College Football Stadiums: Kansas Jayhawks - Memorial Stadium

This time, our series takes us to Lawrence, Kansas, home of the Jayhawks. We know this school does basketball the right way, now it's time to see how football fares...

On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best football experience of a lifetime), let's take a look at how Kansas stacks up.

Friday Night: N/A

Poor effort on my part. I did not create an opportunity to evaluate the nightlife while I was in Lawrence. Feel free to add your personal comments below.

Tailgate: 3

In my opinion, tailgating can always improve, and Kansas is no different. If tailgating is a science, then Kansas is full of business majors. You need a reserved lot pass to get into any of the good spots by the stadium. No one welcomed my group to a tailgate, no one offered us a drink, and no one even came over to make fun of us. It was as if our group was the only one aware of an impending football game. Come on Kansas, do better!

Pre-Game: 3

Oh boy. Well, the pre-game video was cool, but the excitement kind of died out as the team entered the field from an adjacent locker room.....across a walkway.....and through the track surrounding the field. Kansas needs a tunnel from the locker room in the worst way possible. Even a makeshift one for game day would be acceptable.

Atmosphere: 4

The field itself looks incredible (the blues are so blue!). The atmosphere is shaky at best. I enjoyed the "Rock Chalk Jayhawk" chant to start the game, but it wasn't more than 5 minutes after kickoff and the negativity started to swirl around Memorial Stadium. The student's section is usually the most energetic in any stadium across the country, but I couldn't even tell where that section was at Kansas. The track around the field made me feel like I was at a high school game.

Stadium Engineering: 1.5

Just when I thought no one could possibly screw up more than the jokers who designed north stadium at the University of Nebraska, I came across this nightmare. I sat in west stadium, press box side, and there was one restroom for 10 sections of fans. The line at half time was so long that I left the stadium, went to a nearby parking lot with Port-a-Potty, and returned before my fellow bathroom mates made it back from the stadium line. But don't worry ladies; this is the only venue in America where the women's restroom line is shorter than the men's. In fact, the women's line was non-existent. I don't think any females even attended this football game. How does Kansas recruit anybody to play football there?!?! Oh that's right; they have kids take recruiting trips to basketball games.

Decibel Level: 4

It's like the stadium was designed specifically to minimize noise on the field. There are just over 50,000 seats (not bad at all!). But the south end zone is open, the entire field is surrounded by a track - pushing fans farther away from the action, and the east and west stadium seats angle away from the field. It's as if the opponent's fans used to occupy more of the seats than their own fans, so athletic officials found a way to decrease the effects on the field. Now that Kansas actually has a decent team, maybe they should move into a decent stadium.

Overall: 4

The best thing I can say about Kansas is it's an easy ticket. If you go late enough in the year, you can find droves of tickets available as most of the locals are too busy getting ready for basketball season. Also, something should be said about the people from Kansas, because they are very nice. So, if you desire a nice family atmosphere and don't want to stress over how you will get into the game, then Kansas is the place for you.

Sources:

http://www.kuathletics.com/facilities/kan-memorial-stadium.html