U of L finds sponsor to restore faded Cardinal Stadium seats to original red

The University of Louisville held a press conference Thursday to announce a paint job.

Approximately 37,800 of Cardinal Stadium’s seats are gradually being restored to their original red from faded pink. The project will not be completed prior to U of L’s Sept. 2 opener against Notre Dame, but has attained enough urgency that athletic director Vince Tyra did not want to wait until the offseason.

“These buildings were built a long time ago,” Tyra said. “We say we’ve got great facilities until you go to other ACC schools and see they’ve got great-er.”

A new $1.5 million commitment from Zappos.com, payable over five years, will be used to finance the long-deferred maintenance that has been a visible source of frustration to Cardinal fans. In return, the stadium’s field suites will carry the name of the online retailer, which opened a store connected to its Louisville fulfillment center in April.

“Fans would love for (the seats) all to be red tomorrow,” Tyra said. “But it’s a labor-intensive process (to) water blast them and to sand then and fire them up with heat and coat ‘em.”

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Restoring the seats’ color and adding UV protection was deemed more cost-efficient than replacing the seats at an estimated cost of $6.5 million. Additionally, 3,000 bucket-style seats at U of L's baseball and softball stadia will be replaced with new slat-back seats. Some of the extracted seats will be stored as reserve stock for Cardinal Stadium.

Justin Brown, Zappos’ senior director of operations, is a 32-year-old Louisville native who remembers attending games at both the old Cardinal Stadium and the current one. His strongest memory of the pink seats, he said, was “never sitting in them.”

“I was always on the party deck,” he said.

Tyra, who held season tickets prior to his appointment as athletic director, said he remembered when his seats were “rosy red,” but that all of them have turned pink over time.

“I get bothered a lot about it,” he said, “maybe more than I should. (But) I’ve talked to other schools like East Carolina that get the same heat. Their purples are now gray and they’re very intrigued with what we’re doing here.”

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Tim Sullivan: 502-582-4650, tsullivan@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @TimSullivan714. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/tims.