LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium now has the signage to go along with its name.

Louisville's largest credit union became the naming-rights sponsor of Cardinal Stadium nearly five years after the University of Louisville canceled its deal with Papa Johns International founder John Schnatter. 

The stadium is now known as L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium, or L&N Stadium, for which the credit union will pay U of L's athletics department $41.3 million over 20 years, according to an agreement.

L&N is already one of the biggest corporate sponsors of U of L athletics. It holds the naming rights to U of L's volleyball arena, a 2019 deal that was extended and incorporated as part of the stadium deal. L&N was also the primary donor to Denny Crum Hall, a new athletics dormitory named for the Hall of Fame basketball coach.

L&N owes annual payments beginning this year at $1.7 million, with each payment growing by 2% annually until reaching about $2.5 million in 2042.

The 60,000-seat facility on Floyd Street had been called Papa John's Cardinal Stadium until July 2018, when then-U of L President Neeli Bendapudi decided to remove the reference to Schnatter and his company following Schnatter's admitted use of a racial slur during a private conference call.

In 2019, U of L agreed to pay Schnatter $9.5 million over five years to relinquish his naming rights, which were contracted through 2040.

Built in the 1990s, the stadium was partially financed with $20 million from Schnatter and his former company – $14 million in personal gifts and $6 million from Papa John's, according to agreements and extensions previously obtained by WDRB.

The naming privilege was personally held by Schnatter, and the contract lacked a "morals clause" that would have made it easy for U of L to revoke in the case Schnatter came into disrepute. The L&N agreement includes such a clause, which applies to both parties.

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