Kansas Jayhawks receive athletics gift of $300 million

Kansas reported received a massive gift of $300 million, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Max Olson. It is among the largest gifts in the history of college athletics, per the report.

“NEWS: Kansas has received an unprecedented $300 million gift from donor David Booth,” Thamel wrote on Twitter/X. “(Believed) to be among the largest single gifts in the history of college athletics, KU officials tell Max Olson and me.”

Booth is alum of the university, getting his bachelors degree from Kansas in 1968, majoring in business. He earned a Master’s of Science from Kansas the very next year as well.

Booth left Kansas and enrolled in the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and left in 1971 with an MBA degree. Currently, Booth is the chairman of Dimensional Fund Advisors, which he co-founded with former Chicago classmate Rex Sinquefield.

This isn’t the first time Booth donated money to the Kansas athletic department. A big fan of his alma mater, Booth gave a reported $9 million in 2004 to fund the Booth Family Hall of Athletics attached to Allen Fieldhouse.

Over a decade later, Booth wrote a larger check. He signed over a reported $50 million to renovate Kansas’ football stadium and named it after Booth.

Recent renovations were just completed as well, something Kansas head coach Lance Leipold was thrilled about. The team was recently seen practicing inside the new facility.

“It’s been great,” Leipold said. “And, honestly, I probably wasn’t in there as much as you think. I really kind of stayed away from it. Not to get stressed out if it was gonna be finished on time, or what was going to be control what you can.”

Kansas would announce the initial plans for the stadium renovation in 2023. That included new facilities and renovations to the old facilities. Fans will notice new and more comfortable seating options, a new video board, and more food options, among other changes.

The renovation forced Kansas to play away from home during last season’s home games. That included playing at Children’s Mercy Park and Arrowhead Stadium, in Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri, respectively.

“But 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,” Leipold said. “But right now we don’t have that luxury yet, as things are still being worked on. Looking forward to getting in there in about a week, where we can get the scoreboard on, get the play clocks on, get used to some other things. We’ve got a few other dry run things that we want to do, and it’s really nice. The more that you start to see things, it was done in a first class way.”

Kansas is set to open its 2025 season in Week 0 on August 23rd. That’s when the Jayhawks will welcome fans to the new David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium to take on Fresno State.