Kansas football coach Lance Leipold reacts to $15 million gift for Gateway District
LAWRENCE — Earlier this month, Kansas Athletics announced a $15 million gift, from an anonymous donor family, that would help fund the university’s Gateway District project.
This reveal followed the announcement of a $10 million gift at the end of August from Dana Anderson, a well-known KU donor. It’s furthered the momentum around the project, which aims to complete a thorough renovation of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium and more. And it can serve as something that can allow Jayhawks head football coach Lance Leipold and others to fell confident in the project’s trajectory.
“Collin Sexton let me know that it was coming and it was something that, again, very appreciative of the gift and what it’s going to do for this project and help this program for the long term,” said Leipold, referring there to the department’s associate athletic director for strategic initiative/chief of staff in Sexton. “I appreciate the donor.”
Leipold stopped short of saying he’s still receiving constant updates about the project, which held a formal announcement event in early August before the start of the 2023 season. But, he noted, he’s been a part of discussions around it. He added he feels very comfortable with how he’s been kept informed about it.
When the formal announcement happened in August, the department highlighted an initial fundraising goal of $300 million for the capital projects that concerned the football stadium and Allen Fieldhouse. At the time, it revealed in a release that, “$165 million in gifts and commitments have been secured, including $125 million since the project was announced last October.” And Travis Goff, the athletic director, also expressed then a desire to surpass that $300 million figure.
“We are profoundly grateful for the exceptional generosity of this anonymous donor and their family,” Goff said in a KU release concerning the $15 million donation. “This significant gift underscores their belief in the transformative potential of the Gateway Project. Their commitment to higher education and their longstanding support for Kansas Athletics truly embodies the Jayhawk spirit.”
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Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Gateway District: Kansas football's Lance Leipold on $15 million gift
