KU football faces NASCAR conflict

By Chuck Woodling     May 9, 2000

Today’s weekly meeting of Kansas University athletics department administrators had a fresh item.

News on Monday that the still-under-construction Kansas Speedway in Kansas City will play host to Busch Grand National and Winston Cup auto races on the Sept. 29-30, 2001, weekend poses a potential problem.

Will people who live in the Kansas City area reject a trip to Lawrence to watch a KU football game if they know they’ll face a massive traffic tie-up around the I-70 and I-435 intersection just southeast of the track site?

At the same time, it has been speculated many of the fans who attend Kansas Speedway will spill over into Lawrence motels and hotels during race week. But will there be enough rooms if a KU home football game is scheduled the same weekend as the races?

Next year poses no problem. Kansas is scheduled to play at Colorado on Sept. 29, 2001.

But what if NASCAR continues to place Kansas Speedway in that late September slot in 2002 and 2003 and beyond?

Richard Konzem, the Kansas University associate athletics director who handles football scheduling, placed the potential football-racing conflict on today’s agenda as soon as he heard about Monday’s NASCAR announcement.

“We’ve got to look at this,” Konzem said.

Kansas does not have a game scheduled on the last weekend of September in 2002. That is not a Big 12 Conference weekend, so Konzem could theoretically avoid a clash with NASCAR by scheduling a non-conference game on another weekend, or playing a non-league foe on the road that year.

However, 2002 is also the first year NCAA Div. I-A schools can schedule 12 games, so there may not be any leeway. Not enough Saturdays may be available.

If NASCAR gives Kansas Speedway that late September weekend in 2003, a conflict is inevitable. Kansas is scheduled to play host to Nevada-Las Vegas on Sept. 27, 2003.

“Right now we have UNLV at home,” Konzem said. “We have all 12 games already scheduled for that year, so (a Kansas Speedway event) would have an impact.”

NASCAR announces its schedule one year at a time, and the governing body of stock-car racing hasn’t been hidebound to maintaining the same schedule year after year, so Kansas University football and NASCAR racing may not collide ” at least not in the near future.

Still, it’s a possibility, and KU obviously does not want to have a home football game the same weekend NASCAR descends on Kansas Speedway.

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