Kansas football: What happened to the stadium renovations?

Once upon a time, the Kansas football program had set forth a plan to renovate David Booth Memorial Stadium.

This included a five-year plan that former Athletic Director Sheahon Zenger put in place to have completed by 2025 with roughly $300 million that would go to the stadium renovation alone.

Unfortunately, shortly after Jeff Long was hired to replace Zenger, he slowed down those plans to further evaluate.

Jesse Newell, formerly of the Wichita Eagle now with the Kansas City Star, quoted Long as saying, “I don’t think it makes fiscal sense anymore to build a stadium that really sits empty other than six or seven times a year.”

Long continued that he wanted to find other ways to use the stadium for other events in order to generate additional revenue.

Fast forward to today, and it puts Kansas football in a difficult spot as conference realignment once again rears its ugly head. This time with stronger merit as Texas and Oklahoma have agreed to join the SEC.

This has left the remaining eight teams in the Big 12 scrambling to find out what their futures hold. And having one of the least appealing stadiums in the conference won’t make things any easier for the Jayhawks.

Kansas football again coming in last

In an article published by Brianna Dix of Sooners Wire, she ranks the Big 12 football stadiums. And not surprisingly, David Booth Memorial Stadium came in dead last.

Obviously, a lot goes into what makes a stadium great–from the fan experience to the stadium location and scenery. Add the product on the field, and you have a pretty cool place to spend a Saturday afternoon.

One thing the Jayhawks do have going for them is the stadium location. The bowl on the south end-zone opens up the view of the Hill up to the Campanile. It’s one of the more beautiful sites of all the Big 12 football stadiums.

Unfortunately, it’s not as effective when the stadium lay half-empty most Saturdays.

The stadium capacity is also a cause for concern. Comparing to the other Big 12 schools, David Booth Memorial Stadium lands only ahead of Baylor, Kansas State, and TCU.

And when compared to the Big Ten, the Jayhawks’ dream landing spot, they’d fall just ahead of last-place Northwestern.

It wouldn’t be as big of a concern if the Jayhawks were filling seats. But if the biggest risk your University has to a conference is your football program, you want to be able to show a legitimate timetable and plan for how it will become successful in the near future.

Finding a way to put fans in seats is one of the best ways to do that. And in order for a conference like the Big Ten to see that potential in full, they also have to see that the potential football revenue a school can bring in matches its other conference members.

And having fewer seats available makes it difficult to make that argument convincing.

It’s hard to say where a new stadium sits on the list of important things to do for Kansas Athletics, especially with all the conference realignment talk, but in my opinion, it behooves them to at least have a clear plan, and have it soon.

And God forbid, whatever they do, do not close the bowl and shut the fans off from one of the most beautiful and scenic views of all of college football.