Venue Detail
Louisville Fire
Revenues From Sports Venues Pro Facilities Report
January, 2010
Louisville Fire
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1701 UPS Dr Louisville, KY 40223 Phone: 502-368-0009 Fax: 502-368-4006 URL: www.louisvillefirefootball.com Owner: Will Wolford League: arenafootball2 American Conference, East
Venue
Freedom Hall, Athletic Department, Louisville, KY 40292 Owner: State of Kentucky Managed by: AEG Facilities Built: 1956 Capacity: 18,865 Concessionaire: Centerplate
Ticket prices
Season tickets range from $88 to $328 Single tickets range from $8.00 to $28.00 2007 average attendance: 8,863 2008 average attendance: 7,467
Luxury Suites
Quantity: 24 Term: 5 to 5 years Price: $75,000 to $75,000 Seats: 12 to 12 Includes: Parking.
The Venue is owned by the state and is used by the Panthers, af2 Fire and the University of Louisville. University suite holders in the stadium get the right to buy up to eight extra standing room only tickets. In the arena, suite holders may buy up to 10 standing room tickets.
University suite holders who have suites at the arena may also buy suites at the stadium for $20,000 instead of the retail price of $30,000.
Louisville officials will form a committee to begin planning for a new downtown arena. The group's job will be to determine if a new arena is feasible. They will do the work on their own without outside consultants.
The city has made plans for an arena before, most recently when it tried to land an NBA franchise. In addition to problems attracting the franchise, community leaders also disagreed over where the building should be built. The University of Louisville also balked at playing at the new building and suggested it wanted to build a facility of its own.
Leaders seem to agree that it is a good time to plan for a new building, but not necessarily to move ahead with construction.
In 2003, the Kentucky State Fair Board proposed a new arena. The current venue, Freedom Hall, hosts the University of Louisville's basketball teams and a new Venue would provide better services for the school.
Over the past several years several groups with different agendas have proposed a new arena. The fair board proposed a $150 million, 20,000-seat Venue on its six-year capital plan. That plan was presented to the state's Capital Planning Advisory Board for funding no sooner than 2006.
In 2002, a university study found it would cost nearly as much to renovate Freedom Hall to meet the school's needs as it would to build a new arena. The information came from a study commissioned by the university when the city was considering building a new arena to host the Charlotte Hornets. The Hornets opted instead to go to New Orleans.
A new arena for the university would cost an estimated $148 million, according to the study done by the Rosser International and Luckett and Farley architectural firms. Renovation would cost $118 million to $137 million.
School officials said they didn't expect to start work on the project for a few years, but the issue is part of their near-term plan. The school also needs to determine how it would fund the project.
The current arena seats 19,000 and has 24 luxury suites. A plan costing $118 million would boost seating to 25,000 with 28 suites. A $120 million plan would increase seating to 22,000 and would add club seats and other premium seating. The most expensive plan would increase total seating to 30,000 and the total number of luxury suites to 56. A new practice facility is included in all plans. (Facilities, Financial, Professional Sports, Venue, Football)