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The Louisville football program is changing its stadium’s name. Amid the ongoing scandal with Papa John’s founder John Schnatter — which led to his resignation from the Louisville board of trustees and his company’s chairman — the Cardinals will no longer have the Papa John’s name plastered on the side of their stadium.
Louisville president Neeli Bendapudi confirmed the venue will now simply be known as Cardinal Stadium.
Mark Ennis of 93.9 The Ville added on Twitter:
Bendapudi says the decision was hers alone. She took input from others but it is her personal prerogative as president so she made it. Signage will be removed ASAP. Bendapudi says she spoke with Schnatter. He apologized. He was contrite and supports the decision to remove the name so as to not be a distraction.
UofL President Neeli Bendapudi announces she has renamed the football stadium simply “Cardinal Stadium”. States she also has the support of the board of trustees for the move. pic.twitter.com/zs9nDFo1wx
— Mark Ennis (@MarkEnnis) July 13, 2018
The current naming rights deal with Schantter was through 2040, so there is no word on whether Louisville can immediately begin looking for a new naming rights sponsor or whether they will be forced to pay out a portion of the remaining deal.
The University of Louisville has also decided to take John Schnatter’s name off of the business school.
This was just the latest string of negative publicity for the Papa John’s founder, who resigned after using the n-word in a conference call. He had previously stepped down as the company CEO in December after claiming national anthem protests by NFL players were hurting his company’s pizza sales.
