LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Dr. Mark Lynn is the man behind not just one, but two massive soccer stadiums in Louisville.
Oddly enough, he hasn’t always been a fan of the sport.
“You could say I'm a soccer fan,” he said. “I didn't used to be. It used to be, 'Oh my gosh, we have to go to another soccer game?!’”
Lynn owns 90 Visionworks offices across six states. He’s the chairman of the Kentucky State Fair Board, chairman of the Board of Trustees of Simmons College of Kentucky, and he sits on several other advisory boards, including running the “snack shack” at his neighborhood pool.
His name has been on the soccer stadium at the University of Louisville for years. It’s called the Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium, but he admits it took his name going on the building to become a fan.
“You got your name on a soccer stadium, you better know something about soccer,” he said. “Soccer wasn't the reason we did it. It was the cause and the ability to help the university at that point ... The cause is make things better ... The athletic departments of almost any university are the front doors. When you go through the front door, that's when you see the bones, and that's when you see the rest of it.”
Lynn announced Monday his family’s name will also hang on the new Louisville City FC stadium in Butchertown. It will be called the Lynn Family Stadium.
Rendering of the exterior of the new soccer stadium courtesy of Louisville City FC.
“I see Lou City as the next big growth step to Louisville,” he said. "The same as what the soccer stadium was to U of L. This is a huge advancement for Louisville, the city, the state of Kentucky, the economic draw, the power it’s going to bring in to the city. The potential it has to really put us on the map. And how could you not want to be a part of that if Louisville is your city? And it’s mine. I was born here. It’s where my family is. It’s where my kids are.”
Lynn said there aren’t many personal benefits to his namesake, other than “just be nice,” he said.
“Be kind to each other. Be part of what's good. Do what's right, plain and simple. That's all it really means. Am I looking for a benefit or a financial return? Or to do TV? No, it's not important.”
Lynn said it's all about family.
“Without family, there's nothing,” he said.
And soon, the name “Lynn Family Stadium” will prove it.
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