KU Chancellor Doug Girod said that KU Football will not be playing another season outside of Memorial Stadium, even if the second phase of the Gateway District is starting, according to the Lawrence Journal-World. 

Emily Sutter | @EmilySutterTV

The Jayhawks have been playing at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium and at Children’s Mercy Park, but the University is still set on having phase one of the project done by next August. 

However, the university will have to consider the timing and cost of construction with the phase two east side renovations. 

 At the conclusive ceremony for Phase I renovations, KU Athletic Director Travis Goff shared his thoughts about the renovations.

“And we know what’s gonna be in just over 10 months of August 23rd, when we open up with Fresno State in the new David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium but even that’s an unfinished product and unfinished project.” Goff said.

The original phase one cost estimate started at $300 million, according to kusports.com. Now that estimate is at $450 million, and that total excludes phase two.ku 

Chancellor Girod and Goff are still very enthusiastic about this project, even though they are aware challenges may arise with construction.

Despite this, they claim fundraising is going well. 

Though additional funds will be needed for phase two, KU has raised over $200 million of their $250 million phase one goal through grants and fundraising. The university is looking to have a public-private partnership for funding phase two, where KU is also looking to put a hotel and other amenities in the East side of the stadium.

According to kusports.com, Girod expressed his concerns about placing a hotel in the stadium.

“With some of the proposals we’ve received, they wanted us to take all the risk and I’m not particularly interested in doing that,” Girod said. “We don’t do hotels. It is not what we’re good at.”

Despite the unfavorable outlook from development proposals, Girod and KU maintain that a hotel will be included in phase two’s development – the timeline is just not solidified yet.