Upcoming Louisville Cardinals Football dates
Dates and live ticket listings appear here as soon as they are on sale. The guide below covers what to know before you buy.
Choosing a Cardinals seat at L&N Stadium, fast
For most Louisville Cardinals football games, the seat to buy is in the lower bowl along either sideline between the 30-yard lines, about 10 to 25 rows up. That height clears the bench area and still feels close. If you want comfort and food included, look at the club seats on the east side or in the north end zone. If you want the lowest entry point, look at the south end zone and the upper corners.
The stadium is L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium, usually called L&N Stadium, at the south end of the University of Louisville campus. The home schedule runs from early September to late November. Since the north end zone was closed in for the 2019 season, the bowl wraps all the way around, which keeps crowd noise in and gives every seat a view of a full stadium.
- Best overall: lower west or east sideline, between the 30s.
- Best premium: east-side club seats near the PNC Club, or north end club seats.
- Best for a group on a budget: the Norton Healthcare Terrace standing area or the south end zone.
- Hardest ticket: Kentucky, in a year Louisville hosts the Governor's Cup.
West, east, north, south: what each side of L&N Stadium offers
The four sides of the stadium were built at different times, and each one gives you a different experience.
West sideline
This is the press box side, and the Brown & Williamson Club sits behind it. Midfield seats on the west side are as good a football view as the building has, and they are the original 1998 stands.
East sideline
The 2010 expansion added an upper deck here, along with 33 suites, roughly 1,725 club seats and the PNC Club, a glassed-in lounge that runs the length of the field. Upper-deck seats on the east side are high, but they sit over the middle of the field, so you see plays develop. A lighted University of Louisville sign on these stands faces Interstate 65.
North end zone
Completed in 2019, the north end mixes suites at field level, box seats on a club level and roughly 1,000 more club seats, all under the main video board. Club seats at this end are a good fit if you value amenities over a sideline angle.
South end zone
The Norton Healthcare Terrace is a standing area for about 2,500 people that links the two sidelines, and the bronze statue of Johnny Unitas stands above the seats. A second video board faces the field from this end. End zone seats here cost less, but low rows give a flat look at action at the far end.
A practical note: Louisville does not publish a sun and shade guide, and the athletics department places the student and visiting-team allotments. Check the seat map on your listing before you buy, and bring sun protection for an early-season afternoon kickoff wherever you sit.
Which Cardinals home games are worth planning around
The opponent sets the price and the crowd at L&N Stadium more than anything else.
- Kentucky: The Governor's Cup is the last regular-season game, hosted by Louisville one year and Lexington the next. It returned in 1994 following seven decades off. The stadium's record crowd, 59,225, came for Kentucky on November 25, 2023. Buy early in a home year.
- Miami: Howard Schnellenberger rebuilt both programs, and since 2023 the winner has taken home a trophy made from his bronzed boots. The teams are slated to play every year.
- Clemson and Florida State: These ACC visits pull big crowds, more so when a conference title is in play. The 63–20 rout of second-ranked Florida State in 2016 still comes up whenever the Seminoles visit.
- Cincinnati: The oldest and most-played rivalry, for the Keg of Nails. The annual series stopped after 2013, though the teams met again in the 2022 Fenway Bowl.
Early nonconference dates against regional opponents are the easiest games to get into, and they give you the widest choice of rows.
Card March, the rail-yard horn and Central Avenue tailgates
The stadium sits on Central Avenue, which the city calls the Sports Corridor because Churchill Downs, the Kentucky Exposition Center and the school's baseball stadium are all within about a mile. The large surface lots around the stadium are where tailgates set up. Lot assignments, parking passes and tailgating hours change by season, so read Louisville Athletics' gameday guide before you leave.
- Card March: Roughly 2 hours 15 minutes ahead of kickoff, players leave their buses on Floyd Street at the south end and enter at Gate 4 between lines of fans, the band, the cheerleaders and the Ladybirds dance team. Bad weather moves it behind the Schnellenberger Complex.
