The second oldest football series in NCAA Div. I might be returning to its roots.
Kansas University officials are considering moving the Jayhawks’ Oct. 20, 2001, game against Missouri scheduled to be played at KU’s Memorial Stadium to Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, home of the KC Chiefs.
“Over the years, this has come up several times,” KU athletics director Bob Frederick said. “It has come up again in the last six months at the initiative of (Chiefs founder) Lamar Hunt. It is something we have looked at for next year.”
Playing the Border War in Kansas City is not unprecedented. The series was played annually in KC from 1891-1910, and again in 1944 and ’45.
“I didn’t realize that for a long time, not until the early ’80s,” Frederick said. “I talked to (local historian) Steve Jansen, and he said fans from both schools were really upset when it moved from Kansas City.”
Frederick said several factors played into Kansas’ considering moving a home game to a relatively neutral site.
For starters, the game will fall on the weekend of the university’s first two-day fall break, meaning many students will be out of town and unable to attend.
And Kansas has seven home games this fall, one more than last season.
Further, KU could reap a serious financial windfall.
“I’m sensitive to what a home game means to Lawrence merchants,” he said. “I happened to be downtown at last year’s Nebraska game, so I saw the effects of that. Other schools have played games there and saw a significant financial benefit. How significant? I don’t know, but I think it would be considerably greater than if we were to play a game here. The three college games that have been played in Arrowhead at this point the ticket base for the Chiefs, 81 percent of that ticket base purchased tickets.”
Arrowhead was the site of the 1998 Oklahoma State-Nebraska game, the 2000 Iowa-Kansas State game and the 2000 Big 12 championship game. OSU-NU, which was considered a home game for the Cowboys, drew 79,555 fans, while Iowa-KSU the Eddie Robinson Classic drew 77,148. The Big 12 championship game attracted 79,655 fans.
The last five KU-MU games in Lawrence have drawn an average of just 37,200 fans, ranging from 28,000 in 1991 to 46,300 in 1995.
One drawback would be that KU essentially would forfeit the benefits of a home crowd in favor of a bigger paycheck from a neutral site.
“You like to keep games on campus for students,” Frederick said. “But in this case, the students won’t be here. We’re always sensitive to Lawrence business people, and there are some who believe we’d give up somewhat of a homefield advantage. But I’ve talked to some former football players who believe our team would be really fired up to play Missouri at a venue like that.”
Don’t expect MU to return the favor, however. Missouri considers St. Louis a larger alumni base than Kansas City.
“As it relates to the game next year, that’s primarily the University of Kansas’ decision, since it is their home game,” said Gene McArtor, Missouri’s senior associate AD. “If that turns out to be in the best interest of the University of Kansas, I think Missouri would go along with it. Potentially, at least, it would be an opportunity for more of our fans to attend the game, but it’s more a decision if it’s good for the University of Kansas. We’d try to be a good conference partner and work with them.
“Would we talk about moving the Kansas (at Missouri) game there? Yes. But I think our decision at least as it relates to Arrowhead is a little different than it would be for the University of Kansas due to geographics and where our ticket holders are located.”
Regardless, the move to Arrowhead is far from a done deal.
“That’s something we’ll probably talk about over the next few weeks, that and other things regarding the budget,” Frederick said. “Where does it stand now? It doesn’t stand anywhere. It’s just something we’ve discussed.”
Kansas has secured Wyoming as its Sept. 15 opponent in Lawrence, but the schedule won’t be released until the Arrowhead issue is settled.
