The fallout continues for Papa John’s.
To cap the same week in which founder John Schnatter left the company for good, the University of Louisville has dropped the Papa John’s name from its football stadium. Moving forward, Papa John’s Stadium will be known as Cardinal Stadium. The move comes after multiple Louisville players lobbied for the name to be changed.
Schnatter, who also has left the University of Louisville Board of Trustees, supported the move to change the name of the venue, in order to keep it from becoming a distraction.
Schnatter’s woes began last November, when he blamed the NFL during an earnings call for the company’s financial struggles -- even though the call covered a period of time when the NFL wasn’t in season. Some within the NFL power structure believe that Schnatter acted at the behest of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who was engaged in a power struggle over Commissioner Roger Goodell’s new contract.
Diminished but not excommunicated in the aftermath of the NFL misadventures, word emerged recently that Schnatter made racially-insensitive comments during a conference call aimed at trying to improve his image.
