Louisville Expanding Stadium

[jostar1]

The University of Louisville formally announced Friday that it will begin a $55 million expansion of Papa John's Cardinal Stadium at the north end zone, adding 10,000 chairback seats to create a capacity of 65,000.

Tom Jurich said stadium capacity of 66,000-67,000 "is the perfect size for us." According to the U of L media guide, the Cardinals' average attendance was 52,972 for six home games last year. The season-opening win over Miami - the Cards' inaugural game in the ACC - drew a stadium-record crowd of 55,428, and a home loss later in the season to Florida State placed second all time with 55,414 fans.

U of L's victory over Kentucky drew a sellout crowd of 55,118 - No. 8 all-time. Last year's season low was 50,179 for a win over Murray State. U of L home attendance has exceeded 55,000 nine times.

Once completed, U of L's stadium will have about 4,000 more seats than UK's Commonwealth Stadium, which has reduced its capacity to about 61,000 in its own ongoing, nearly completed renovation. Jurich said none of the plans for Louisville's expansion were based on an arms race of any sort with other programs and the design was meant to position PJCS to need no more expansions anytime in the distant future.

http://www.courier-journal.com/stor...nounced-papa-johns-cardinal-stadium/71300296/

 

[buddy]

They're probably working on their B1G or SEC invite! What a great AD they have! You have to give them credit for going from C-USA to P5 and maybe future P4 in a short period of time. Doesn't matter how they got there, but fact is they did.

 

[Dooley]

I like to make fun of Louisville (Community College)'s academics, but when it comes to sports, boy, do they get it. They put all of their resources into the two sports that matter most (MBB and FB) and are reaping the benefits of P5 money to now further the cause. I believe Papa John's capacity used to be around 44,000 a few years ago. But they bet on themselves while they were stuck in the Steve Kragthorpe mud and that may have paid off in getting them into the ACC. In a few years, they'll have aggressively expanded their stadium to the point that if the ACC ever folds, they are now an attractive option for the SEC (who we all know could not care less about academics). Meanwhile, up here in Connecticut, we've had the (mis)fortune of employing college sports' biggest buffoon of an AD who insisted that we sold out the Rent via season tickets before expanding the stadium. Today, the most exciting news out of UConn is that we acquired a bunch of land so if/when the day ever maybe, possibly, could, should, someday come when we expand our stadium, we can accommodate the parking. You can't help but think if Hathaway would've taken a page out of Tom Jurich's bet-on-yourselves playbook, UConn would be in much better conference shape.

Of course, having admissions requirements as simple as "Have you been arrested in past 10 minutes? Y/N" helps.

 

[ASweet3781]

But what do they invest in soccer?

 

[huskymedic]

But what do they invest in soccer?

At least $18.5 million: http://www.courier-journal.com/stor...louisville-soccers-new-lynn-stadium/13958951/

 

[billybud]

Six teams have appeared in the 2012, 2013 & 2014 final AP college football polls -- Alabama, Clemson, FSU, Louisville, Ohio State & Oregon.

I was surprised at how few teams have been consistently end-ranked over the period....have to hand it to Louisville.

 

[RustyHusky]

But what do they invest in soccer?

Apparently quite a bit.
http://www.gocards.com/facilities/lou-facilities-lynn-soccer-stadium.html

 

[djct1999]

They're probably working on their B1G or SEC invite! What a great AD they have! You have to give them credit for going from C-USA to P5 and maybe future P4 in a short period of time. Doesn't matter how they got there, but fact is they did.

Yes, turning a blind eye towards things that we are believed to matter has worked magnificently.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

The stadium was initially financed privately. Expansion to what is now Papa Johns was approved because of success on the field during the Petrino years( there was also on field success prior to Petrino) and it was done through public money and naming rights. Rutgers was able to translate a breakout year in 2006 into stadium expansion. We need a breakout year. 11 win season including bowl.

 

[huskypantz]

The stadium was initially financed privately. Expansion to what is now Papa Johns was approved because of success on the field during the Petrino years( there was also on field success prior to Petrino) and it was done through public money and naming rights. Rutgers was able to translate a breakout year in 2006 into stadium expansion. We need a breakout year. 11 win season including bowl.

I would almost guarantee that a B1G invite would result in a stadium expansion. Shoot, we could probably handle it if we moved to the ACC.

 

[Stinger92860]

I would almost guarantee that a B1G invite would result in a stadium expansion. Shoot, we could probably handle it if we moved to the ACC.

We would go to 50k over the course of one summer. Then we would need another 5-15. As I write this I am thinking, keep dreaming.

