Town Talk: ‘We are not doing that again’; When KU starts construction on east side of football stadium, Girod says games won’t be moved - KU Sports

There’s a chance that when construction work on KU’s football stadium renovation concludes in August that the university will immediately start another major construction project to rebuild the east side with a hotel and other amenities.

But Chancellor Douglas Girod told me recently that there is no chance that KU will again ask the football team to play another season in Kansas City or elsewhere.

“I’m not doing that again,” Girod said flatly in a brief interview. “Whatever it is, we are not doing that again.”

It is uncertain whether KU actually will begin renovations on the east side of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium immediately after the west and north end improvements are completed in August. But Girod confirmed that KU is in discussions with a consortium of developers and construction and architecture firms that are pushing KU to immediately start the project after the west side work is completed.

“Our partners that are contemplating a hotel, housing, parking, retail, they believe the timing is the sooner the better,” Girod said.

As a reminder, KU is spending about $450 million on its stadium renovation project at 11th and Mississippi streets that began work in late 2023. That project involves rebuilding the entire west side and north end of the stadium. The north end of the stadium will include a conference and convention center that can host banquets and other such events of up to 1,000 people. KU has long envisioned that a hotel will need to be connected to that convention space to make it successful. KU also has had hopes for retail, restaurants and, more recently, student housing to be built near the stadium site as well. KU leaders also have acknowledged that any future development will have to include at least one new parking garage to help replace surface lot parking that would be lost by new eastside development.

The football renovation includes the addition of a conference and convention center on the north end of the stadium. That new facility includes the white structure nearest the street.

KU envisions the hotel and other amenities being constructed as a public-private partnership, which is different from the westside project, which is being funded with a combination of state grants, KU fundraising and athletic department debt.

Potential private development partners, however, gave university leaders a surprise this fall. As we reported, they told the university it wasn’t physically possible to build the hotel and other amenities on the east side, unless KU tore down the east grandstand and built it closer to the field. Without that move, there wouldn’t be enough space to accommodate the other projects, they said.

KU leaders have been sorting through various scenarios ever since.

“To be honest, it is kind of daunting to think about walking out of one (project) and walking right into another,” Girod said.

Construction crews work on the steel frame for large video board at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on Nov. 7, 2024. The new video board will be significantly larger than the previous video board.

However, the potential developers are urging KU to strongly consider such timing. The reason is that construction inflation will make the project significantly more expensive if it waits for another few years. There are also questions of whether the conference center component, which will be ready in August, can be successful without a hotel attached to it.

KU is in serious discussions with a consortium of development interests that could become a master developer for the eastside project. However, a final decision on whether to move forward with the group hasn’t been made, and KU has not released the identity of that group.

Girod told me the consortium — which includes a hotel partner, a couple of development companies, a construction company and an architecture firm — is made up of companies that are national in scope but have local operations.

“They know us well,” Girod said. “They know the region, the university, the community. That is really important to us because we hope this project will have such a huge community impact.”

KU, of course, has a huge question to answer before it can begin any eastside project. It involves money — and where it will come from.

Between grants and fundraising, KU may have $200 million or a little more to put toward the westside renovation project. However, that would leave another $200 million or more that Kansas Athletics Inc. — the university corporation that runs the athletic department — would have to take out in debt to complete the project. Such a sum likely would add tens of million of dollars in annual debt payments to Kansas Athletics’ budget. That would come at a time when the athletic department doesn’t currently know how it will pay for likely $20 million or more in annual name, image and likeness payments to student athletes.

To be clear, KU hasn’t made any announcements about how much debt will be required to pay for the westside stadium project. But the university has made announcements about its fundraising to date that shows it is far below the $450 million project cost. Girod this week told me fundraising is continuing and is going well.

Any eastside project, however, would require additional fundraising. Girod said it would not be realistic to expect the private development consortium to pay for all costs associated with the eastside renovations. While the private companies likely would be expected to invest in the hotel, retail and other such amenities, the university likely would have to bear the costs of moving and rebuilding the eastside grandstands. KU also may seek financial incentives and support from the state and even the City of Lawrence. But that also wouldn’t alleviate the need for additional fundraising.

“We know there will be a philanthropic lift,” Girod said.

But it also won’t be to the scale that was required on the west side. KU hasn’t released a cost estimate for any eastside project, but when asked whether it would be lower than the westside project, Girod responded: “Absolutely.”

Girod said the development consortium has presented some preliminary figures to KU about costs and cost sharing. Girod said KU has hired an outside group to evaluate the numbers because he said KU leaders are cognizant that any eastside project would be involving KU in a type of partnership it hasn’t often done.

“We are pretty excited about the pitch, but we are still fleshing out the financial elements of that, and exploring with the state and others,” Girod said.

KU leaders did much evaluation on the westside project before it began, but also still faced some surprises. KU originally said it was going to play its 2024 football season at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, although it would have greatly reduced seating capacity. That planned changed, however, as it became clear the construction work would be too disruptive. Games in 2024 are being played in Kansas City at the stadium for the Chiefs and Sporting KC.

Girod this week, however, was unequivocal that such a move wouldn’t be part of an eastside project. He said the big difference between now and then would be that KU would have full access to a brand new west side and north end that could safely accommodate fans.

Girod also said the university has learned much during the westside project that would be beneficial in an eastside project. Girod said there’s still much work for the athletic department and university to do in determining what is needed and desired in a new east side grandstand. He said the university has not done much planning on that front, given the focus on the west side. That work may pick up quickly, if KU gets serious about starting an eastside project in 2025.

But Girod said one aspect about the project hasn’t changed and will guide KU in giving deep thought to the project.

“You only get one shot at this thing,” Girod said.

The expansion of the north bowl of the football stadium, shown on Nov. 8, 2024, moves the stadium much closer to 11th Street. This photo is taken from the front yard of a home across the street from the stadium.