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Louisville basketball — and the city's obsession with it — is different.
"It's a glorious place," coach Pat Kelsey told reporters last week in Buffalo, New York, before his team's first-round NCAA Tournament win over South Florida. "I've lived elsewhere for many, many years throughout my life — grew up not too far from it, coached in a bunch of different places around the country. But I haven't been to a place like Louisville.
"It stands still when the Cardinals play. It stands still. When we win, it is bright blue skies and sunny. When we lose, there's a cloud over it; people are in a bad mood walking around town. That's what makes it great — the passion that people have."
The 22,090-seat KFC Yum! Center is the product of that passion. There's no larger basketball-specific venue across Division I.
Across 17 games at 1 Arena Plaza during Year 2 of the Kelsey era, UofL fans inched closer to meeting a standard they set during the program's heyday — one of the country's most consistently intimidating home environments.
"Louisville has been just as hungry to win this game as us," J'Vonne Hadley told The Courier Journal after the Cards beat the Bulls for their first March Madness victory since 2017.
"Unless you stand on that podium and the confetti is coming down, you don't meet the standard," Kelsey added after UofL's season came to an end with a loss to Michigan State in the Round of 32.
Just how much did attendance improve from 2024-25? And where does that put UofL nationally? Here's a look:
Louisville finished the 2025-26 season with an average announced attendance of 15,396 per game (roughly 70% capacity). The athletics department says announced attendance reflects the number of tickets sold.
The Cards' average scanned ticket attendance? According to data obtained via open records requests: 11,440 (roughly 52% capacity).
Not every ticket is scanned at the Yum! Center, but most are at this point of the digital age.
How do these numbers stack up against Year 1 of the Kelsey era? Average announced attendance increased by only 532 tickets sold per game (from 14,864), while average scanned ticket attendance was up by only 413 (from 11,027).
A step in the right direction? A marginal one at best when you consider that UofL went 33 consecutive seasons (from 1984-85 to 2017-18) without dipping below an average announced attendance of 17,000 — ranking no lower than sixth nationally during that span. And this: Both tickets sold and tickets scanned per game were down across the final six contests of the 2025-26 campaign when compared to the 2024-25 stretch run (15,098 vs. 16,367 announced; 12,432 vs. 12,949 scanned).
There were only two announced crowds larger than 17,000 during 2025-26 — 22,586 (19,864 scanned) for a win over archrival Kentucky last November, the first attendance exceeding 22,000 at the Yum! Center since 2019; and 17,656 (15,070 scanned) for a loss to Duke in January. In 2024-25, there were three crowds of 17,000-plus.
Laura Clemente, Louisville's senior associate athletics director/chief revenue officer, told The Courier Journal last June the department had sold a little more than 1,600 new season tickets for Kelsey's second go-around.
"This is up approximately 40% (from) last year's sales through May," Clemente told The Courier Journal in a text message at the time. "The renewal period is still ongoing (deadline is July 1). But based on current trends, we expect to hit or exceed the renewal rate we saw last season."
In a budget proposal that was approved 16 days after Clemente provided those numbers, the athletics department assumed a roughly $1 million increase in men's basketball ticket sales during the 2026 fiscal year.
According to a report obtained via an open records request, the program had an operating budget of $19,884,419 in FY25.
Louisville finished the 2025-26 season ranked 10th nationally in average announced attendance. Four ACC colleagues drew larger crowds than the Cards.
Here's a look at the top 20:
Three notes:
Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball attendance at KFC Yum! Center under Pat Kelsey
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"It's a glorious place," coach Pat Kelsey told reporters last week in Buffalo, New York, before his team's first-round NCAA Tournament win over South Florida. "I've lived elsewhere for many, many years throughout my life — grew up not too far from it, coached in a bunch of different places around the country. But I haven't been to a place like Louisville.
"It stands still when the Cardinals play. It stands still. When we win, it is bright blue skies and sunny. When we lose, there's a cloud over it; people are in a bad mood walking around town. That's what makes it great — the passion that people have."
The 22,090-seat KFC Yum! Center is the product of that passion. There's no larger basketball-specific venue across Division I.
