Basketball: Scrimmage Tickets Available Monday; Championship Floor Today

Mark BlankenbakerSeptember 11, 2013

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville will stage three opportunities for a preseason look at the 2013-14 Cardinals with three Red-White intrasquad men’s basketball scrimmages in the KFC Yum! Center on Saturday, Oct. 5; Saturday, Oct. 12 at 3:30 p.m.; and Saturday, Oct. 19 at 3:30 p.m.

The game time for the Oct. 5 scrimmage will be set later so as not to conflict with the Cardinals’ football game at Temple also that day. The Oct. 19 scrimmage is in concert with UofL’s “Year of the Cardinal” Homecoming on Main festivities, which will include activities on the Norton Healthcare Plaza of the KFC Yum! Center prior to the game.

Tickets, priced at $10 for lower side and corner arena seats and $5 for end zone and upper arena seats, will go on sale beginning at 10 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 16 at the UofL Ticket Office, located near Gate 2 of Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium at 2800 South Floyd Street. The ticket office is open weekdays from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Cardinal fans may also purchase tickets by visiting Ticketmaster online, calling 1-800-745-3000 or by visiting any Ticketmaster Ticket Center, including statewide Kroger locations. Convenience fees are applied with Ticketmaster orders.

A limited number of tickets are available for UofL students to each scrimmage at no charge. Student tickets — no more than two for each scrimmage — must be obtained with a valid student ID in advance beginning Monday at 10 a.m. at the UofL ticket office.

U of L will welcome back three starters and eight lettermen from its successful 2012-13 squad which won the NCAA Championship while winning a school-record 35 games (35-5 mark), ending the season on a 16-game win streak. It was the Cardinals’ third NCAA title (also 1980 and 1986) and second straight of 10 Final Four appearances. Louisville was the Big East Conference Co-Champions, won the league tournament championship and earned its third consecutive Big East Conference Team Academic Excellence Award, which recognizes the highest collective grade point average in each of the conference’s 24 sports.

U of L Championship Floor Goes on Sale for Charity

LOUISVILLE, KY – University of Louisville basketball fans can now own a unique piece of this year’s NCAA^© championship. Souvenir pieces of the floor on which the Cardinals won their third national title are now on sale at www.GoCards.com/floor.

Fans can choose from three different sizes of souvenir floor pieces, with 1,000 of them featuring head coach Rick Pitino’s autograph. Pricing starts at $99.99.

Proceeds from the sale will specifically help support research being conducted by Kenneth Lucas, M.D., chief of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Kosair Children’s Hospital and division chief of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation for the University of Louisville Department of Pediatrics.

For the second year in a row, the NCAA championship floor was acquired after the tournament by Northwestern Mutual, an official corporate partner of the NCAA, to raise money for charity.

“It is exciting to get this effort underway to raise funds for the fight against pediatric cancer,” said President of the Northwestern Mutual Foundation John Kordsmeier. “We’re proud to support the communities that we serve, and donating the floor in order to raise money for cancer research is a win for everyone involved.”

The company mounted a similar effort with the 2012 NCAA Championship floor, raising more than $200,000 to help the fight against pediatric cancer. This year, the company also donated the center court logo portion of the floor to the University of Louisville to hang in its basketball arena, the KFC Yum! Center.

“As exciting as it was for us to win the national championship this year, it’s also exciting to be part of this effort to raise money for cancer research,” said Pitino. “It’s all about giving back to the community, and Northwestern Mutual is providing a great example of how to be a good corporate citizen.”

Since 2012, the Northwestern Mutual Foundation in addition to Northwestern Mutual employees, financial representatives and community supporters have contributed $1.4 million in the fight against childhood cancer, which includes helping more than 200 families travel and stay together during their children’s cancer treatments and funding nearly 13,000 hours of critical research projects.

About Northwestern Mutual

Northwestern Mutual is among the “World’s Most Admired” life insurance companies in 2013 according to FORTUNE® magazine and has helped clients achieve financial security for more than 156 years. As a mutual company with $1.4 trillion of life insurance protection in force, Northwestern Mutual has no shareholders. The company focuses solely and directly on its clients and seeks to deliver consistent and dependable value to them over time.

Northwestern Mutual is the marketing name for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Milwaukee, WI, and its subsidiaries. Northwestern Mutual and its subsidiaries offer a holistic approach to financial security solutions including: life insurance, long-term care insurance, disability income insurance, annuities, investment products, and advisory products and services. Subsidiaries include Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC, broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, member FINRA and SIPC; the Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company, limited purpose federal savings bank; Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company; and Russell Investments.

About the Northwestern Mutual Foundation

The mission of the Northwestern Mutual Foundation – the largest corporate foundation in Wisconsin – is to build strong, vibrant communities that serve as a legacy to future generations. The Foundation’s giving is designed to create an impact on the communities where the company’s employees and financial representatives live and work. In fiscal year 2013, the Foundation will contribute $16.9 million to nonprofit organizations across the country.