Associate Athletic Director Mark Jurich gave an update on the progress of the Papa Johns Cardinal Stadium expansion project today at the stadium. The $63 million expansion is currently on pace to be done for the beginning of the 2018 season and is also on budget. It will enclose the north end-zone and add 10,000 new seats, bringing the capacity to 65,000.
When asked if more expansion could be coming in the future Jurich said, “You have 65,000 chair back seats, over 75 suites and 5,500 club seats. I feel that’s pretty good. We’re the only stadium in the country that has all chair back seats. So 65,000 for us right now is a pretty comfortable point.”
Mark said that construction will be going on during this season but it’s UofL’s intent to preserve the fans game day experience as much as possible.
Other interesting facts:
- The Johnny Unitas statue will not miss a game but Jurich didn’t divulge where the statue will witness this season or where his permanent location will be.
- The team will still enter the field from same place but there may be a ramp or a structure in place coming from the Schnellenberger complex.
- There will not be a running game clock or video board in the north end zone. There will be a temporary play clock set up.
- The train horn has been moved but will still be in use for the season.
- In the pics below you can see they are working on improving the speakers in the video board above the south end zone.
Tom Jurich also talked a little in the video below. The sounds of the construction workers in the background has me pumped for this football season and many more to come.
