KC to host next two MU-KU games

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- In a deal that'll net each school at least an extra $1 million, the Kansas-Missouri football game is coming to Kansas City.

For the next two seasons, the two old rivals will each move their home game to Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs. When played on campus in Lawrence, Kan., and Columbia, Mo., the game would net about $1 million, but only for the home team.

Under Big 12 rules, schools do not share gate revenue. But under the deal announced Monday, the Chiefs will guarantee each school $1 million each year. If the game generates enough revenue, the schools could receive additional money.

At a news conference at Arrowhead, officials from both schools thanked Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson and his staff for helping put together an agreement Peterson has worked on since he became Kansas City's chief executive officer in 1989.

"This is a great opportunity for both universities," said Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins. "It should help the recruiting for both schools. I know our players will be excited at the opportunity to play in a professional stadium."

Arrowhead has successfully hosted 15 college games the past nine years, including the Big 12 championship game several times. Kansas and Missouri each played a regular-season game in Arrowhead in 2005 and drew well.

"We're excited at the University of Missouri to be able to bring this game to the Kansas City metropolitan area," said Missouri athletic director Mike Alden. "Things started to move in a very positive direction. It was a great opportunity for us at the University of Missouri."

Kansas' Memorial Stadium seats about 50,000, while Missouri can get about 68,000 into its stadium. Arrowhead can squeeze about 79,000 into its 33-year-old facility, which will undergo a $400 million renovation in the spring.

Kansas City has hosted the Missouri-Kansas game 21 times since the first one that was played in 1891, but not since 1945. Efforts by the Chiefs and others to move the game to Arrowhead has met with resistance from several quarters, particularly the merchants in Columbia and Lawrence.

"We are very sensitive to the needs of our business community," Perkins said. "We will have seven games on campus this next season, just as we did last year."

Alden also said the Tigers will have six games on campus, the same as in 2006.

Restaurants, bars, motels and similar businesses in college towns depend a great deal on football weekends. Ted Creasy, the manager at Harpo's, a popular restaurant-bar in Columbia, said he understood the schools would bring in a nonconference home game to make up the difference.

"If they would just take the game away, that would be awful," Creasy said.

Lavern Squier, president of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber was disappointed the game was moving. "But KU has analyzed the situation and made their decision. Our board of directors will take this up in a coming meeting and we'll go from there," Squier said.

Chiefs season ticket holders, who number about 70,000, will be able to buy tickets to the Missouri-Kansas games before anyone else. The Chiefs will receive revenue from parking and concessions.

"Then, very frankly, if the game does real well, there'll be a three-way split after certain thresholds," said Peterson.

Often referred to as the "border war" because passions date to Civil War days when Missouri was a slave state and Kansas a free state, it's the second-most played series in Division I-A. It is the oldest NCAA Division I series west of the Mississippi River.

The two schools cannot even agree on their all-time record. According to the Jayhawks, they lead 54-52-9. But Missouri claims a 53-53-9 tie because Kansas was told by the NCAA to forfeit a 23-7 victory in 1960 for using ineligible players.