Papa Johns Cardinal Stadium Empty From TheCrunchZone Photo By Mark Blankenabker

Louisville Sells Record Number of Season Tickets

Mark BlankenbakerAugust 6, 2014

Anticipation is growing at a record pace for the University of Louisville football’s inaugural season in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

School officials announced Tuesday that all season tickets have been sold, as a record 46,149 tickets have been purchased for the Cardinals’ 2014 home slate.

The number of season tickets sold has increased over the last five years, dating back to the stadium’s expansion in 2010. Louisville’s previous record for season tickets sold was in 2013, when 45,627 were sold.

Louisville opens the season on Sept. 1 versus Miami, and plays host to defending national champion Florida State on Oct. 30. Louisville ends the year against in-state rival Kentucky.

Individual game tickets for this season will go on sale Friday, Aug. 8, at 10 a.m. Tickets can be purchased through the Ticketmaster website atticketmaster.com or by calling 1-800-745-3000.

Fans may also purchase tickets at the UofL Ticket Office, visiting Gate 2 of the Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium Ticket Office. No phone orders will be taken through the UofL Ticket Office.

Tickets are priced at $14 for seats in the UPS Flight Deck and $54 for lower level seats. All individual game tickets that are available are seats remaining from the visiting team’s allotment.

Season tickets are still available for the men’s and women’s soccer for as low as $70. Tickets for the soccer doubleheader to open Lynn Stadium will be available on Aug. 11. Women’s volleyball tickets are being sold for as low as $42, with individual tickets going on sale on Aug. 13.

A HISTORICAL LOOK

The 2013 Louisville Home Schedule was the highest attended in Cardinal History. The Cards finished 12-1 on the season and experienced fabulous weather throughout the season.

The fan experience at PJCS is still developing. There are proposed plans to develop the North End Zone (open end) and increase the stadium’s capacity beyond it’s current 55,000. Louisville Football is looking to expand for fan demand during an era when attendance around the country has been on decline with the experience of Television becoming more of a preferred option with its low cost and flexibility. But while the Nation is falling more and more in love with the recliner, Louisville Fans are falling more and more in love with Football. And that’s going to continue moving into the ACC.

Let’s Compare the 2013 Schedule to the 2014 slate:

2013	2014
Ohio	Miami (FL)
EKU	Murray State
FIU	Wake Forest
Rutgers	NC State
UCF	Florida State
Houston	Kentucky
Memphis

Clearly the teams coming to Louisville in 2014 are MUCH more high-profile than in 2013. Still, Louisville’s highest attended game last season was the home opener versus Ohio. The Cards were fresh off a Sugar Bowl victory and the anticipation for the season was at a fever pitch.

In any given season the stakes get higher as the season goes along. But on the other hand as the season goes along the weather deteriorates as well. The interesting thing about the 2014 season is that Florida State (the defending national champion) and in-state rival Kentucky are the final two home games for the season. This creates a lot of opportunity for UofL to push an already record average attendance per game of 52,913.7 higher from 2013 to 2014. The Cards can’t actually put more butts in seats this coming year because Louisville is playing just 6 home games as opposed to 7 from a year prior.

But just because UofL has lost a home game off its schedule for 2014 doesn’t mean that’s a bad thing. Murray State is the only ‘gimme’ on the home slate and the savings afford to Card fans who don’t have to buy the 7th ticket can reallocate those funds to the ACC Championship fund and/or the Bowl Game/College Football Playoff Fund. One quick side note to Louisville’s schedule is that the Cards final conference game is actually very early on 11/8 at Boston College and the last home conference game is 10/30 versus Florida State. That’s a BIG Change for 2014.

In any event, Louisville’s first season in the ACC is going to be HOTLY anticipated. Should Louisville expand it’s capacity? Will 2014 signal a fresh new demand for Cardinal Football seats or is it a one-time demand increase? Time will tell, but I do think that a small expansion to close the North End Zone is most certainly on the horizon.

Louisville also has plans for the South Side of Papa John’s with an Academic Center to be built for all student athletes. The Howard Schellenberger Complex on the North Side also is soon to be expanded as well.

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

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


	2003	2002	2001	2000	1999
	40205	42660	38129	42510	38147
	38489	38109	35214	41227	40332
	40432	34127	39256	38121	41214
	38119	32428	39389	39233	33879
	30114	36253	33627	38024	27261
	33268	35261	40479	30387	34786
	–	–	–	40328	41826
	–	–	–	–	–
Total	220627	218838	226094	269830	257445
Average	36771.2	36473	37682.3	38547.1	36777.9


	1998
	42643
	38231
	35479
	39247
	32649
	40349
	–
	–
Total	228598
Average	38099.7