- The horn: The stadium stands on the former South Louisville Rail Yard, and that yard's old shift horn now sits in the north scoreboard, blasting after each Cardinals score.
- The Unitas statue: Players touch it for luck. It moved to the south end in 2017.
- The Marching Cards: Besides playing every home game, the band has been the one to play "My Old Kentucky Home" at the Kentucky Derby each year since 1938.
Entry and clear-bag rules at college stadiums are revised often; check the current policy at gocards.com before you go.
Getting a Louisville ticket: donors, students and resale
Louisville Athletics sells season tickets, single-game seats and premium inventory such as the east-side and north-end clubs and suites. The best season locations generally follow donor giving to the athletics program. Students draw from a separate allotment. For most of the schedule, seats remain available from the school.
The exceptions are Kentucky and the biggest ACC visits, which can sell through. For those games, resale from season-ticket holders is how most fans get in. Prices rise for rivalry dates and for late-season games with title stakes, and the whole schedule gets pricier when the team starts fast. Lower-profile games usually leave the most room to choose rows. Every Reserved Seat order is backed by a 100% guarantee.
College kickoff times are often set only a week or two ahead, so keep travel plans flexible until the time is posted.
From Frank Camp to Lamar Jackson: Cardinals background
Louisville first fielded a team in 1912. Frank Camp, coach from 1946 to 1968 and still the program's winningest coach, recruited Johnny Unitas and brought the program's first Black scholarship players to campus in 1954, early for Southern college football. His team won the Sun Bowl on January 1, 1958, 34–20 over Drake, to finish 9–1.
Howard Schnellenberger, a Louisville native fresh off a national title at Miami, coached from 1985 to 1994. His 1990 team went 10–1–1 and routed Alabama in the 1991 Fiesta Bowl, and he pushed for the on-campus stadium. It opened on September 5, 1998, with 42,000 seats; Kentucky won the opener 68–34, and Louisville won every other home game that year. The building was Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, then simply Cardinal Stadium starting in 2018; a 20-year agreement made it L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium in 2023. The 2010 east-side expansion lifted capacity to 55,000, and the 2019 north end project added roughly 5,800 to 6,000 more, depending on the account.
- 2004–2007: A school-record 20 straight home wins, ended by Syracuse.
- 2007 Orange Bowl: Bobby Petrino's 12–1 Big East champions win the program's first Bowl Championship Series game.
- 2013 Sugar Bowl: Charlie Strong's team beats Florida.
- 2014: Louisville joins the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
- 2016: Lamar Jackson throws for 30 touchdowns, runs for 21 more and sweeps the Heisman (a school first), Maxwell and Walter Camp awards.
- 2023: A 10–2 regular season and a first trip to the ACC Championship Game.
Frequently asked questions
Is L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium fully enclosed?
Yes. The north end zone expansion completed in 2019 closed the last open end, so the bowl now wraps around the field. Capacity is usually listed at about 60,800.
Which side of L&N Stadium has the club seats?
The east side holds about 1,725 club seats, 33 suites and the PNC Club, and the north end zone adds about 1,000 more club seats. The Brown & Williamson Club sits behind the press box on the west side.
When does Louisville play Kentucky?
It closes the regular season every year, with Louisville and Lexington taking turns as host. Look at the current schedule to see which city has it.
What is the Norton Healthcare Terrace?
It is a standing area at the south end of the stadium that holds about 2,500 people and connects the two sidelines. It is a lower-cost way to be in the building with a group.
What was the stadium called before 2023?
It opened in 1998 as Papa John's Cardinal Stadium and became Cardinal Stadium in 2018. The L&N Federal Credit Union name arrived in 2023.
How early should I arrive for the Card March?
Get to Floyd Street, at the south end, roughly 2 hours 15 minutes ahead of kickoff. That is when players leave their buses and head in through Gate 4.