 

[ThetaZoo]

I like to make fun of Louisville (Community College)'s academics, but when it comes to sports, boy, do they get it. They put all of their resources into the two sports that matter most (MBB and FB) and are reaping the benefits of P5 money to now further the cause. I believe Papa John's capacity used to be around 44,000 a few years ago. But they bet on themselves while they were stuck in the Steve Kragthorpe mud and that may have paid off in getting them into the ACC. In a few years, they'll have aggressively expanded their stadium to the point that if the ACC ever folds, they are now an attractive option for the SEC (who we all know could not care less about academics). Meanwhile, up here in Connecticut, we've had the (mis)fortune of employing college sports' biggest buffoon of an AD who insisted that we sold out the Rent via season tickets before expanding the stadium. Today, the most exciting news out of UConn is that we acquired a bunch of land so if/when the day ever maybe, possibly, could, should, someday come when we expand our stadium, we can accommodate the parking. You can't help but think if Hathaway would've taken a page out of Tom Jurich's bet-on-yourselves playbook, UConn would be in much better conference shape.

Of course, having admissions requirements as simple as "Have you been arrested in past 10 minutes? Y/N" helps.

Hathaway could not have taken a page out of Jurich's playbook because he wasn't capable of it.

 

[Waquoit]

I would almost guarantee that a B1G invite would result in a stadium expansion.

Almost?

 

[FDNY99]

Hathaway could not have taken a page out of Jurich's playbook because he wasn't capable of it.

Hathaway was as inept a athletic director at the division 1 level as you will ever see. You are talking about a man who couldn't get a basketball practice facility built during the 8 years he was at UCONN as AD when both programs were HUGELY successful. Funny how the man who replaced him ...and has taken some serious shots on this board...got that project done in 18 months. Jeff Hathaway NEVER met a donor he didn't piss off or drive away from the school. Good riddance..I wish Hofstra luck...they already got rid of football so at least he can't duckk that up.

 

[Adios]

Six teams have appeared in the 2012, 2013 & 2014 final AP college football polls -- Alabama, Clemson, FSU, Louisville, Ohio State & Oregon.

I was surprised at how few teams have been consistently end-ranked over the period....have to hand it to Louisville.

Nice to see the Gators have sunk back to irrelevance.

 

[noeynox]

I hate Louisville, but they absolutely have gone all in FB, and somehow they're BBall programs haven't been damaged by it. It always kills me when I read posts on our boards that FB is taking away from resources that could be going to our BBall programs.

 

[huskymedic]

I hate Louisville, but they absolutely have gone all in FB, and somehow they're BBall programs haven't been damaged by it. It always kills me when I read posts on our boards that FB is taking away from resources that could be going to our BBall programs.

They've gone all in on more than football and basketball... soccer and baseball as well. We can make fun of them all we do but they have a top notch athletic department and now have more money to back up the vision.

 

[uconndogs]

Wasn't the quote from Fr. Leahy, "The move to the ACC was mostly about academics"...... or something pretty close to that.

I wonder if he is even remotely aware of how full of * he was?

Louisville was a very good athletic addition, but the ACC went pretty far afield from the academic mission.

The only other thing I will say is Jurich made a deal with the devil bringing Petrino back. I would not be at all surprised if that ended very badly.

 

[noeynox]

Wasn't the quote from Fr. Leahy, "The move to the ACC was mostly about academics". or something pretty close to that.

I wonder if he is even remotely aware of how full of * he was?

Louisville was a very good athletic addition, but the ACC went pretty far afield from the academic mission.

The only other thing I will say is Jurich made a deal with the devil bringing Petrino back. I would not be at all surprised if that ended very badly.

The Petrino... thing. You gotta take chances. The "safe hire" isn't necessarily the right move to make. Petrino is proven... has flamed out in the NFL... and no other school would take a chance on him. He knows this. Perfect fit for UL.

 

[amory]

The Petrino... thing. You gotta take chances. The "safe hire" isn't necessarily the right move to make. Petrino is proven... has flamed out in the NFL... and no other school would take a chance on him. He knows this. Perfect fit for UL.

even with all the BS he got into, I wish UConn could've gotten a coach like him

integrity is worthless when you're dying on the vine.

 

[CL82]

I hear that there are plans, within the 10 to 15 years, to attach to a school to a stadium.

 

[Waquoit]

Wasn't the quote from Fr. Leahy, "The move to the ACC was mostly about academics". or something pretty close to that.

They don't call him Lying Leahy for nothing.

 

[FDNY99]

The Petrino... thing. You gotta take chances. The "safe hire" isn't necessarily the right move to make. Petrino is proven... has flamed out in the NFL... and no other school would take a chance on him. He knows this. Perfect fit for UL.

1. It's funny to say this..BUT Jurich went with the "safe, sexy hire" when he hired Kragthorpe to replace Petrino...Kragthorpe was the next best thing when he got the UL job. He quickly went down in flames...

 

[Ha Who]

My fear is we are a state institution as opposed to Louisville. I see no evidence the state politicians value sports programs. No, don't count showing up at the woman's hoop parades as support. Now if the P5 required transgender programs, Connecticut politicians might push for an invite.

 

[whaler11]

My fear is we are a state institution as opposed to Louisville. I see no evidence the state politicians value sports programs. No, don't count showing up at the woman's hoop parades as support. Now if the P5 required transgender programs, Connecticut politicians might push for an invite.

Louisville is part of the Kentucky state university system.