Kansas Jayhawks place last steel beam for phase 1 of football stadium renovations

The Kansas Jayhawks football program is one step closer to a renovated David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.

KU Athletics officially raised the last steel beam for phase one of the venue’s extensive overhaul on Thursday, much to the delight of an assembled crowd of Jayhawks football players, donors and Turner construction workers.

Before being hoisted into the air for placement, the steel beam was signed by members of the football team, the university’s athletic department and the construction crew.

On top of the beam flew two flags: a blue Jayhawks banner on one end and an American flag on the other. In the middle was an evergreen tree, meant to signify new beginnings and good luck for the stadium.

The beam was the last of the 6,500 pieces of steel required during the first place of the venue’s ongoing facelift. Phase one will be followed by a second phase, but this initial phase is the one required to get home football games back in Lawrence.

And that was worth cheering, especially for those behind the major redo.

“Anything of this kind of magnitude, there has to be celebratory kind of benchmark moments,” KU athletic director Travis Goff said. “You have to pause and reflect and certainly acknowledge and thank everybody who’s helping make it happen. Today was absolutely a really important day.”

KU chancellor Douglas Girod commended the construction workers for their effort to date.

“These guys on the Turner team have made this happen in a record amount of time. Remember, there was a stadium back there in December: These guys are working,” Girod said. “I come by here at 9 o’clock at night and they are working. I come by here on Saturday and Sunday; they are working to get this thing done in time on an incredibly aggressive timeline of next August so we can play next season here in Lawrence.”

Construction is on schedule to be finished before the start of next season — and perhaps more importantly, the cost of the renovations is said to remain on budget.

According to Goff, the Jayhawks have raised just shy of $200 million of the $250 million needed for this first phase of renovations.

Goff was asked if he was worried at any point that the project might fall behind schedule.

“Not really,” he said. “It’s like anything, where you can’t live with the fear of something difficult happening. You know you are going have budget hurdles to get over. We’ve worked through those really well. …

“We never really had any real concerns about that. I think in eight months, then you are talking about finishing touches and what has to be all the way down to the wire for August of 2025.”

Goff said the stadium’s capacity will be “40-thousand something” after phase one is done. The final capacity, once both phases are completed, has yet to be decided.

For now, Goff is pleased with the fan support KU has seen for two football games already played at Children’s Mercy Park this season, as well as ticket sales for upcoming games at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

“I talk about fan support — the fans have been incredible,” he said. “We talk about sellouts consistently going back to last year. … It’s nothing but positive energy and we’ve got some runway to figure out what we want.”

Continuing progress at the stadium reminded senior running back Devin Neal how far the football program has come in recent years.

“One of our core pillars in our program is to leave it better than you found it,” Neal said. “Obviously a lot of us, us seniors, older guys, we won’t be able to play in this stadium.

“But everything we’ve done to this point, we get to experience the niceness of seeing that last steel beam go up. And it means a lot to us.”