Papa John's Cardinal Stadium

Infobox_Stadium
stadium_name = Papa John's Cardinal Stadium
nickname =


location = 2800 South Floyd Street Louisville, KY 40209
broke_ground = 1996
opened = 1998
closed =
demolished =
owner = University of Louisville
operator = University of Louisville
surface = FieldTurf
construction_cost = $63 million USD
architect =
former_names =
tenants = Louisville Cardinals (NCAA) (1998-Present)
seating_capacity = 42,000

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.

History and fundraising

All of the $63 million cost to construct the stadium came from private funds, which included the purchasing and removal of the South Louisville Rail Yard, a historic rail car repair shop. The factory's shift horn was saved and installed in the stadium's north end zone scoreboard, and sounds every time the Cardinals score.

The new parking at the stadium allowed the university to move some parking for commuting students there, allowing redevelopment of on-campus parking lots into campus housing and athletic facilities.

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 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 KEC, 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 [http://www.louisville.edu/athletics/papajohns/bwclub.htm 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

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.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. [cite news|url=http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007708280482|title=Stadium plan gets $10 million boost|author=Davis, Alex|publisher="The Courier-Journal"|date=2007-08-28] The Kentucky state legislature approved the expansion on April 24 2008.

References

External links

* [http://uoflsports.cstv.com/facilities/lou-facilities-papajohns-cardinal-stadium.html Official stadium site]
* [http://www.papajohnscardinalstadiumexpansion.com/ UofL Stadium Expansion]