He’s a Lawrence native on KU football. Here’s what he thinks of stadium renovation
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kansas football practiced in the renovated stadium ahead of an August 23 opener.
- Renovation phase one rebuilt three stadium sides and added premium seating.
- Phase two of stadium upgrades will begin after the 2025 football season ends.
When the Kansas Jayhawks got the chance to practice in the newly renovated David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, it was especially meaningful for offensive lineman Calvin Clements.
After all, the Lawrence Free State graduate grew up a KU fan. He flipped his commitment from Baylor to Kansas largely due to KU’s turnaround under coach Lance Leipold.
Naturally, he was excited to practice in the renovated stadium. Clements grew up going to games before he joined KU ahead of the 2023 season.
“I still have an old ‘Booth’ blueprint photo in my room,” Clements said. “... So I’ll hold onto that one. It definitely is a surreal feeling to walk out and see something as crazy as that.”
The Jayhawks have hosted a couple of practices in the renovated stadium as Kansas prepares for its Week 0 game against Fresno State on Aug. 23. Renovations are expected to be finished in time for the game.
The Jayhawks have focused on completing phase one of renovations over the past year, with phase two set to begin at the end of the 2025 season.
The first phase focused on rebuilding the west, southwest and north sides of the stadium. The improvements included a new conference center on the north end, elevated seating, closer premium seating and a new scoreboard.
The stadium's capacity will be slightly above 40,000 and tickets are still available, at the moment, for KU’s first game vs. Fresno State.
Overall, Leipold was pleased to get the chance to practice in the renovated stadium.
“It’s been great,” Leipold said. “I really wasn’t in there as much as you think, I really kind of stayed away from it — to not get stressed out about whether it was going to finish on time or what it was going to be. Control what you can.
“To be in there and get a feel for it has been great. Some of our coaches want to just practice in there every day, but right now we don’t have that luxury yet as things are still being worked on. I’m looking forward to getting there in about a week where we can get the scoreboard on, get the play clocks on and get used to some other things. We’ve got a few other dry run things we want to do, but it’s really nice. The more you start to see things, it was done in a first class way.”
This story was originally published August 12, 2025 at 3:10 PM.
