Travis Goff: Kansas football to save construction time not playing home games in Lawrence
LAWRENCE — The recent announcement of Kansas football coach Lance Leipold’s new contract also included a reference to the program’s significant renovation project.
In the KU release, there was a note about construction beginning “on the $448 million Gateway District and the reimagined David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium” after the end of the 2023 season. In addition to highlighting what upgrades have already been made to the Jayhawks’ locker room and weight room, the release mentioned how the Anderson Family Football Complex is undergoing its own changes. While Leipold was the focus of that day in late February, the program revival he’s helped lead casts a wide net.
So, when Travis Goff later met with reporters to further speak about the contract news — he was asked about the progress that’s being made in the construction process. Kansas’ director of athletics highlighted the effect of the decision to play the football team’s 2024 home games away from Lawrence. Right now, they are in the first phase of the project, which includes a reimagining of the southwest, west and north areas of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium — not to mention a conference center in the north.
The weather has mostly been on KU’s side
Goff noted he doesn’t know how many days have been gained because of how nice the weather has been during the winter. But that has helped and Goff called it a wonderful surprise.
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“Those guys, men and women, are working six-plus days a week over there,” Goff said. “They were working, again, through that awful stretch. We’ve had one awful stretch this winter, I know. They were working through that, and they were out there in just some really harsh conditions. So, it’s definitely lended a hand.”
Here’s how much time is being saved not playing Kansas football home games in Lawrence in 2024
In addition to the weather, Goff explained how the decision to play all six Kansas football home games away from Lawrence is saving them construction time. It avoids the repeat occurrence of having to set up and tear down what the game day experience would look like at an under construction David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. It also gives those working on the construction confidence, and relief to some extent, that their site is not being routinely disrupted during the fall.
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One game, Goff added, could mean 10 days of affected time. So, when they were thinking about playing six home games in 2024, it wasn’t palatable to think about the potential of multiple months in that regard.
Even two or three games was deemed to take away too much time.
There was a plan, though, in case Kansas football played its home games in Lawrence in 2024
Kansas football’s two non-conference home games are going to be played at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas. The four Big 12 Conference home games will be played at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. If for some reason, Kansas had decided to play its home games in Lawrence anyway, Goff made it clear there was a way to make it happen.
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“We have a plan we would have executed, could have executed, to play all six games here in Lawrence,” Goff said. “It was not as if we can’t do that or it’s going to push the timeline back. It was just more of, about, analysis of again fan experience, student-athlete experience, community impact, financials certainly, and then impact on the project, the totality set.”
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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: Travis Goff updates renovation of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium
