At home at Arrowhead
Jayhawks excited about playing OU game in K.C.
Heated debate began long before any aspect was finalized — when it was just a possibility, maybe even a pipe dream.
It’s official now, though. Kansas University’s football team will move a Big 12 Conference home game across the state line into Missouri. Arrowhead Stadium — capacity 79,451 — will be the site of the Kansas-Oklahoma football game Oct. 15, 2005.
KU never has played a game in Arrowhead despite the venue’s appeal, proximity and size. The new KU regime — from athletic director Lew Perkins to football coach Mark Mangino — reached an agreement with the Chiefs in mid-November after months of discussions.
Many wonder now if the deal killed any home-field advantage the Jayhawks might have had against Oklahoma, a perennial national power. But ask anyone at KU about the downside and they won’t have many answers — provided all goes according to plan.
“Our football program,” Mangino said, “has to experiment with different things that could benefit our players.”
And, in an era when Kansas is trying to catch up swiftly with the big spenders in college athletics, KU officials feel such tests are a must. Especially with a football team still trying to find ways to get back on its feet, so it can win games, attract big-time recruits and make money.
“We’re putting a game in the middle of a huge number of Kansas alums,” senior associate athletic director Larry Keating said. “It’s something we really ought to try.”
How it came about
Talk about playing at Arrowhead has been tossed around for a long time, but discussions heated up about a year ago when KU proposed moving a 2004 Big 12 North game to K.C. — against either Iowa State, Kansas State or Missouri. KU wanted to commit to such a plan only if it were for two years — meaning, for example, two straight KU-KSU games would be played in Kansas City, instead of one in Lawrence and one in Manhattan.
Oklahoma football fans Andrea Kersey, left, and Felix Navarro watch the Southern California-UCLA football on television through the use of a portable generator in the parking lot of Arrowhead Stadium prior to the Big 12 Conference championship game. The Sooners -- who defeated Colorado, 42-3, in the title game Saturday in Kansas City, Mo. -- will return to Arrowhead Stadium next season to face Kansas University.
“For various reasons, none of them wanted to do it,” Keating said.
As a result, the 2004 season played out normally, with Memorial Stadium playing host to six home games, including four conference clashes.
But the idea of playing at Arrowhead still was appealing to Kansas, and the administration went back to the drawing board, envisioning the Oklahoma showdown in 2005 as the best fit.
But why Oklahoma? Why not a non-conference game against Florida Atlantic or Louisiana Tech, two less-crucial games against teams slated to come to Lawrence in September of 2005?
Many reasons, according to Keating. One is that KU will be on fall break during Oklahoma weekend, and with that comes a significant decrease in student attendance. If ever there was a day where home-field advantage would be at its minimum, Oct. 15 would be it, he said.
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Jayhawks excited about playing OU game in K.C.KU avoided a similar situation last season when Texas Tech agreed to play the Jayhawks Sept. 25 instead of the original Oct. 16. But in the three previous years — KU started fall break in 2001 — Kansas was forced to play home games during the desolate weekend, and none came with impressive turnouts from the student body.
Another reason, quite simply, is the huge interest of a game against Oklahoma on a regional stage. Surely, it would bring more fans into a giant venue than, say, Florida Atlantic. And that could bring increased revenue which would, in effect, boost the rebuilding process of KU football.
Offsetting the costs
“The Arrowhead opportunity helps us pay guarantees for nonconference games to come here next year,” Mangino said. “If we started to play a lot of one-and-one’s with schools, it’d put us in a position where we’d play less than six games at home.”
If the Arrowhead experiment works — and Keating insists it will if the Jayhawks sell a large number of tickets — the money could offset the costs of bringing in three non-conference opponents without being obligated to travel to, say, Louisiana Tech to complete the contract in the future.
The guaranteed money KU will fork out to Louisiana Tech, Florida Atlantic and a yet-to-be-determined opponent could be between $1 million and $1.5 million.
Under terms of the agreement for the OU game at Arrowhead, KU will be responsible for ticket sales and receive 100 percent of the gate. The Chiefs will pocket all concession and parking revenue. The cost of parking, incidentally, hasn’t been determined, but whatever price the Chiefs set will require the Jayhawks’ approval, Keating said.
With approximately 29,000 more seats at Arrowhead than at Memorial Stadium, the potential for more revenue is obvious, particularly if Oklahoma fans are more intrigued about traveling to K.C. than to Lawrence.
From a competitive standpoint, Mangino does not believe the home-field advantage will be lost.
“Our kids are going to be pretty excited about playing at Arrowhead,” the KU coach said. “I don’t think it’ll take anything away.”
Oklahoma senior football players celebrate after winning the Big 12 Conference championship game against Colorado. The Sooners, who won, 42-3, Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium, will return to Kansas City, Mo., next fall to face Kansas University.
Some might find that hard to believe, though.
With the OU game now in Kansas City, more tickets will be available for the Sooners’ fans, who have proven willing to hit the road and see OU play. Saturday’s Big 12 Championship game at Arrowhead — a 42-3 OU win over Colorado — had an announced attendance of 62,130. Roughly 90 percent appeared to be OU boosters.
Another potential negative is the huge gap between games played in Lawrence — a 42-day stretch between the Sept. 17 Louisiana Tech game and the Oct. 29 Border War with Missouri. KU will play four conference games before meeting a Big 12 foe at Memorial Stadium.
Regardless, the Jayhawks will have six games in Lawrence for the ninth straight year. KU officials met with the Chamber of Commerce and local businesses, and promised that a change of venue for the Oklahoma game would result in three non-conference games at home, instead of the usual two for an 11-game season.
Will it work?
Ticket prices for the Arrowhead contest haven’t been set yet, but the game will be part of the season-ticket package.
“One of the things we want to make clear,” Keating said, “is that our season-ticket holders will be the first ones taken care of.”
From there, Chiefs season-ticket holders will have an option to buy seats — as they do with the Big 12 Championship and other events at Arrowhead — before KU puts them on sale to the public.
Whether 20,000 or 79,451 show up, KU will pocket all the ticket money. Oklahoma won’t see a dime, consistent with Big 12 rules that visiting conference teams aren’t compensated.
KU will pay a flat fee, also undetermined, to rent the stadium.
With about 60,000 KU alumni — not counting Douglas County — living in the Kansas City area, and more than 1,000 OU alumni in K.C., the potential exists for a big payoff.
Not to mention the new pitch Mangino will have for prospects.
“It’s a nice recruiting tool,” Mangino said, “to be able to tell prospects that you’re going to play a game in a very nice venue like that.”
The success of next year’s game will determine whether a trip to Arrowhead is a one-time deal or a prelude to an annual occurrence. Ideally, KU would have liked to play a team from a high-level conference like the Pac-10 or Big Ten and would aim to do so in the future if the idea is worth pursuing.
For now, Mangino prefers a softer non-league schedule while the program continues to emerge. Still, a lot depends on the outcomes, both on and off the field, next October.
“I don’t know if we could do it every year or every other year or every four years,” Keating said. “But if it works, the idea is to do it again.”