Kansas football to play 2024 home games in Kansas City due to stadium renovations
Construction began on Memorial Stadium as soon as the 2023 season ended
Kansas won’t play its next home game in Lawrence until 2025.
The Jayhawks announced Tuesday that they’d play all six home games during the 2024 season in the Kansas City area. Two non-conference games will be held at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas, while four Big 12 games will be played at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
Kansas needed a temporary home stadium because of a wide-scale renovation of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. The long-planned project is set to be done before the 2025 season begins.
“This plan for the 2024 season has an incredible number of benefits for our student-athletes, our fans and supports, our campus partners and the Kansas football program,” Kansas athletic director Travis Goff said in a statement. “While we are disappointed we can’t play in Lawrence, ultimately, we want to create the best possible experience for all involved, and playing two games at Children’s Mercy Park and four games at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium allows us to do that.”
Kansas had been looking for sites for its 2024 home games because of the timeline of the stadium renovation project. The project timeline was set to be extended significantly if the team played at Memorial Stadium in 2024 while renovations were ongoing.
Memorial Stadium was the first on-campus college stadium built west of the Mississippi River when it opened in 1921. Construction on the stadium began in December and the near-$500 million project is set to completely change its look as the grandstands are moved closer to the field and concourse areas are increased.
The two non-conference games at Children’s Mercy Park, the home of MLS team Sporting KC and a stadium approximately 30 minutes east of the KU campus, will be against Lindenwood and UNLV. The four games at Arrowhead will be against TCU, Houston, Iowa State and Colorado.
