By
By Zach Kenitzer
The Louisville Cardinal
Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, also known as “The Oven,” will got a little hotter, to the temperature of 63,000 screaming fans in fact. The Cardinal football program’s $78 million home is getting a $65 million dollar face lift, including plans to expand it from 42,000 seats to 63,600.
“The [football] program is growing quickly,” said University of Louisville Athletic Director Tom Jurich. “We need a stadium that will grow with it.”
In the past two years there has been a construction boom. It hasn’t been just for the growing sports programs, but also academic ones. The completion of the Ralph Wright Natatorium, the Ekstrom Library expansion and the Belknap Research Facility have added to the landscape of Louisville, and the announcement of both the new basketball arena and Yum! Center are quickly building up the national requisite of U of L. The expansion of the stadium will add to this boom and according to Jurich, move us in the proper direction to compete with bigger schools.
Currently there are two new sections. The first is the seating expansion, which is currently planned to seat about 15,000 in the stands, 2,400 club seats and 45 new luxury suites. The second is a 50 to 60 foot terrace at the top of the current seating that will offer what Jurich called a gathering spot, much like that of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Raymond James stadium. With the expansion, there will also be more concessions both on the terrace and under the new section of seating.
Although it is still in its early stages, students on campus are already looking forward to it.
“I like it,” said freshman history major Ricky ‘Rickshaw’ Brown. “It signifies the expansion of our football program.”
Sophomore engineering major, Tyler Kmetz also likes the idea.
“I think it’s great that they are enlarging the stadium because it will allow more people to attend the games and it should be easier to get tickets.”
Although the students are important to the vitality of the program, the board made to assess the potential interest of an expansion consists of local business leaders. A few weeks ago the board sent out ballots to all fans and season ticket holders to assess the true interest of the stadium. A lot of these people are alumni, and feel the time is right for the expansion.
“I think it’s a great thing. I remember the old days at Cardinal Stadium, where we used to show our ID and walk in and have the whole bleachers to ourselves. It’s a big difference now from the 15,000 in the eighties. Now it’s 40,000, and soon to be 60,000. I think it’s an affirmation of how far the program has come,” said 1983 political science graduate and season ticket holder Dr. Kevin Goben.
Even alumni who don’t regularly go to football games seem to like the idea.
“I think that it’s very clear that there is an elevated interest level from our community for the Louisville football games as it is getting harder to get tickets,” said 1978 education graduate and teacher Sandra Haag. “The idea of expanding Papa John’s stadium has come of age. I am very much excited about it.”
This isn’t to say that the students will be left out. Jurich would like to see the student section grow. The section resides on the east side where the expansion will take place, next to the band, and not behind the goal posts where a lot of student season ticket holders sit.
“I imagine [the student section] would be where we have it right now,” said Jurich. “The seats reserved behind the goal posts are the people that have been with us for a long long time. The problem we have is that students aren’t coming to basketball games. Last season the student section seemed empty at some games. Student support is vital to the program.”
According to Jurich the expected $65 million cost of the stadium is expected to be paid for with bonds and good will donations to the program, meaning students will not bear the brunt of the fiscal burden.
Within the next week or two, Jurich said the architects should be ready to reveal the plans, but warns that it is all liable to change.
With the expansion plans in place, the new and improved ‘Oven’ is going to help put Louisville on the map. It wll rival the size of West Virginia’s stadium and be close to UK’s Commonwealth Stadium as well as turn up the temperature on other schools.
