Cardinal Stadium was a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. It was on the grounds of the

Kentucky Exposition Center The Kentucky Exposition Center (KEC), is a large multi-use facility in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. Originally built in 1956. It is overseen by the Kentucky Venues and is the sixth largest facility of its type in the U.S., with of indoor ...

, and was called Fairgrounds Stadium when it first opened for an NFL exhibition football game between the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

and

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

on September 9, 1956. It was demolished in 2019.

History

The lone

Bluegrass Bowl The Bluegrass Bowl was a college football bowl game that was played only once, on December 13, 1958, at Cardinal Stadium (later known as "Old Cardinal Stadium") in Louisville, Kentucky. The Oklahoma State Cowboys defeated Florida State Seminoles, ...

was held here in 1958. Cardinal Stadium was home to the Louisville Raiders football team from 1960 through 1962. It was the home to two minor league baseball teams in Louisville: the

Louisville Colonels The Louisville Colonels were a Major League Baseball team that also played in the American Association (AA) throughout that league's ten-year existence from 1882 until 1891. They were known as the Louisville Eclipse from 1882 to 1884, and as ...

in 1957-1962 and again in 1968–1972 and the

Louisville Redbirds Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

in 1982–1999. It was to be the home of the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

Kansas City Athletics The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 seas ...

when their owner

Charlie Finley Charles Oscar Finley (February 22, 1918 – February 19, 1996), nicknamed Charlie O or Charley O, was an American businessman who owned Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics. Finley purchased the franchise while it was located in Kansas Cit ...

signed a contract to move the team to Louisville in 1964, but the American League owners voted against the move. The Kentucky Trackers of the AFA played at Cardinal Stadium 1979–1980. It also served as the home of the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...

football team from 1957 to 1997 and their baseball team from 1998–2004. It was also used heavily as a

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

football stadium, hosting state championship games from 1964 to 2002, including hosting all four state championship games played annually 1979–2002. Fairgrounds Cardinal Stadium

The stadium was renamed Cardinal Stadium in 1982 when the

(now the Louisville Bats) of the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

became co-tenants of the stadium. Cardinal Stadium hosted the 1991

Triple-A All-Star Game The Triple-A All-Star Game was an annual baseball game held from 1988 to 2019 between professional players from the affiliated Triple-A leagues of Minor League Baseball. These leagues were the International League (IL) and Pacific Coast League ( ...

. The team of

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

-affiliated All-Stars defeated the team of

-affiliated All-Stars, 6–5. After the university's football team moved into the new on-campus

Cardinal Stadium Cardinal Stadium, formerly known as Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, is a football stadium located in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, on the southern end of the campus of the University of Louisville. Debuting in 1998, it serves as the home o ...

in 1998 and the Redbirds moved

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Louisville Slugger Field Louisville Slugger Field is a baseball stadium in Louisville, Kentucky. The baseball-specific stadium opened in 2000 with a seating capacity of 13,131. It is currently home to the professional baseball team, the Louisville Bats, Triple-A affiliate ...

in 2000, the stadium was largely vacant for the rest of its life, with its primary use as a venue for music concert and automotive events occurring during the

Kentucky State Fair The Kentucky State Fair is the official state fair of Kentucky which takes place at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Kentucky, Louisville. More than 600,000 fairgoers fill the of indoor and outdoor exhibits; activities include sampli ...

. Outside of the concerts for the Kentucky State Fair, the Rolling Stones played a concert at Cardinal Stadium on September 19, 1989, as part of the Steel Wheels Tour. Living Color opened for the legendary rock band. Boy band N'Sync performed at Cardinal Stadium on August 10, 2001, as part of the PopOdyssey Tour. From 2001 to 2003, the Bands of America Louisville Regional Championships were held at the stadium.

Demolition

Local proposals included the demolition of Cardinal Stadium in order to build a new arena, as part of a long term push to build a new indoor-facility to replace the aging

Freedom Hall Freedom Hall is a multi-purpose arena in Louisville, Kentucky, on the grounds of the Kentucky Exposition Center, which is owned by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It is best known for its use as a basketball arena, previously serving as the home ...

, which is also at the Exposition Center. This became moot with the 2010 opening of the downtown KFC Yum! Center and continued use of Freedom Hall as a venue for concerts and smaller sporting events. More recent plans from the Kentucky State Fair Board sought to demolish this facility to build an outdoor amphitheater with permanent seating for 12,000. On April 26, 2013, the Kentucky State Fair Board stated that the seating in the stadium was unstable for people to sit in. Seating was placed on the field for concerts at the 2013 and 2014 Kentucky State Fair. Demolition of the most unsafe portions of the stadium (mainly the football-specific east grandstand) began on November 17, 2014. During its 2018 regular session, the

Kentucky General Assembly The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It comprises the Kentucky Senate and the Kentucky House of Representatives. The General Assembly meets annually in the ...

approved funds for the complete demolition of Old Cardinal Stadium, and in September of that year, the president of the Kentucky State Fair Board told legislators that complete demolition would start sometime in early 2019. The Fair Board has issued a request for proposals by private contractors to redevelop the stadium site. Demolition was to officially commence the afternoon of January 24, 2019, with a media event featuring Governor

Matt Bevin Matthew Griswold Bevin (; born January 9, 1967) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 62nd governor of Kentucky, from 2015 to 2019. He was the third Republican elected Kentucky governor since World War II, after Ernie Fletc ...

. The media event was cancelled. After weather-related delays, demolition officially began on March 20, 2019. Demolition was completed in June 2019.

References

External links

Minor League Ballparks page on Cardinal Stadium
{{Authority control Defunct baseball venues in the United States Defunct minor league baseball venues Defunct college baseball venues in the United States Defunct college football venues Defunct college soccer venues in the United States Louisville Cardinals baseball Louisville Cardinals football Sports venues in Louisville, Kentucky American football venues in Kentucky Baseball venues in Kentucky Defunct sports venues in Kentucky Music venues in Kentucky Kentucky State Fair Sports venues demolished in 2019 1956 establishments in Kentucky Sports venues completed in 1956 2019 disestablishments in Kentucky Soccer venues in Kentucky

History

Demolition

See also

References

External links