With ongoing renovations to David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium and the Gateway District project, the Univ. of Kansas officially announced yesterday that it will “play its four Big 12 Conference home games at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium” in K.C., according to Henry Greenstein of the LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD. That will “follow two nonconference games at the more intimate Children’s Mercy Park” in K.C., Kansas, the home of soccer team Sporting K.C. -- which for soccer features 18,467 seats and space for an additional 2,000 in the Home Members Stand. KU Chancellor Douglas Girod said in December that the disruptions to the stadium as a result of construction on its north and west stands “were more substantial than he may have envisioned,” and that construction company Turner Construction had said that “every home game played there would add about a week onto the duration of the project.” The school originally “planned to play in a reduced-capacity version of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium but has decided to eschew that facility entirely.” In a release, KU stated it “hopes to facilitate student transportation to the games,” that 3,500 student tickets will be allotted for Children’s Mercy Park and that the number of students at Arrowhead Stadium will “match or exceed” the size of the student section at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. KU is selling “season-ticket packages, as well as four-game packages specific to Arrowhead.” It “does not expect to sell single-game tickets for the Children’s Mercy Park games.” Girod had previously said that Children’s Mercy Park “was not a likely option because past football games have damaged the soccer turf” (LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD, 1/30).
