LOUISVILLE, Ky. — (AP) — Online apparel retailer Zappos.com has made a five-year, $1.5 million commitment to Louisville athletics to refurbish lower bowl seats in Cardinal Stadium and restore their red color.
The university said in a news release the approximately 37,800 lower bowl seats were installed during the stadium's 1998 construction. The release said replacing the seats would cost $6.5 million, but an industrial UV protective coating will be applied on the existing seats to restore the color and strengthen the seats.
The school also plans to replace 3,000 bucket-style seats in the softball and baseball stadiums with new slat-back seats. About 1,000 of the extracted seats will be coated with the UV protection and kept in storage as reserves for Cardinal Stadium.
Las Vegas-based Zappos.com has warehouses in Kentucky. Its name will be placed above the Cardinal Stadium field suites.