Papa John's Cardinal Stadium Photo by Seth Bloom. 2015. Fitted

Attendance History at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium

Mark BlankenbakerAugust 29, 2015

With yesterday’s official announcement of the expansion of Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, there was a question posed by some naysayers: Can Louisville Fill 65,000 seats?

When the Cards built PJCS in 1998 there was concern that the Cards could fill the new 42,000 seat facility, and the question was posed again prior to the Cards opening the expansion in 2010. Let’s examine the trends:

During John L. Smith’s tenure Louisville struggled to achieve a 38,000 average attendance (about 4,000 shy of capacity). Tickets could usually be found easily on gameday.

In Year 1 of Bobby Petrino in 2003 Louisville was in the same position and was about 5200 shy of capacity. But in 2004 with just 5 homes games during a 11-1 season Louisville didn’t just exceed 38K in attendance, but the Cards exceeded a 40,500 average attendance (1500 shy of capacity, or 96.5%). Under Petrino average attendance only grew: 41,001.2 in 2005 and 41,481.8 in 2006. In October, Louisville announced the proposed expansion that was originally going to be expanded to 63,600 and then later scaled down during the economic hardship suffered during 2008 & 2009. When Petrino left for the Atlanta Falcons Louisville filled PJCS to 98.76% of capacity.

In 2009 Louisville’s actual capacity was reduced due to construction to 40,000. But during the Steve Kragthorpe years the Cards actually held some of the gains they had made during the Petrino tenure with a 39,811.2 average in 2007, a 39,680.3 average in 2008, before eventually falling off during the final year in 2009 to 32,540.3.

That decline in attendance was short-lived. With the arrival of Charlie Strong, the restoration of the 2,000 lost seats to construction + the 2010 completed expansion of PJCS there was renewed interest in the Louisville Football program. The Cards posted a 50,648.1 (92.1% of capacity) average attendance in 2010 and at the time was easily the most well-attended season in UofL Football history during a 7-6 season.

In 2011, things weren’t sparkling new and Louisville started slowly BUT from 2011-2014 Louisville has steadily increased its average attendance each year: 2011 48,537.5 average (88.25%), 2012 49,991.1 average (90.9%), 2013 52913.7 (96.2%), and in 2014 52,971.5 (96.3%).

SUMMATION

With Louisville only having played one season EVER in the ACC, Louisville fans have a demonstrated appetite for football. With continued traditions, an increase in profile, and an annually enhanced schedule that appeals to fans, the expansion announced on Friday only makes sense. Particularly when taking into account that Louisville has sold out each of its luxury boxes for the past two seasons, has a waiting list for both season tickets and club level seating, and has also sold each game since 2012 the University is most certainly doing the right thing by “Closing the Bowl” and allowing the football fanbase an avenue to expand.

	2014	2013	2012	2011	2010	2009
	55428	55332	55386	46157	55327	39344
	50179	53647	47553	47228	51427	39948
	51463	51586	53334	53267	48427	37268
	50227	55168	50167	48435	55106	21497
	55414	55215	53271	44817	48591	33223
	55118	53027	44609	51321	43887	23422
		46421	45618	–	51772	–
			–	–	–	–
Total	317829	370396	349938	291225	354537	194702
Average	52971.5	52913.7	49991.1	48537.5	50648.1	32450.3

	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003
	42696	42185	42597	42647	42681	40205
	38694	40882	42704	40219	40220	38489
	42208	40922	41549	41334	42032	40432
	42523	40894	43217	42692	40107	38119
	38319	34792	40348	41219	37617	30114
	40384	39612	38476	37896	–	33268
	37822	–	–	–	–	–
	34796	–	–	–	–	–
Total	317442	239287	248891	246007	202657	220627
Average	39680.3	39881.2	41481.8	41001.2	40531.4	36771.2


	2002	2001	2000	1999	1998
	42660	38129	42510	38147	42643
	38109	35214	41227	40332	38231
	34127	39256	38121	41214	35479
	32428	39389	39233	33879	39247
	36253	33627	38024	27261	32649
	35261	40479	30387	34786	40349
	–	–	40328	41826	–
	–	–	–	–	–
Total	218838	226094	269830	257445	228598
Average	36473	37682.3	38547.1	36777.9	38099.7