Jan. 22, 2007
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The University of Missouri and University of Kansas have approved terms of an agreement with the Kansas City Sports Commission and the Kansas City Chiefs that will move the schools' football games to Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., for the 2007 and 2008 seasons. The agreement was announced Monday afternoon in a press conference held at Arrowhead Stadium. Both games are scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend each year.
"Since MU serves the entire state as Missouri's premier land-grant, research university, we are pleased to have the opportunity for this new partnership," said MU Chancellor Dr. Brady Deaton. "The Kansas City area is already home to over 23,000 Mizzou alumni and almost 3,000 of our current students and has accounted for $22 million in donations to our billion dollar capital campaign. We also are very proud to be a stakeholder institution in the Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute," he said.
Basic terms of the agreement - with details yet to be finalized - call for each school to realize a minimum guaranteed sum of $2 million for holding the games in Kansas City. Mizzou officials estimate that MU will net approximately $1.8 million after expenses are extracted for the two games, which is a significant increase from the anticipated net revenue of around $800,000 to $900,000 MU will realize for hosting Kansas in Columbia in 2008. Mizzou receives no revenue from playing a road game at Kansas in 2007.
Additionally, Mizzou Athletic officials announced that they will give $250,000 of the payout back to the University to fund an endowed scholarship, with details to be determined.
Mizzou's 2008 non-conference schedule has yet to be finalized, but Mizzou officials have indicated that they will replace that year's Kansas game with a non-conference contest in Columbia in September against a foe to be determined, in order to keep six home games during that season.
"This is a very generous proposal by the Sports Commission and the Kansas City Chiefs and I would like to thank (Chiefs General Manager) Carl Peterson for his generosity and his willingness to make this happen," said MU Director of Athletics Mike Alden. "This is a unique and exciting method for providing additional resources to our program while also providing a great atmosphere for our student-athletes and fans. A move like this also offers the benefit of increasing the exposure for our football program, as well as our University as a whole, in a very important market," he said.
Alden noted that the University recently met with Columbia business leaders to discuss the move and address their concerns. "It was important for us to have a chance to have a dialogue with our business community to make sure they could have an understanding that we would be guaranteeing a six-game home schedule in 2008," Alden said. "We appreciated the opportunity to have a very open and productive discussion," he said.
The nation's second-oldest rivalry, with 115 games played, the series stands deadlocked at 53-53-9, after Mizzou claimed a 42-17 win in Columbia in 2006. Although it was a long time ago, the MU-KU series used to be played annually in Kansas City, as the first 16 games of the rivalry, from 1891-1906 - and 21 times in all - have been played there, with KU holding a 12-6-3 edge in games played in the City of Fountains. Mizzou has won the last two games played in Kansas City, claiming a 28-0 victory in 1944 and a 33-12 win in 1945.
The 2007 game in Arrowhead will be MU's second in three years, as the Tigers defeated Arkansas State there to open the 2005 season, by a 44-17 count.
"Our team is going to be very excited about playing in Arrowhead Stadium," said MU Head Coach Gary Pinkel. "Playing in a professional stadium is a memorable experience and it is something that we plan to use to our benefit from a recruiting perspective. I would like to thank everyone from the Sports Commission and the Chiefs who made this possible, and we look forward to playing in front of our great fans in the Kansas City area," he said.