Hosting Football Games at Sporting Kansas City Stadium Will Cost KU $200K, Maybe More

The University of Kansas athletic department will pay a rental fee of $100,000 for each of the two football games it plans on hosting at Children’s Mercy Park, home of the Major League Soccer's Sporting Kansas City, during the upcoming season.

The Jayhawks will play their entire season away from David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, which is undergoing renovation and will reopen in 2025 as part of the $448 million Phase I of KU's so-called Gateway District. The team will play two games at Children's Mercy Park, including their season-opener Aug. 29, as well as four games at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs.

As reported by The Lawrence Times, the $100,000 per-game fee at Children's Mercy Park does not include staffing expenses for either game at the 18,467-seat (for soccer) stadium, which could add an additional $150,000 to KU Athletics’ costs, nor does it include the cost of revenue-sharing with Sporting KC, according to a letter of agreement provided to the Times in response to an open records request.

Here are some of the key revenue-sharing points from the agreement, as reported by Conner Mitchell of the Times:

• KU Athletics will retain 100 percent of the games’ net ticket revenue.
• Certain Sporting KC annual suite holders have a right of first refusal to purchase their regular suites for the games.
• Sporting KC will retain 100 percent of the revenue from those suite-holders.
• Any suites left over can be sold to KU Athletics suite-holders (KU retains 80 percent of that revenue).
• 100 percent of the revenue from any suites left over and sold to the general public will go to Sporting KC.
• KU Athletics must give 20 percent of its revenue from merchandise sold in the stadium to Sporting KC.
• Sporting KC retains 100 percent of revenue from food and beverage and parking fees.
• Third-party staffing costs (security, staffing, cleaning, etc.) will be billed to KU up to $150,000.
• KU must pay for the “reasonable, actual and documented costs and expenses associated with the repair and/or restoration of the playing field.”

If either party cancels the agreement after March 1, they owe the other a $30,000 liquidated damages fee, Mitchell reported.

The Times first requested the agreements to host games at Children’s Mercy Park and Arrowhead Stadium on Jan. 30, the same day KU announced it would play away from Lawrence in the 2024 season, according to Mitchell's report. The university provided the Sporting Kansas City contract on Friday but still has not provided the agreement with Arrowhead Stadium, citing personnel limitations in the public records department.