Tom Jurich recently spoke yet again on how hard he's pushing to expand Louisville's stadium whose capacity is now currently at 55,000 (only 6,000 shy of Kentucky's recently-reduced capacity). In Jurich's quotes it seems like he really realizes how important seating capacity is when it comes to the perception of a program; how much of a home-field advantage those extra seats offer; and how much pride a fanbase takes in it.
"I'm going to continue to look and push that stadium expansion," Jurich said on "Ramsey and Rutherford" on 93.9 The Ville. "I don't want to do it until we know we can do it right and have it first-class. I want it to be something much, much more than bowling in an end zone. Anybody can do that with bleachers; I'm not going to do that."
Jurich said he wants any expansion of the stadium, which has a current capacity of 55,000, to have "a lot of amenities and have it really tricked up so that really our fan base has something to be extremely proud of."
"Because it would probably be the last thing I do here as far as an expansion of the stadium," he said. "We don't really have anywhere else to go. That would give us a great opportunity to do it right and to make it look beautiful and just top that whole thing off."
He concluded: "We're still looking real hard and doing our due diligence on the stadium expansion, but I think we are moving that way."
I hate Louisville with all my heart, but you really have to admire an athletics director like this who has taken a program from mid-major to top-25 team and continues to try and one-up the state's traditional football team (that has twice the football fanbase, history, tradition, boosters, etc of Louisville).
With this coming stadium expansion it's clear that Jurich is working to further solidify Louisville's status as the state's dominant football program by having the largest football stadium in the state, which would be the last item on his check-list of goals in passing up Kentucky. As a Kentucky fan it's a really disheartening and helpless feeling to sit back and watch Louisville continue to push and rise in football, while Mitch Barnhart (who probably means well and seems like a really nice guy who wants to build a comprehensive athletics department rather than focusing on the dominant program) just doesn't really seem to have the vision and gumption, even though he has so so many more advantages than Jurich has to work with. What I wouldn't give to be able to go back and trade athletics directors. I know this post will probably get deleted (which is sad) but hopefully it won't, because maybe it's stuff like this that will push Barnhart to work even harder to build our football program.
According to the Courier-Journal a $55 million stadium expansion was approved in Louisville's capital plan (a list of all potential projects through 2022) in early June.
"I'm going to continue to look and push that stadium expansion," Jurich said on "Ramsey and Rutherford" on 93.9 The Ville. "I don't want to do it until we know we can do it right and have it first-class. I want it to be something much, much more than bowling in an end zone. Anybody can do that with bleachers; I'm not going to do that."
Jurich said he wants any expansion of the stadium, which has a current capacity of 55,000, to have "a lot of amenities and have it really tricked up so that really our fan base has something to be extremely proud of."
"Because it would probably be the last thing I do here as far as an expansion of the stadium," he said. "We don't really have anywhere else to go. That would give us a great opportunity to do it right and to make it look beautiful and just top that whole thing off."
He concluded: "We're still looking real hard and doing our due diligence on the stadium expansion, but I think we are moving that way."
I hate Louisville with all my heart, but you really have to admire an athletics director like this who has taken a program from mid-major to top-25 team and continues to try and one-up the state's traditional football team (that has twice the football fanbase, history, tradition, boosters, etc of Louisville).
With this coming stadium expansion it's clear that Jurich is working to further solidify Louisville's status as the state's dominant football program by having the largest football stadium in the state, which would be the last item on his check-list of goals in passing up Kentucky. As a Kentucky fan it's a really disheartening and helpless feeling to sit back and watch Louisville continue to push and rise in football, while Mitch Barnhart (who probably means well and seems like a really nice guy who wants to build a comprehensive athletics department rather than focusing on the dominant program) just doesn't really seem to have the vision and gumption, even though he has so so many more advantages than Jurich has to work with. What I wouldn't give to be able to go back and trade athletics directors. I know this post will probably get deleted (which is sad) but hopefully it won't, because maybe it's stuff like this that will push Barnhart to work even harder to build our football program.
According to the Courier-Journal a $55 million stadium expansion was approved in Louisville's capital plan (a list of all potential projects through 2022) in early June.
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