Kansas Athletics announces first sellout for Football in 2023
The one question that I heard a lot around the first two games of the season was one that I have not been used to hearing: "Why didn't Kansas announce that the game was sold out?"
Coming into the season, expectations for this team and the program have been high. But the expectations for the fans may have actually been higher, with fans of both the Jayhawks and their opponents expecting levels of support that haven't been seen in a while.
But the wait is over. Earlier today, Kansas Athletics announced that this Saturday's game between the Kansas Jayhawks and BYU Cougars is officially a sellout:
This sellout is notable for a few reasons, but none of them bigger than another sign of the excitement and expectations surrounding the program. Sure, the fact that BYU fans typically travel well (and many actually live in the Kansas City area) helped a bit, but a 2:30pm kickoff on a Saturday was always going to have a good chance to fill the stadium.
This is the fourth sellout of the Lance Leipold era, with the other three coming in a single stretch from weeks 4 through 6 of last season. The Jayhawks sold out the stadium for the final non-conference game against Duke before hosting Iowa State and TCU/College Gameday in quick succession.
Many (mostly Kansas State) fans have asked why it took so long to sell out the stadium this season, but I think that can be easily explained by the fact that both games have been on Friday nights. Those kickoffs were great for the Jayhawks in that they gave them a platform where only a small number of games were being televised. The tradeoff is the conflict with high school football, and the difficulty in getting people to the stadium by kickoff if they are not able to get out of work early on Friday.
Now that the Jayhawks will be playing on Saturdays, expect to see the stadium packed, especially if this team continues to win.