Across 17 games at 1 Arena Plaza during Year 2 of the Kelsey era, UofL fans inched closer to meeting a standard they set during the program's heyday — one of the country's most consistently intimidating home environments.
"Louisville has been just as hungry to win this game as us," J'Vonne Hadley told The Courier Journal after the Cards beat the Bulls for their first March Madness victory since 2017.
"Unless you stand on that podium and the confetti is coming down, you don't meet the standard," Kelsey added after UofL's season came to an end with a loss to Michigan State in the Round of 32.
Just how much did attendance improve from 2024-25? And where does that put UofL nationally? Here's a look:
Louisville basketball attendance 2025-26: The final numbers from Year 2 under Pat Kelsey
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Louisville finished the 2025-26 season with an average announced attendance of 15,396 per game (roughly 70% capacity). The athletics department says announced attendance reflects the number of tickets sold.
The Cards' average scanned ticket attendance? According to data obtained via open records requests: 11,440 (roughly 52% capacity).
Not every ticket is scanned at the Yum! Center, but most are at this point of the digital age.
How do these numbers stack up against Year 1 of the Kelsey era? Average announced attendance increased by only 532 tickets sold per game (from 14,864), while average scanned ticket attendance was up by only 413 (from 11,027).
A step in the right direction? A marginal one at best when you consider that UofL went 33 consecutive seasons (from 1984-85 to 2017-18) without dipping below an average announced attendance of 17,000 — ranking no lower than sixth nationally during that span. And this: Both tickets sold and tickets scanned per game were down across the final six contests of the 2025-26 campaign when compared to the 2024-25 stretch run (15,098 vs. 16,367 announced; 12,432 vs. 12,949 scanned).
There were only two announced crowds larger than 17,000 during 2025-26 — 22,586 (19,864 scanned) for a win over archrival Kentucky last November, the first attendance exceeding 22,000 at the Yum! Center since 2019; and 17,656 (15,070 scanned) for a loss to Duke in January. In 2024-25, there were three crowds of 17,000-plus.
Laura Clemente, Louisville's senior associate athletics director/chief revenue officer, told The Courier Journal last June the department had sold a little more than 1,600 new season tickets for Kelsey's second go-around.
"This is up approximately 40% (from) last year's sales through May," Clemente told The Courier Journal in a text message at the time. "The renewal period is still ongoing (deadline is July 1). But based on current trends, we expect to hit or exceed the renewal rate we saw last season."
In a budget proposal that was approved 16 days after Clemente provided those numbers, the athletics department assumed a roughly $1 million increase in men's basketball ticket sales during the 2026 fiscal year.
According to a report obtained via an open records request, the program had an operating budget of $19,884,419 in FY25.
Where did Louisville basketball finish the 2025-26 season ranked nationally in attendance?
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Louisville finished the 2025-26 season ranked 10th nationally in average announced attendance. Four ACC colleagues drew larger crowds than the Cards.
Here's a look at the top 20:
- Kentucky (19,731)
- North Carolina (19,499)
- Tennessee (19,251)
- Arkansas (18,796)
- BYU (18,073)
- Syracuse (17,726)
- Creighton (16,636)
- N.C. State (16,341)
- Indiana (15,677)
- Louisville (15,396)
- Kansas (15,307)
- Wisconsin (15,230)
- Illinois (14,919)
- Purdue (14,876)
- Michigan State (14,797)
- Nebraska (14,671)
- Marquette (14,485)
- Arizona (14,297)
- Iowa State (14,051)
- Dayton (13,407)
Three notes:
- Louisville was eighth on this list (third in the ACC) in mid-January, averaging 15,558 tickets sold per game through the first 11 at the Yum! Center.
- The Cards' 70% capacity rate was the second-lowest among the top 20. Syracuse had the worst at 59%. No one else mentioned above dipped below 80%.
- During the historic lows of Kenny Payne's two-year tenure, UofL ranked 23rd (12,497, 2022-23) and 28th (11,504, 2024-25) nationally in average announced attendance.
Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball attendance at KFC Yum! Center under Pat Kelsey
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