Highlights of stadium tour, comments from Travis Goff

Kansas athletics director Travis Goff along with several staff members including Deputy AD Jason Booker and Sr. Associate AD – Operations/Capital Projects Brad Nachtigal gave a tour of the new football stadium.

We got to see a close up view of the suites, dining areas, meeting rooms, various angles of the views, and some of the intricate details that went into the new David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.

Here are a few comments from Goff after the tour:

Is this how you envisioned everything coming together:

Well, it’s certainly coming together. There’s no doubt about that. I’m so proud. I’m so thankful for all the incredible people bringing it to reality, the amount of hard work, the commitment to not cutting corners here in kind of the 11th hour. And I’m now starting to feel that energy about getting our fans in here to live and feel and breathe it themselves.

There are so many details, every single door, handle to ceiling to wall. Talk about just the intention behind everything:

A real point of pride, I think, for everybody involved. Architects, you know, Turner, HNTB, Multi Studio. There’s a personal story, I think, that was written with this venue, in the thoughtfulness, talking about our history, talking about the things that make the University of Kansas unique and special. And I think for all of us, Chancellor, all the way through, there was that deeply embedded commitment to that. And so we’re proud of the big picture, and I think we’re equally proud of the finer details as well.

[Scoop: Several recruits expected at The Booth on Saturday]

What does this mean for the university and the football program:

It’s a really tangible indication of how far the program’s come. I mean, I think whether you talk about facilities or physical manifests of things, there’s a correlation to where you were in the past. And I’ll use this tunnel example. In the past, our team entered from old Anderson about 40 yards from the south end zone. They’d come out of a door. We’d have to do cattle guards to kind of cordon them off. Then we had to deal with pedestrian traffic flow. Then we had a fake tunnel for the guys to walk out of. I think, unfortunately, that was, you know, a depiction of where we were for all too long.

And now you think about the tunnel entrance direct from the locker room, with lighting and cameras and audio and all the things that a program of this magnitude deserves. And I think that, to me, really depicts how far Kansas football has come. And here’s the other thing I’d say about that. That unfinished east side, to me, is a reminder that we’ve got work to do, both obviously in the facility, but certainly as we think about this football program. We’re excited about that.

Full interview with Goff

Video highlights of tour