How Kansas football wound up at Arrowhead + Children’s Mercy Park for 2024 season

Before the news broke this week that the Kansas Jayhawks would play their home football games in Kansas City next season, KU athletic director Travis Goff had a very important group to inform.

The team.

And their reaction was priceless, according to Goff.

“When we announced this to the guys yesterday, before the public announcement, they were visibly and audibly excited,” Goff told The Star Wednesday. “They were fired up about it.”

For KU, the opportunity to play home games at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the defending NFL champion Chiefs, and Sporting KC’s Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kan., was months in the making.

KU will play two nonconference games — against Lindenwood and UNLV — at Children’s Mercy Park. All four of the Jayhawks’ 2024 Big 12 Conference home games — against TCU, Colorado, Iowa State and Houston — will take place at GEHA Field at Arrowhead.

The Star has learned that discussions between KU, Chiefs president Mark Donovan and Sporting KC owner Michael Illig began in August, shortly after the university announced major renovations were forthcoming at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.

Weighing the options

At that point, Goff said, Kansas had planned to play through the construction at its home stadium in Lawrence. Then conversations accelerated and a mutually beneficial opportunity emerged for all three parties, Goff said.

The Jayhawks athletic director explained how KU determined which games to play at Arrowhead and which to play at Children’s Mercy Park.

“It was pretty early in the Chiefs’ conversation and with discussion with Mark Donovan and individuals on his staff, we saw strong rationale for all four conference games being played there,” Goff said. “We were exploring the notion could all six work — just in the spirit of optionality. … We think all four could work; if we needed or wanted to do the other, would that work with you all (the Chiefs) and their schedule?

“Just through that discussion, it was really starting to paint a picture that ... the conference games were going to work pretty well for the Chiefs and Arrowhead. They made a lot of sense, in terms of opponents ... fan interest, crowd capacity and all those other good things. Sort of the ultimate determination was really a mutual decision and awareness that (playing) all six (games at Arrowhead) didn’t make as much sense for both parties.”

Kansas then ramped up its conversations with Sporting KC about the non-conference “home games,” Goff said.

As KU worked to finalize an agreement with the two other parties, there were two main impediments: scheduling and field management. The plan is currently for each stadium’s grounds crew to manage the playing surfaces and change/adapt it.

“The hurdles were really more like, can the surfaces accommodate in a way where both Sporting and the Chiefs could compete and they could put forth the first class product they have?” Goff said. “Once those determinations were, Hey, we think the surfaces can manage this, and the schedule lays out in a way where there’s not a lot of back-to-back necessarily. Or there’s just enough distance.’”

Goff continued: “Or it’s the time of the year where the grass and the surface recovers well. Then, honestly, there really weren’t big hurdles.”

Goff credited both organizations for “not creating roadblocks or getting too caught up in the financial implications,” as the process was relatively smooth. KU wasn’t seriously considering playing anywhere outside of Lawrence or the two KC spots, according to Goff.

At one point, Kansas had planned to play at least two games (Lindenwood and UNLV) in the under-construction David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.

“We knew we could play in Lawrence, the project team gave us assurance, they had a plan fully baked,” Goff said. “Getting into the fall, it was reasonably clear that all six wasn’t going to be ideal.”

Last season’s success pushed KU to find a venue that could seat more than a reduced capacity Memorial Stadium. KU (9-4, 5-4 Big 12) earned its first nine-win season since 2008, beating UNLV in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl.

“The success, the trajectory, the sellouts at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium,” Goff said of factors that led KU to KC. “I can’t say if we didn’t have the success we had this fall or the last two that we wouldn’t still be in the same exact position, but that was another way of encouraging these other options.”

Most importantly, playing in Kansas City ensures the Memorial Stadium project will continue without delays.

“When we were going to compete for at least those first two games, there was a week prep time where we would shut down construction, clear the site and get it set up,” Goff said. “Temporary bleachers, all the safety requirements, temporary coaches booths — the camera requirements ...

“That was a week on the front end. That was multiple days on the back end to then re-prep it for construction. So, you’re talking countless days — multiple weeks, when you think about the way those two days laid into late August and the first part of September.”

He continued: “There was a cost and more concerning was the the timeline issue. It was never at the point where this could get into the way of opening the project in August 2025, but it was more about, ‘Hey, let’s make sure, given awful weather issues or procurement challenges or whatever it might be, that this wouldn’t be a contributing factor to challenges to meeting the critical benchmarks along the journey.”

Ultimately, Goff said playing in Kansas City is a win for all parties. He said KU won’t lose any money in the arrangement, although financial details are yet to be finalized.

“The financial benefit just in the big picture is significant,” he said. “The question is how significant. That wasn’t the driving force, but that was one of the variables.

“Not only do we have more significant revenue upside at both of these venues, but obviously at Arrowhead with the capacity. But we have cost-savings with the project here in Lawrence.”

Plan for students benefits for ticket holders

One of the biggest questions about KU playing in KC is how students will get to the games.

“We’re in the formation of a great plan to make sure that we’re accommodating as many students as possible,” Goff said. “As efficient as possible through busing and as safely as possible because safety is important.”

As for how much it would cost?

“As many as possible at no cost,” the KU AD said, “and in some junctures, there are reduced or subsidized versions of that, especially as we get into bringing buses from other markets ...”

Each stadium will also have benefits for Kansas season ticket-holders and students driving to games, he said.

“When it’s fully vetted and fully rolled out,” Goff said of plans for this fall’s “home” games, “I think people will be pleased with the diligence and thoughtfulness put into it.”