Some would say it was inevitable that a smoking ban would be imposed at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium.

Possibly so, with so much interference in individual decisions of late. One can’t have people making these decisions for themselves. [pullquote]

Brown & Williamson came to the rescue, forking over $3 million, providing much-needed momentum for the fund raising effort.

[/pullquote]

So few people actually smoke at University of Louisville football games that someone in the administration calculated that smokers would be easy targets. Indeed, smokers themselves rarely ever put up much of a fight.

Nobody in authority seemed to have much of a problem with smokers when Malcolm Chancey was shaking every corporate tree during stadium fund raising efforts in the early Nineties. Smoking was generally regarded as an American custom.

Brown & Williamson came to the rescue (with a lot of urging from the observer who was working there at the time), forking over $3 million and providing much-needed momentum for the fund raising effort. B&W was a corporate hero at the time.

Maybe former B&W employees should get a special dispensation under the new policy. What’s next? Renaming the Brown & Williamson Club to the Universal Health Care Club? Where did we file that sponsorship contract anyway.

What’s your take on the issue?

Share this

By Charlie Springer

Charlie Springer is a former Louisville editor and sportswriter, a public affairs consultant, a UofL grad and longtime fan.

20 thoughts on “Smokers become targets at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium”
  1. I also worked in the tobacco industry for 25 years and my money i spend at the games is tobacco money. I had no problem when they told us we could not smoke in the stadium seats. We would gladly walk out to the sidewalks or grass area as we did last game, but yet was hassled to put our cigarettes out. If non smokers don’t want to be around us , stay away from where we could have a smoking area. Drinking is just as hazardous as smoking. They sell alcohol and licquer to people , but are not concerned about people going out and hitting, injuring or killing innocent people on the streets. That’s because they make BIG money off alcohol and don’t make money off cigarettes/smokers. Give the smokers a place to smoke in the grassy area or even down by the fence. We have already been told if we go out the gates we will be denied re- entery. I really feel this is illegal and am going to check into this. If this doesn’t change soon, i will give up my tickets and support some other school. For a school who should be teaching against dictatorship, University of Louisville has become a dictator, and I will not support this kind of school.

  2. I can remember going to Freedom Hall as a boy with my Dad back in the early 60’s to watch Louisville play basketball and seeing the smoky haze that hung over the court. You could smoke in your seats in those days. I was obviously too young to smoke then…but it left an impression on me

    Fast forward now to the 2010 season at PJCS. No smoking in the stadium.

    Americans have the freedom to vote, drink, drive, and smoke. There are restrictions on all four. I think smokers should be allowed to congregate in specifically designed areas of PJCS if they have the desire to smoke.

    And, I guarantee you that smoking will still go on in PJCS…maybe not in the seats or under the stands…but out in the grassy areas on the south side of the stadium….for example.

    Personal freedoms…you want to smoke, you should be able to as long as it isn’t around someone who is opposed to it.

    I personally hope the U of L football team is smoking on Sept. 4th. I’ll fire up a victory cigar if they win.

  3. Can someone tell me the health benefits of smoking? Did I miss something? I have a relative that has smoked since they were 14. They now have COPD. That’s a fancy way of saying emphysema. I know it’s all about choice, live & learn, etc. If people only knew it does to them, people wouldn’t smoke. You know, they make beer without alcohol. Some soft drinks are caffiene free. Why not make a cigarette without nicotine? Never happen because that’s what keeps smokers smoking.

    Personally, I can’t stand the smell. It’s a vile stench. A sweaty, burnt salt odor. But hey who am I to judge? If people want to smell bad they have that right. People have every right to smoke. I also have the right to not breathe that toxic combination of chemicals. You want to smoke, do the non- or former smokers a favor. Don’t exhale.

    1. I have to agree with you CardRon, I have never smoked and to breathe someone’s cigarette smoke is vile to me. I never minded when people would smoke on the concourses, but EVERY game there were people sneaking one in their seats and it seemed I was a magnet for their smoke. I don’t try to impede on those that choose to smoke, I believe we must respect each other’s choices, yet have some boundaries. Fortunately, when I was in college I worked as a Surgical Tech and I saw firsthand what cigarettes do to a smoker’s greyish-black stained lungs vs. non-smokers healthy pink lungs and decided I would never subject my lungs to cigarettes. It will be interesting to see how they plan to enforce the new no smoking rule though.

    2. Speaking of toxic fumes…I assume you won’t be driving any longer…I am almost certain a trip to the store generates more toxic fumes than a stadium full of smokers…and get rid of that grill and don’t even think about sitting around a camp fire! Noone is suggesting that you do mouth to mouth with smokers as they exhale…just provide an area for people who do have a right to smoke if they want to…I choose not to smoke…My Choice! No one elses!
      Ticket’s were sold to smokers to a stadium with smoking sections and now they want to change the terms of the contract…how would you feel if tomorrow they made the entire Stadium smoking…that’s right, screwed just like all the smokers are feeling right now! If smokers don’t have a right to smoke then government should not have the right to tax it at an 80% clip!!!

  4. I haven’t smoked for 16 years but I don’t like to be around smokers. Why? You might think it’s because of worrying about second hand smoke but while that’s a reason it isn’t the big one.

    When I am around smokers I still get cravings to smoke. And I don’t want to. I don’t like temptations. And that’s what I find in smokers. Is that my fault? Yes, probably but lead me not into temptation.

  5. I’m a non smoker, but i don’t like when ultimatums are made against a certain group or individual. If there is a reasonable solution that could accommodate why not? The grass areas or lower sidewalks could be that answer. Solutions to a problem take effort. More and more it seems people want to make it a “PC” decision – That’s the easy way out! Little thought little effort.

    1. Side benefit of this action: Smokers won’t linger under the stands puffing away during the game, thus more butts in the seats. Possible side disbenefit: Smokers may linger with “just one more” at the car before heading in for the game, thus possibly delaying their arrival until after kick-off.

  6. Right on Charlie! Am a non-smoker but let’s make some type of accomodation for smokers in an open-air stadium.

  7. The liberals impose a lot of values on people, mostly health-related. They really don’t care about morals.

  8. I honestly think a lot of the problem is that non-smokers are secretly jealous that people actually enjoy smoking. Really. They can’t stand it.

  9. We can thank Hillary for the trend of demonizing smokers. I could understand if someone smoked during a game but I don’t think I’ve seen anyone smoke in a seat at Papa John’s. It has happened probably but not often. As for the proven part on secondhand smoke, I guess when government throws as many millions as it has to prove something, the outcome is never in question. I said smoking was a custom not a right, by the way.

  10. I worked for a tobacco company for a lot of years too, Charlie, but let’s be honest. Sidestream smoke is a proven health risk for non-smokers. Whose freedom of choice is impinged when I’m sitting in my assigned seat and find I’m downwind from a smoker? The old adage is, “Your freedom to swing your fist ends where the other guy’s nose begins.”

    The early nineties were almost twenty years ago, and society takes a different view of smoking now. The same goes for drunk driving – are we going to be complaining about drinkers’ rights being violated next?

  11. I’ll weigh in on this one. Someone is going to complain about paying for the health care of smokers. That’s a bogus argument because smokers pay more taxes than anyone else in their income levels, no matter how poor or how rich they are. They pay more taxes. These taxes support schools, roads, cancer-research programs, general fund, what ever else the greedy state and federal governments want to fund.

Comments are closed.