Kansas is set to play its Big 12 home opener at Arrowhead Stadium — home of the Kansas City Chiefs — on Saturday as it welcomes the TCU Horned Frogs to town.
At least, that’s what fans of the two programs are assuming as gameday inches ever closer. According to a report from KCUR’s Sam Zeff, KU’s transition into playing at the home of the back-to-back Super Bowl champions hasn’t exactly been seamless.
Back in January, the Jayhawks announced that it would play its 2024 home football games in Kansas City while renovations to David Booth Memorial Stadium were completed in Lawrence.
The $450 million project, which has hit several snags since its inception, is scheduled to be ready for play in 2025, but for the time being, Jayhawks fans will have to make the 40-minute trek West to catch a home football game.
The problem is, as of Thursday afternoon — just over 48 hours before KU vs. TCU — the Jayhawks haven’t signed a contract to play their games at Arrowhead.
Zeff says that KCUR filed a Kansas Open Records Request the day after KU announced it would play its home games at the Chiefs’ venue. However, despite several attempts for updates on the situation, KU’s Custodian of Public Records has repeatedly told KCUR that it had “no determinative response to offer at this time.”
Then, on Wednesday, KU sent an email that said, “The University of Kansas does not have a final executed agreement” for the games at Arrowhead.
KU Athletics spokesperson Daniel Berk says there’s no reason to panic about Saturday’s game, however.
“It’s been six months of complex communications, but we fully expect to have an agreement,” he told KCUR.
While the people in charge don’t seem too worried about the situation, they sure are cutting it awfully close, and now all we can do is hope this doesn’t become a game-time decision.
Kansas and TCU are scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. CT kick on ESPN+, with the Jayhawks being favored by two points.
