Single-game tickets for Kansas University football games went on sale today.
A reserved-seat ticket for each of the first three games (Florida Atlantic, Appalachian State and Louisiana Tech) costs $35. Tickets for the three Big 12 Conference games (Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa State) are $45 each.
KU will play Oklahoma on Oct. 15 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. Lower-level and club-level tickets for that game are $55; upper-level tickets are $35. Upper-level group tickets are $25.
Single-game group tickets also went on sale today with a discount of $10 per ticket. There are no group tickets available for the Nebraska game.
Season tickets still are available. Reserved seats are $225, but recent KU graduates (2003-05) can purchase season tickets for $150.
The Family Zone package, which includes two adult and two youth season general-admission tickets for all games at Memorial Stadium, as well as two reserved tickets to the KU vs. OU game in Arrowhead, are available for $300.
Ticket prices for reserved seats for 2005 Kansas University football games have been spiked.
Tickets for nonconference games have been boosted from $30 to $35 and tickets for Big 12 Conference games from $35 to $45.
Also, a seat at the Kansas-Oklahoma game Oct. 15, 2005, at Arrowhead Stadium will cost $55.
The new ticket prices were revealed during a Friday meeting of the Kansas University Athletic Corp. advisory board at Parrott Complex.
Brandon Macneill, associate athletic director for administration, told the board the instreases still left Kansas near the bottom on the Big 12 Conference scale.
“The average price per game on our season ticket,” Macneill said, “is 10th in the league. Only Texas Tech and Baylor are lower.”
A season ticket for all seven KU home games — including the one at Arrowhead — will cost $225, a saving of $70 over single-game prices. Last year’s season-ticket price was $185 for six home games — also a saving because a seat for the Kansas State game went for $65.
Faculty-staff season tickets with the usual 20 percent discount will go for $180. The student combo pack for football and men’s basketball remains at $125.
KU officials also have made changes in the family zone in the north bowl.
“We’ve expanded that section,” Macneill said. “We’ve gone from selling 1,000 packs to 1,500, which means there will be 6,000 seats.”
However, the cost of four tickets in the family zone has been boosted from $200 to $300 for six home games. The Arrowhead game is excluded. Still, the family zone represents a 67 percent discount over regular season tickets.
Big 12 schools scheduled to play in Lawrence next fall are Missouri (Oct. 29), Nebraska (Nov. 5) and Iowa State (Nov. 19). KU also will play three non-league games at Memorial Stadium.
Florida Atlantic and Louisiana Tech have been identified as two of the non-conference foes, but the third opponent hasn’t been revealed.
“We think we’re close,” KU athletic director Lew Perkins told the board, “but we’re waiting for the final contract.”
Kansas University athletics tickets have sported several looks over the years, from high-tech to low-tech and everything in between.
This year’s KU football season tickets are going a different direction: kid tech.
Rodney Jones, a KU assistant director of ticket operations, hit upon the idea — at an NBA game — to have grade-school students design the artwork for KU football season tickets.
The result of his efforts — not to mention those of six area elementary school artists — just came back from the printers and will be mailed to close to 20,000 season-ticket holders this week.
“I was at a Phoenix Suns game — a friend of mine is Danny Manning, who played for the Suns — and I saw their tickets,” Jones said. “I thought, ‘What a great idea. This is great for the community.’ We talked it over and made it happen.”
Jones began contacting area elementary schools last December.
“I just gave them some very simple guidelines,” Jones said. “I wanted them to dream from there.”
Last spring, Jones and other athletics department staff members sorted through nearly 120 drawings, then selected one winner from each grade for each of the Jayhawks’ six home games.
All the winners were chosen from two schools — Sunset Hill and Kennedy.
The winners were, in ascending grade order: Stephanie Orth, a first-grader last year at Kennedy; Chris Watkins, Sunset Hill; Charika Billie, Sunset Hill; Alexander Ardong, Sunset Hill; Holly Carpenter, Kennedy; and Andrew Craig, Kennedy.
“I think a lot of people were unsure of the idea,” Jones said. “It was a first-time deal. I was happy with the response we got. It was a lot of work on our end. We could call the printer and say this is the art and we’re done. But we had to contact all the schools, all the art teachers, get it in the art teachers’ hands. I’m happy with the result. Only a few people have seen them, but they’re impressed. It was worth it.”
Entering the contest was an easy decision for Craig, who will be a Central Junior High seventh-grader this fall. His drawing of KU football senior David Winbush will adorn the Senior Day for the Nov. 11 game against Texas.
“It was a free drawing,” Craig said. “It took me about two days, maybe three days. David Winbush is my favorite player because he’s a running back.”
Craig, too, is a running back and a KU fan. Two family members — a grandmother and an aunt — already are season-ticket holders.
“My grandma tells me I should always draw,” Craig said. “She tells me I’m a good artist.”
In addition to providing a canvas for their work, the athletics department will award each winner a family pack — consisting of two adult tickets and four children’s tickets — to the game for which the winner’s art is used.
“That means I’ll go to two KU football games this year,” said Watkins, whose drawing of a field goal graces the ticket for the Sept. 23 game against Southern Illinois.
Watkins already had planned to attend the Kansas State-Iowa game at Arrowhead Stadium, and the KSU-KU game at Kansas’ Memorial Stadium.
“I’m a fan of KU basketball and Kansas State football,” Watkins said. “But I don’t mind going to KU football games. I don’t think I’ve ever gone to one before. It’s pretty exciting to get tickets.”
Jones hopes to have the contest again.
“I’d like to do it in men’s basketball, because there are more games,” he said. “Then maybe once every five years in football. I think it’s a neat deal.”
2005 Kansas Football Schedule