Papa John's Controversy Impacts Louisville, MLB

Papa John's Founder John Schnatter has resigned as the company's Chair after he "admitted using a racial slur on a May conference call that led to a massive fallout." The company will appoint a new Chair "in the coming weeks." Schnatter also resigned from the Univ. of Louisville BOT. UL Dir of Media Relations John Karman said that "discussions about possibly removing the 'Papa John’s' name from the school's football stadium are premature at this time" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 7/12).

In more fallout, MLB has "indefinitely suspended its Papa Slam promotion" with the pizza chain. The partnership began in '16, when MLB "started dubbing grand slams 'Papa Slams.'" Each one allowed fans to get 40% off their order at Papa John's the next day by "using a Papa Slam online coupon code." Many MLB teams have their own promotions with Papa John’s, and those deals are "unaffected by MLB’s decision to suspend Papa Slams" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 7/11).