Lance Leipold pressed on reports of Kansas playing at Wembley Stadium in 2026

Last week, On3’s Brett McMurphy reported that Kansas and Arizona State were in discussions to play the first-ever FBS college football game in London next season.

Once finalized, Wembley Stadium would host the Big 12 matchup between the Jayhawks and Sun Devils on Sept. 19, 2026. Originally scheduled as a Kansas home game, this would be the conference opener for both teams.

Kansas head coach Lance Leipold was asked about this potential clash during Monday’s media opportunity. Leipold shot down the rumors (as nothing is official yet), but did give his take on playing international games.

“I don’t really have any official comments on that yet,” Leipold said. “Everything is kind of talked about, but it’s out of my hands at this point with where that’s going. I can give you general thoughts on international play if you like. I think first of all, I think it’s great experiences for student athletes. I think when you look at other sports in Division I, they get a chance to do summer tours or play games in different places.”

Leipold sees international games as educational opportunities

“I think these are great lifelong experiences and I know this game continues to evolve into a heavy business model, but I think we have life experiences and educational opportunities that if they do present themselves, we need to look wholeheartedly into them. As a graduate assistant, we played in Tokyo and played a bowl game in the Bahamas. Guys on those teams talk about those experiences for the rest of their lives.”

Since 2012, college football teams have regularly played a regular season game in Dublin, Ireland. Other than the Bahamas Bowl however, no other country has been touched until the reported clash between the Big 12 foes in London.

“The other side of it also is there’s a reason why the NFL keeps playing more and more games in other countries,” Leipold continued. “It’s expanding. It’s growing. As we continue to evolve away from the educational model into a professional model, you’re gonna see other avenues open up for other opportunities to promote, whether it be college football as a whole or the Big 12 itself. If it does work out that we end up in an opportunity to do that (and be one of the first ones), I think it would be an exciting opportunity. But we shall see.”

Kansas has opened its 2025 season 3-1 (1-0 in Big 12 play). Arizona State is also 3-1, but fell out of the AP Top 25 Rankings following a 24-20 loss to Mississippi State in its second game of the season.