KU Football’s return to Lawrence impacts local restaurants 

Annika Gustafson | @annikaa_gustafson

The University of Kansas football team’s return to Lawrence is bringing more business back to local restaurants after last fall’s season at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. 

The Jayhawks are playing at the newly renovated David Booth Memorial Stadium this season, bringing fans back onto Massachusetts St. and  surrounding businesses. Many of these restaurants rely heavily on home game weekends to bring in sales to stay in business.

“Last year was really hard for downtown restaurants because all the games were in Kansas City,” Jackie Lira, Merchant’s General Manager, said. . 

Now, with college football back in Lawrence, the downtown atmosphere is buzzing. Fans are returning for game-day weekends, filling up restaurants and bars that once struggled with the decrease of people last year. 

Jefferson’s is a popular spot on Massachusetts St. for game-days, and business has been thriving with the Jayhawks being back. Employees have said it has been packed with fans from open to close for the past two home football games. 

“It’s definitely busy during game day weekend, especially game day, we definitely get really busy, there’s definitely a lot of people that come in of all ages,” Maddy Jewitt,  a server at Jefferson’s, said. , “It is a lot of fun, and all of us are KU supporters,” 

Some restaurants are having their expectations lowered due to how popular the renovated stadium is.

“Since the stadium being open was such a huge thing for this community, I did notice that business was slower than we anticipated.” Lira said. 

 With five more home games left, businesses remain hopeful that the return of KU football will continue to bring more fans in throughout the busy game-day weekends.