Kansas-Missouri hoops raises $2.011 million for hurricane relief

With about 11 minutes remaining in the second half of Sunday’s Kansas-Missouri exhibition, Sprint Center public address announcer Mark Fitzpatrick delivered the most important total of the game.

The Showdown for Relief between the Jayhawks and Tigers men’s basketball teams had raised $724,480 on pay-per-view. More than 18,000 had paid $40 to watch a live stream of the game.

The official totals announced by both schools Friday, days after the game, were higher. The pay-per-view stream raised $768,000.

The sold-out game brought in $1.15 million in ticket sales. KU and Mizzou fans were also asked to text donations during the game, and those contributions totaled $68,000. Other donations brought in about $25,000.

That means $2.011 million was raised for hurricane disaster relief, the cause that brought together the old rivals who hadn’t met on the hardwood since 2012 when Missouri left the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference.

At halftime, Mizzou athletic director Jim Sterk, Tigers coach Cuonzo Martin and KU counterparts Sheahon Zenger and Bill Self posed behind a ceremonial check for $1.75 million. The actual amount raised will be spilt equally among five hurricane relief effort funds: Houston Harvey Relief Fund, Florida Disaster Fund, Rebuild Texas Fund, Juntos y Unidos Por Puerto Rico and Fund for the U.S. Virgin Islands.

This story was originally published October 22, 2017 at 4:40 PM with the headline "Kansas-Missouri hoops raises $2.011 million for hurricane relief."