In this Hearings newsletter:

1. The latest on Memorial Stadium Renovations 👷

2. Allen Fieldhouse details coming soon 👀

Support The Hearings…by sending this to KU friends and fam.

Was this forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

EVERYTHING IN THIS NEWSLETTER IS BASED UPON WHAT I AM HEARING FROM PEOPLE I TRUST. PLEASE DO NOT MISTAKE THIS FOR FACT OR FOR ACTUAL JOURNALISM, WHICH HAS VERIFICATION STANDARDS THAT I HAVE NOT ADHERED TO. I DO NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT.

A Quick Thank You 🥹

We’ve now hit more than 7,000 email subscribers and 1,000 Discord members. The support completely blows me away. You helped me build this from the ground up, yet it still feels like we’re just getting started.

Reading your email notes, responses to the poll, and hanging out in the Discord inspires me to keep scooping. Your ideas are driving this thing as much as mine every step of the way.

We’re gonna do some great things for Kansas fans, players, and each other. Thank you for being here.

The Latest on Memorial Stadium Renovations

We’re still in the early days of details getting settled for what I understand to be a complete overhaul of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. As the budget gets settled, some of these ideas are still subject to change.

Here’s where things stand currently based on what I’m Hearing:

• Phase 1 should begin after this coming season. The initial phase is a massive overhaul and includes the west side (press box, suites side), the north side (the bowl), the convention center, and the rest of the Anderson Family Football complex renovations.

• I’m Hearing capacity will shrink. It currently seats 47,233 fans. It will be between 40,000-45,000 seats.

  • The idea here is for a more premium gameday experience. There are better seats and social areas throughout the project.

• The stands will move closer to the field all the way around.

• There are gonna be suites, and a lot of them. The “west side,” or press box side, has five tiers of seating.

  • The tiers should include a club level, a premium level, and a press level. There will be standard stands above and below these tiers.

    • The tiers are in the middle of the stadium. This is where the outdoor suites, club level, etc., will live. These are great seats, rather than at the top.

• The idea reminds me of Arizona State’s stadium renovations, which were built by HNTB, the same lead architect KU hired. Pay attention to the tiers in the image below. KU’s would be a smaller version of this, with less space between the levels.

  • The pic below is just meant to give an idea. KU’s ultimately look a lot different than what you see here.

• While there aren’t currently renderings for a sunroof, I have reason to believe there are plans to build one once the entire project is complete.

• The open end zone on the Hill will be closed with a small structure. Yep, they’re closing the bowl, or “the south end zone”. The stadium will be connected 360 degrees.

  • The stands here will be relatively small, so they still won’t block the view of the Hill. But the idea looks nothing like the current luxury tent, which is a needed improvement.

    • This part likely won’t get built in phase 1.

• The idea is to build a party deck area on top of the Anderson Family Football Complex.

• There’ll be a tunnel for players from Anderson to the stadium under the stands. So they’ll run onto the field from a tunnel on game day.

• The bowl on the “north end zone” will be rebuilt. It’ll still keep a bowl shape (no corners) but move substantially closer to the field.

  • It’ll move close enough to where KU can build a convention center behind the bowl and not hit the street.

• The exterior will look much nicer, but there’s been a desire to keep some of the historical look to the building.

• The convention center is part of phase 1. It appears to be attached to the bowl side of the stadium.

  • This is where KU is re-thinking a fundamental part of campus. The idea changes the gravity of KU and Lawrence.

• The “east side” and “south side” of the stadium and entertainment/hotel portions of the project are in future phases. Again, the size and scope of the ideas here are massive — if KU can pull it off.

When Is It Happening?

• I’m Hearing we’re still months away from public renderings. I’d expect them to drop in the fall during football season. I believe KU is still going through iterations of renderings privately. They won’t get released broadly until those iterations are largely finished.

  • Travis Goff said KU was “on the doorstep” of releasing renderings in February. Guess it’s a big door 😂. In Goff’s defense, this is a massive project.

  • Goff is said to be extremely thorough. I think he’s still learning how and when to be decisive vs. meticulous. I know there’s a want to see him be more aggressive in asking for money. Luckily, he gets advice from two pros in Bill Self and Lance Leipold.

Coming Soon: Allen Fieldhouse Renovations 🤯

I plan on sharing details on the in-progress Allen Fieldhouse renovations. There’s some big news to clear up here. It’ll take me a little time to get proper info.

My current plan is to drop it when we hit 8,000 subscribers. We’re currently around 7,100 subs.

Yup, this is Scoopsmafia 😂👏