion