The University of Kansas has received a gift of $ 300 million unprecedented from the donor David Booth, which is believed to be among the biggest gifts in the history of university athletics and the largest in the history of the school.
Kansas plans to assign $ 75 million of the Booth gift to launch the second phase of its ongoing transformation of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium and the construction of the surrounding Gateway district, he told Kansas athletic director, Travis Goff, Espn.
Although school officials have not revealed a calendar for the construction and completion of phase 2, the funds will allow Kansas to move forward with the east side of the stadium after the 2025 football season.
The rest of Booth's gift will establish an annual additional income flow for Kansas Athletics, Goff said.
“I would say it is a transformer and a change of play,” Goff told ESPN. “This gift has an immediate impact on our top priority in a deep way, and also provides us with an incredible income flow that gives us the opportunity to really invest in unique forms in the future of Kansas's athletics.”
Kansas has already invested $ 450 million in the first phase of the Gateway district project, which included a review of the southwest, west and north of the stadium and an important renewal of the Anderson Family football complex. The construction of the stadium was launched at the end of the 2023 football season and will be completed in time for the opening of the Jayhawks season at the end of this month.
The second phase of the Gateway district project would also bring the development of a new hotel, outdoor event square, students for students, retail and restaurant spaces and parking located east of the Kansas Memorial Stadium.
The total cost of phase 2, which ends the stadium and the development of mixed use, is estimated at $ 360 million. The commissioners of the city of Lawrence voted on Tuesday night to approve a package of financial and fiscal incentives worth around $ 94 million to support the project.
The Kansas Memorial Stadium is named after Booth, a KU graduate and founder of the global investment firm Dimensional Fund Advisors, in 2018. The Native of Lawrence, Kansas, native previously provided a fundamental gift of $ 50 million in 2017 to begin the renovations of the renovations of the Stadium Memorial Stadium, but the university did not advance with the university renewal of 100222222
“One of the greatest privileges of life is to be able to give back the people and places that gave him so much,” Booth said in a statement. “Ku and Lawrence are a large part of my story, and means supporting the community that invested in me. Philanthropy, how to invest, pays dividends over time. Each gift is composed, creating opportunities not only for today, but during the next few years. This is really about the future we are building.”
After playing their six games at home in the Kansas City area during the 2024 season, the Jayhawks will open the season with their first game at home inside the renewed Kansas Memorial Stadium on August 23 against Fresno State.
