Deadline met: Kansas football team holds first practice in newly renovated Booth
Kansas football coach Lance Leipold on July 24, the first day of preseason camp, set a target date of Aug. 1 for the first practice in a renovated David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
Mission accomplished as the 2025 Jayhawks indeed gathered in the stadium on the new turf field for a Friday night workout, the first one in history in the new “Booth.”
In the 25 minutes in which the media observed practice, one could see 100 or more KU football players stretch, then participate in some non-contact drills with the song, “Thunder,” by Imagine Dragons blaring in the background on an unusually pleasant 75 summer degree evening.
No interviews were allowed on Friday, a day after fifth-year KU coach Leipold met with media members about not only his team, but how a new stadium might benefit his program.
“It’ll mean a lot to this group, just based on it’s a sign of confidence and commitment to the program that that can filter through your locker room as well, based on investment,” Leipold said of the stadium.
“I think when you’re in there, you’re going to see that the design is going to be one that’s going to have great sight lines but also be able to kind of keep the energy and volume in the stadium when it’s fully completed,” he added.
The brand new west and north stands have been completed in time for the Aug. 23 opener against Fresno State, with the cost having been estimated at $450 million. That price includes a conference center set to open this fall.
The east bleachers will be renovated at a later date at a cost that’s not yet been revealed.
“Any of the older stadiums — that’s the same thing at my last job (Buffalo) — with a track around it, or a track that’s been removed a distance away, now it’s not going to be that way, (so) it’s going to have that intimate feeling,” Leipold said.
“It’s going to help in recruiting. But really what we need it to be is we need to be one of those situations where it’s a place to be on Saturdays and when we’re playing, so that we are able to create a tough place to come play in an environment that is beneficial to the home team.”
On the first day of official preseason workouts, Leipold said: “Guys are excited and I hope our fans are excited about it because it is definitely a game-changing structure for us, or it’s a program statement. It’ll be something as we get closer and we practice in there, it becomes a reality. It’s going to be something special.”
Former Iowa running back Leshon Williams, who will play his final season of college football at KU, said Thursday:
“That stadium, beautiful man. That thing is like motivation. Every day you go to practice, and it’s only getting closer to when we get to be in there.”
KU athletic director Travis Goff said at Big 12 Media Days: “I can’t wait for our fans to experience it. I mean, there’s going to be some kinks and some stumbles to that opening, but I think that’s part of the fun, and our people deserve a venue of that degree of excellence. And our guys, obviously our student-athletes, deserve it as well. And I know they can’t wait to run out of that tunnel.”
In addition to rebuilding the west, southwest and north sides of the stadium, some of the other improvements include elevated seating, closer premium seating and a new scoreboard.
In all, about 70% of the renovation project is complete. Current capacity is expected to be a bit more than 40,000 for the 2025 season. Ideally, construction on the east stands would begin at the conclusion of this season but nothing has been announced yet.
Chancellor Douglas Girod on Friday spoke on social media site X about the stadium renovation.
“Wow,” he said of his first reaction upon walking on the new turf. “It’s just awesome. You know you can think about it, you can see the drawings, but until you stand here and you look at this, it’s just unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable.
“This of course always been the center of activity for the community and campus life, but this is a game changer for us both from just a game-day experience for our student body and our faculty and our staff and obviously our fans, but also when we’re not here for football with the new conference center, and when completed hotel and entire environment here. This can be a center of activity year round, which is a game changing opportunity for us.”
Girod said the project has been a massive undertaking.
“Well, I don’t think we ever have done anything this complicated in the history of the university in terms of what it’s taken to get it done, having both the legislature, the governor, Department of Commerce make an initial investment to help us get the conference center going, the alumni base and donor base to step up philanthropically through the work of athletics and the endowment to help make that happen,” Girod said on X. “And now as we work to complete this project, to have the city and the county come together with the state for STAR bonds and other tax incentives to help us complete the entire development, I think that’s fantastic.”
This story was originally published August 1, 2025 at 9:13 PM with the headline "Deadline met: Kansas football team holds first practice in newly renovated Booth."
