Bar tables and chairs overlook the field above the first section of seats at the new David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on Monday, July 28, 2025. Photo by Nick Krug

The reopening of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium is the culmination of about $450 million in comprehensive renovations, the result of a plan first unveiled in August 2023 and executed following the conclusion of the 2023 football season.

This comprises the first phase of the University of Kansas’ Gateway project, which accounts for approximately 70% of the stadium, and was erected by a workforce that at points included 600 construction workers taking shifts that spanned from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Phase two, on which KU officials have said the university could potentially begin construction following the 2025 season, will concentrate on the east end and associated retail, lodging and housing developments.

Available for fans to experience on Aug. 23, when the venue officially reopens to host the Kansas football season opener against Fresno State, will be a variety of new amenities in the northern and western portions of the stadium.

The seating, with a new stadium-wide capacity of just over 40,000, is arranged in a design that spells out “Rock Chalk” on the west side and features KU’s “K Flag” in the north end. All new seats will have chairbacks with an increase in legroom and a slightly closer position to the action than in the previous arrangement. The first row of seats is now elevated higher off the field surface. About 2,300 seats are located in club spaces.

In the concourse, KU is touting a vastly larger array of concession options provided by stadium operator Oak View Group and an increased number of bathrooms as compared to the previous version of the venue.

The south end of the stadium includes a new video board that at 5,280 square feet is more than twice the size of its predecessor and sits 60 feet closer to the field. (The southern side of the board, which faces the outside of the stadium, may in the future be equipped to play video as well for concerts, movie nights or other non-football events.)

The turf of Kivisto Field, provided by Meriden-based firm MMTH, was installed in mid-July as one of the last major additions to the project. It features a new design with block-letter “Kansas” text in both end zones (white text with red outlines on a blue background with a faint wheat design), “Rock Chalk” and “Jayhawk” on opposite sidelines, the classic 1946 smiling Jayhawk logo at midfield and Big 12 and MMTH logos at each 25-yard line.

KU’s brand-new conference center, built into the north end of the stadium, is a 55,000-square-foot space with a 15,000-square-foot main hall, eight meeting rooms and four breakout rooms. It is expected to open in October, as the lone portion of the Gateway project’s first phase that won’t be ready to go for the Aug. 23 kickoff.