Why Kansas AD Travis Goff feels more confident about phase two of stadium renovations
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kansas Athletics received $300M from donor David Booth to fund stadium upgrades.
- City incentives and Booth's $75M challenge boost Phase 2 launch confidence.
- Renovations start post-2025 season; KU plans to play through reduced capacity.
A day after KU Athletics received a $300 million gift from longtime donor David Booth, Kansas athletic director Travis Goff said he feels more confident about the ongoing stadium project.
The donation was the largest in Kansas Athletics and University of Kansas history. The money will partly go toward phase two of the ongoing David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium renovation project and Gateway District.
KU’s release on Wednesday characterized Booth’s donation as a “$75 million challenge to other donors that launches the next phase of progress” on the greater stadium project.
That money, along with the Lawrence City Commission’s approval of various financial incentives, will go a long way in ensuring that phase two of the project starts at the end of the 2025 KU football season. The commissioners approved the incentives on Tuesday night.
Goff noted the significance of that Thursday.
“Confidence has increased dramatically,” Goff said. “I mean, this week, amazingly by Tuesday night … cannot be understated. It was really an important part because, again, this project is about everybody, and it’s for everybody. That was another really strong statement.
“To have to go out on an island or on our own to figure out how to make this thing (work) would have been that much more difficult. Then, the specificity and the sheer magnitude of Mr. Booth’s gift — we roll with incredible confidence.”
Goff added that KU has the conceptual design for phase two of the project and reinforced that the plan remains to start the second phase after the season.
“We are going to be in this stadium again next fall,” he said. “We’re really proud we didn’t cut any corners on the west, and we didn’t cut any corners on the north. … Our commitment is to not cut corners on finishing out the rest of the stadium. If that’s the premise, then I would expect to not have everything done at kickoff next fall.”
What does that mean?
Goff said that Kansas will be “playing through a little construction” next season and that the Jayhawks will have a bit of a reduced capacity.
“I’m fired up about that,” Goff said. “Nothing apologetic about it. Let’s do it right. We will play through it and it’ll be worth every bit of quasi-inconvenience that it provides.”
As for what Goff plans to do with the rest of the money from Booth’s gift? “It is unrestricted in nature, and we’re excited to know that it’s going to provide what I describe as differentiating resources in a climate where everybody’s fighting from scratch to be competitive in the field of programs,” Goff said. “Could it assist in making sure we are as competitive as possible in rev share? It surely could. Could it contribute to something I don’t even know how to predict? It could do that, too.”
This story was originally published August 14, 2025 at 6:18 PM with the headline "Why Kansas AD Travis Goff feels more confident about phase two of stadium renovations."
