Papa John's, Schnatters Give U Of L Stadium $10m

(Monday, August 27, 2007) - The timetable for expanding Papa John's Cardinal Stadium remains up in the air. But the project's financing got a major boost yesterday from the facility's title sponsor.

Papa John's Inc., its founder John Schnatter and wife, Annette, gave the University of Louisville $10 million toward stadium expansion, the largest gift ever bestowed upon the school's athletic department.

"This really puts us well on our way," U of L athletic director Tom Jurich said. "Everybody always knew that a lead gift was going to be the key thing."

The Schnatters are giving $6 million, and Papa John's Inc. $4 million.

U of L will add 21,000 seats to the stadium, raising capacity to about 63,000. The original plan called for the expansion to be ready for the start of the 2009 season.

But the school needs permission from the Kentucky General Assembly to begin construction. The legislature did not address the project during a special session earlier this month and won't consider it again before January. Because of that, Jurich said expansion now cannot be completed before 2010.

Jurich said the Papa John's gift puts U of L "a good two-thirds or three-quarters" of the way toward its private financing goal. The school had hoped to raise $30 million in donations and issue $35 million in bonds to pay for the expansion. But the delay may cause the original $65 million to increase as construction and material costs rise.

Papa John's International will receive several benefits from U of L in exchange for the $10 million gift, company spokesman Chris Sternberg said.

The company's naming rights deal for the stadium will be extended through 2040, or seven additional years. Papa John's also will be given increase signage on the expanded stadium, including two new signs facing east toward Interstate 65.

The company also will receive 20 season tickets in the stadium's upper deck, along with additional parking passes and other benefits.

Papa John's Inc. has now donated more than $20 million to U of L over the last 10 years. Schnatter noted that he and his wife grew up within a few miles of the stadium in working class families. He said expansion will allow more fans to see the Cardinals.

"This addition lets the working man and the working women and their families get tickets to this world class program," Schnatter said. "We've had a lot of fun with this program, so to be able to share it with the average man and average woman gives us a great deal of pleasure."

First-year head coach Steve Kragthorpe called the gift "a tremendous day for Cardinal football" and said the eventual expansion will provide his team an even better home field advantage.

"It shows the commitment that we have from our lead sponsor," Jurich said. "What it also does is it creates a lot of momentum. Fundraising has gone extremely well for this project even with the time delay, and there are a lot of corporations that have jumped in. I think they will really be spurred on because of this."

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