Leading up to the 2018 NCAA football season, Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium will receive the finishing touches of its ongoing expansion project.
The University of Louisville has been working to complete a major expansion of Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, with much of the work focused on the north end. Through this project, it has been expected that the school will add about 10,000 seats to the stadium while installing two new videoboards. Furthermore, the construction is expected to result in modernized and expanded player facilities.
Work on the first phase began after the 2016 season, but more major projects remain ahead. Between now and the start of next season, construction crews will work to wrap up the project and currently anticipate that it will be ready for the 2018 campaign. More from The Courier-Journal:
As the Cardinals’ season winds down, two more cranes have edged onto the north end zone. The number of workers on site has multiplied. The Messer Construction Company, led by senior project manager Jason Larkin, has begun a two-week process of moving papers, lights and furniture out of the Howard Schnellenberger Complex to gut the interior and rebuild it.
After the Cards left for their bowl game in Jacksonville on Monday, the contractors could start their busiest work. They will clear out the team’s complex, moving the weight room next door to the Trager Center and dispersing offices throughout the rest of the stadium, turn the water and power off and begin “gutting everything,” Larkin said.
The Louisville athletic department and the construction company have a contract to complete the project in the next eight months, before the start of next season. Larkin’s goal is to finish by the beginning of training camp in July.
The $63-million project was originally expected to be completed prior to the 2019 season, but significant progress on the fundraising effort allowed Louisville to accelerate its schedule and plan for the work to wrap up in 2018.
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