Though Cardinal Stadium, former home of the Louisville Redbirds (Class AAA; American Association), is rapidly deteriorating and should be town down soon, according to an engineering report.
The facility, known as Fairgrounds Stadium when it opened in 1957, was home to pro baseball in Louisville between 1982 and 1999, when the team moved to Louisville Slugger Field and adopted the Bats moniker in 2002. It’s a huge place, a 47,000-seat football stadium where 19,000 baseball fans were crammed into one end of the facility. Over the years it’s served as home to University of Louisville football; since the team moved to Jim Patterson Stadium, the facility has been used mainly for concerts at the Kentucky State Fair and horse-related expositions.
And even that use will end this August, after State Fair officials decided to divert concertgoers from the grandstand this summer and instead seating them on temporary bleachers. From the Louisville Courier Journal:
Amanda Storment, fair board spokeswoman, said in an interview Wednesday that the board estimates it will cost $9 million to $11 million to demolish the stadium. She said that funds to raze the stadium are a top capital project request of the fair board being submitted to state tourism officials for the upcoming 2014 General Assembly.
She said repairing the structure would be cost-prohibitive.
The Senler firm’s report recommended that the outer perimeter of the stadium’s grandstand area be roped off at a distance of 15 to 20 feet, as a precaution in the event of falling brick and concrete.
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