Renovated KU football stadium will be one of the best, NFL Pro Bowler & former QB say

Four-time Pro Bowler Chris Harris, who won a Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos in 2015, has visited — and competed in — a lot of football stadiums during his four years at the University of Kansas and 12 seasons in the NFL.

The 34-year-old Tulsa, Oklahoma native, who played defensive back at Kansas from 2007 to 2010, is convinced that the Jayhawks’ soon-to-be renovated David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium will be one of the best places to watch football in the entire country.

“Oh man … from the looks of it, it’s going to fit right in there with a lot of the top NFL stadiums,” Harris said on Tuesday, speaking with media members after KU released plans for a new-look stadium to open in August of 2025.

“A lot of NFL teams are starting to redesign their stadiums kind of in this format,” added Harris, who sat on a stage with KU chancellor Douglas Girod, athletic director Travis Goff, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, football coach Lance Leipold and running back Devin Neal at a stadium-unveiling extravaganza at the Jayhawk Welcome Center, across from the Kansas Union on campus.

“They are older stadiums doing a lot of reconstruction things. This is the new standard. It’s the new level standard,” Harris added of KU’s upcoming renovated stadium. “It’s going to have multiple events. You are going to have concerts, all types of things going on in this stadium. It’s going to be great. I would call it all-purpose. It’ll be an all-purpose events center to me.”

KU’s stadium renovation plan is part of a proposed Gateway District to campus to include new retail and dining amenities and possibly office spaces, a hotel and maybe even a new campus dorm.

The entire project has a $300 million price tag, of which $50 million is going to Allen Fieldhouse renovations.

The actual football field will include seating that is closer to the action on the field. There will be chair-back seating in the west and north seating areas and a videoboard 2 1/2 times larger than the current one — and 60 feet closer to the field.

Also, there will be a 50% increase in area per seat and 50% more leg room, per a KU release. There will be 2,300 club seats in three different locations, social zones and concourses with four times more food and beverage options than now, as well as new restrooms.

Another former KU football standout, Todd Reesing, also chimed in on the same question put to Harris: Where will this renovated stadium rank out of all stadiums?

“It’s tough to get the final experience from just the renderings,” the 35-year-old Reesing, who played at KU from 2006 to 2009, said. “From the view of having the Campanile (north of stadium) there from a visual standpoint, coupled with fans being much more on top of the field to create more volume and crowd noise, I think it’s going to be as good as any place to play in the Big 12.”

He said it’s vital KU improves its football stadium.

“It is a huge recruiting tool,” Reesing said. “The recruiting landscape has changed with NIL, with facilities, with different uniform combinations. All that factors in to try to get the best talent.

“For KU to compete at the level we all want them to compete at, to win championships, to go to bowl games, we have to have facilities that match that. The fact we are putting that as a priority from the chancellor down to the athletic director shows that is an important driver for Kansas to generate more revenue to support other sports, also to create excitement in the university as a whole.”

Harris agreed that college football “has just exploded. With the way the NCAA has changed.”

“With NIL, it’s totally different compared to when I played.,” Harris said. “You’ve got to be able to compete with the other schools. Innovation and things coaches are bringing to the table to get guys, it’s all competition. Recruiting is a competition. We have to have these facilities, this new stadium to be able to keep up with the top schools in the nation.”

Reesing actually sampled part of the renovation project on Tuesday. He worked out in KU’s newly remodeled weight room in the Anderson Family Football Complex.

“The weight room … it brought back some memories to get back in there and lift a little bit of weights before we got to the big announcement today,” Reesing said. “To see the first phase of the renovation, the locker room, the weight room, they did an amazing job. I can’t wait to see what they are going to do with the rest of this stuff the next couple years.”

Harris, who played last season with the New Orleans Saints but is not in an NFL camp at this time, did not work out in Lawrence on Tuesday.

Now living in Dallas, he said returning to Lawrence would be a priority each fall from now on.

“I’m looking forward to coming back here, having a great time in that stadium. That’s what I’m looking forward to as a former player,” Harris said. “The guys coming up, guys playing now can build that brick, keep that excitement going so when it’s time to get in that new stadium the excitement is through the roof. That’s their job, to keep the same momentum we have now, to turn it up another level when it’s time for the new stadium to open.”