‘Video game changer’: Kansas gets substantial $300M gift

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• / > Max OlsonAug 13, 2025, 06:49 AM ET Close Covers the Huge 12
• Joined ESPN in 2012
• Graduate of the University of Nebraska

The University of Kansas has actually received an extraordinary $300 million present from donor David Booth, believed to be among the biggest single gifts in the history of college athletics and the biggest in school history.Kansas plans to allocate$75 million of Booth’s present toward introducing the second stage of its continuous improvement of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium and building and construction of the surrounding Gateway District, Kansas athletic director Travis Goff told ESPN.Though school officials have not revealed a timetable for construction and completion of Stage 2, the funds will enable Kansas to progress with remodeling the east side of the arena after the 2025 football season.The rest of Cubicle’s gift will establish an annual additional income stream for Kansas athletics, Goff stated.”I ‘d say it’s transformative and a game changer,”Goff told ESPN.” This present makes an immediate effect on our leading priority in a profound way, and it also provides us with an extraordinary income stream that gives us a possibility to really buy special ways in the future of Kansas sports.”Editor’s Picks

1 Related Kansas has currently invested$450 million in the first phase of the Gateway District job, that included an overhaul of the southwest, west and north sides of the arena and a major restoration of the Anderson Household Football Complex. Stadium building and construction got underway at the end of the 2023 football season and will be finished in time for the Jayhawks’ season opener later this month.The 2nd

phase of the Entrance District job would also bring the advancement of a brand-new hotel, outside event plaza, student housing, retail and dining establishment areas and parking located east of Kansas Memorial Stadium.The total expense of Phase 2– ending up the stadium and the mixed-use development– is approximated to be $360 million. Lawrence city commissioners voted Tuesday night to authorize a package of financial and tax rewards worth around$ 94 million to support the project.Kansas Memorial Arena was named after Cubicle, a KU graduate and founder of international investment company Dimensional Fund Advisors, in 2018. The Lawrence, Kansas, native formerly supplied a fundamental gift of$50 million in 2017 to begin remodellings of Memorial Stadium, but the university didn’t move forward with renovating its more than 100-year-old arena until Goff and chancellor Douglas Girod announced prepare for the Entrance District in 2022.”Among life’s greatest advantages is being able to return to individuals and places that gave a lot to you,”Cubicle stated in a statement.” KU and Lawrence are a big part of my story, and it indicates a lot to support the neighborhood that purchased me. Philanthropy, like investing, pays dividends over time. Each present substances, developing chances not simply for today, but for years to come. This is truly about the future we’re constructing.”After playing their six home games in the Kansas City area during the 2024 season, the Jayhawks will open the season with their first home game inside the refurbished Kansas Memorial Arena on Aug. 23 versus Fresno State.