Too Much Blue at Louisville-Kentucky Game

Among the most disconcerting things for Louisville fans attending the UofL-Kentucky football game were the large patches of blue throughout Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. The  largest contingent of UK fans, outside of the visitors’ sections on the east side and the south end zone, was located in Section 208.

Section 208 is prime seating, located right behind the visiting team’s bench on the 40-yard line. The section is also one of those featured prominently when the TV cameras span the field. As a result, it looks almost like a neutral field on the tube.

Why were there so many UK fans in that section, one with some of the highest priced seats in the stadium? Well, these tickets belong to local companies who dole out their tickets to their customers out in the state. The corporate sections are always the last ones to be filled, even for the best games.

A Courier-Journal survey a few years ago indicated that UofL fans outnumber UK fans in Louisville by 65% to 33% in Louisville.

Companies should not have that difficult a time giving tickets to local fans, as the co-owner of a local engineering company indicated he did to this observer a while back. The more likely scenario is that the tickets sit around in a football-hating administrative assistant’s desk drawer.

Wouldn’t it be nice to know the names of other companies, who love to boast about their community involvement, that give their tickets to opposing fans? Some don’t even distribute tickets for other games. Soaking up community resources and talent, they do the obligatory thing of making donations and buying tickets, but their loyalty to UofL sports ends there.