Memorial Stadium Track Removal Nearing Completion

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Work on a project to remove the track from KU’s Memorial Stadium that began in late June is nearing completion.

Following the actual digging up and removal of the track that was once home to the great Kansas Relays, workers have since been busy surrounding the field with new artificial turf, which extends 37 feet from the sidelines. Additional turf in the north end zone extends 80 feet from the back of the end zone, some 25 feet more than previously existed. Ten feet of asphalt now extends from the end of the turf to the stands on the north, east and west sides of the stadium.

The south end zone remains largely unchanged, except that a new decorative fence will soon replace the 10-foot chain-link fence that previously stood in that end zone.

Recognized as the first stadium built on a college campus west of the Mississippi River, Memorial Stadium is the seventh oldest collegiate stadium in the nation; it has a capacity of 50,071. The Jayhawks moved into Memorial Stadium in 1921. The stadium is dedicated to the University of Kansas students who fought and died in World War I.

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