Cardinal Stadium

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See also University of Phoenix Stadium for the current home of the Arizona Cardinals football team.

Signage on Cardinal Stadium

Cardinal Stadium is the name of a former college and minor league baseball and college football stadium in Louisville, Kentucky. It is on the grounds of the Kentucky Exposition Center, and was called Fairgrounds Stadium when it first opened its doors to baseball in 1957.

The lone Bluegrass Bowl 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 in 1968-1972 and the Louisville Redbirds in 1982-1999. It was to be the home of the American League Kansas City Athletics when their owner Charles O. Finley 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 football team from 1957-1997 and their baseball team 1998-2004. It was also used heavily as a high school football stadium, hosting state championship games from in 1964-2002, including hosting all four state championship games played annually 1979-2002. Several local schools also played some games in Cardinal Stadium prior to 1998, including the annual St. Xavier-Trinity rivalry featuring the two major boys Catholic high schools in the city.

Cardinal Stadium from a distance

The stadium was renamed Cardinal Stadium in 1982, due to the stadium being renovated to be primarily a football stadium for the University. Coincidentally, the Louisville Redbirds of the American Association, the AAA team of the St. Louis Cardinals, became co-tenants of the stadium that same year.

The stadium is now largely vacant, with its primary use as a venue for events at the Kentucky State Fair. This is due to the University's football team moving into Papa John's Cardinal Stadium in 1998, the minor league baseball team, now named the Louisville Bats and playing in the International League, moving into Louisville Slugger Field in 2000, and finally the University's baseball team moving into Jim Patterson Stadium in 2005.

There was talk about tearing down Cardinal Stadium in order to build a new indoor arena, as part of the long term push to build a new indoor-facility to replace the aging Freedom Hall which is also at the Exposition Center, however, this is not likely to happen in the near future, as the city is building a new downtown arena. The most recent plans from the Kentucky State Fair Board seek to demolish this facility to build an outdoor amphitheater with permanent seating for 12,000.