Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium to Host 2007-08 Border Showdown Football Games

Jan. 22, 2007

LAWRENCE, KAN. — Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City will host the 2007 and 2008 Border Showdown football games between Kansas and Missouri, athletics officials from both schools announced today.

“This is a very exciting development in this great rivalry,” Kansas Athletics Director Lew Perkins said. “Our players and coaches greatly enjoyed their experience at Arrowhead against Oklahoma in 2005, and we look forward to playing there again.”

The KU-Missouri game is one of eight games on KU’s home schedule in 2007; it is scheduled for Saturday, November 24 (Thanksgiving Weekend). “We feel very good about the fact that we will play seven home games in Lawrence in 2007,” Perkins said, “and still be able to take advantage of an opportunity to bring a game into the heart of KU’s most-populated alumni area. In 2008, those same fans can easily attend the KU-Missouri game that would otherwise be played in Columbia, hours away from this area.”

Playing the Border Showdown game in Kansas City represents a return to the roots of this great rivalry for the Jayhawks and Tigers. Nineteen of the first 20 meetings between the two schools, starting with the inaugural game in 1891, were played in Kansas City; the other was played in St. Joseph.

Perkins said the revenue proposal offered by Arrowhead officials was a key point in the decision to move the games. “They approached us with a plan that will provide us some $1 million in each of the next two years,” he said. “That money is important to us as we try to provide the best possible services for every student-athlete in all of our 18 sports.”

“The allure of playing in one of the National Football League’s most renowned stadiums right in our own back yard appealed to our players and coaches,” Kansas football Coach Mark Mangino said. “To be able to provide our football players with a chance to play in Arrowhead Stadium is important not only for our current players, but also for the players we will recruit for the future,” Mangino said.