Kansas is taking its latest leap abroad with the kind of confidence that comes from already proving it can handle the spotlight.
Next month, the Jayhawks will meet Arizona State in London in the Union Jack Classic, a Sept. 19 game at Wembley Stadium that will be the first-ever college football game played there. For Kansas Athletics, it’s more than a one-off trip. It’s part of a broader push to stretch the university’s reach beyond Lawrence and into an international conversation.
That mindset has been building since this summer, when Lawrence hosted the Algerian men’s national soccer team during the World Cup. Daniel Berk, Kansas’ senior associate athletic director for strategic communications, said the school was willing to play the role of test case.
“The initial decision to host Algeria brought plenty of questions and local adjustments, but the payoff was almost immediate,” Berk said.
He pointed to the attention that followed almost instantly.
“I think 12 hours after they got here, everyone saw the benefit because Good Morning America, the Today Show, the New York Times; everyone was talking about Lawrence, Kansas,” Berk said during a gathering with Kansas mass communications students. “It became this story of what the World Cup was all about.”
Berk said Athletic Director Travis Goff has been open to ideas that push Kansas into unfamiliar territory.
“There’s not a lot of things [Goff] will say no to,” Berk said. “He’s fine with us being the guinea pigs with things, ‘Hey, do you guys want to try something new, something different?' Talk to Kansas first.”
That willingness to experiment fits with the wider direction of the department, which has already backed major facility work like the overhaul of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, along with coaching hires and NIL support. Kansas is also looking further ahead, with hopes of hosting a 2031 Women’s World Cup team at Rock Chalk Park.
Deputy Athletics Director Jason Booker told KCUR in July that the university is still “on the surface” of understanding how the global seeds planted during this summer’s tournament will grow, but the upside is clear.
Kansas has been working for about a year to get the London game sorted out, Berk and Andy Eisch, assistant athletics director for strategic communications, said last week. The logistics have been heavy: travel, training schedules, shipping team and band equipment to London by boat, and figuring out how to handle media in a different market while still managing the usual game-week details.
The challenge is also part of the appeal. Wembley carries real weight as a venue, with the original stadium dating to 1923 and the current one opening in 2007. It has hosted Summer Olympics, a World Cup final, Live Aid and NFL games, and Kansas sees the stage as a massive one.
“There’s a real thirst for American football in London,” Berk said.
Kansas also leaned on outside help while building its plan. Eisch said the school spoke with Kansas State and Iowa State, who played in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin last year, as well as the Jacksonville Jaguars, who have played in London 14 times since 2013.
"When we were talking with K-State and Iowa State, we had a lot of the same ideas, a lot of the same stuff that we were doing,” Eisch said. “It was great to pick their brain and hear about their experience."
For Kansas, the Union Jack Classic is being framed as a major step for college football, but also as something with a wider university payoff.
“Athletics is kind of the front porch for the university and is what gets people - a lot of times - to the university,” Berk said.
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