Facilities part I: Papa John's Cardinal Stadium

Of course, for Louisville it all started with the opening of Papa John's Cardinal Stadium some 13 years ago (the rendering at left is the stadium after expansion is completed). Many of the advantages offered by Papa John's are by now familiar. All seats in the stadium are chairback. The Brown and Williamson Club provides an upscale flourish unique for a college stadium. The scoreboard, routinely billed as the largest in college football, gets a little bigger each year (and now there's word that we will have two).

Other advantages might not be as obvious to the casual fan. For example, the Cards are beginning their eighth season playing on FieldTurf, an artificial surface that feels like real grass but is safer and faster. According to the article link cited in the introductory post, players and coaches greatly prefer Louisville's surface as compared to other synthetic surfaces or, you know, real grass. Papa John's press facilities also are among the best in the nation, accomodating over 100 in the main seating section and housing 11 working booths and a press lounge area. This has helped facilitate Louisville's rise in terms of national exposure, including several national broadcasts on ESPN.

Of course these past few years have seen expansion efforts underway. As the stadium expansion nears completion, we will enter a new era for Cards football, one which the most optimistic of fans have warmly embraced, but that others (including contributors to this site) have greeted with caution, if not outright skepticism. (To rehash, about 14,000 seats via an expanded upper deck have been added, bringing capacity to over 56,000, including 1,750 higher-priced club seats and 33 suites, as well as a terrace connecting the stadium's east and west sides).

The expansion puts Papa John's firmly among the most impressive home fields in all of college football. Should he stay, it will prove a cornerstone of Charlie Strong's long reign in Louisville. But those seats can't go empty. Regardless of opponent, regardless of record, we've gotta put fans in the stands. I believe we will. But make no mistake Cards fans, the pressure is on for us to step up.