KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Johnny Russell helped deliver Sporting Kansas City to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final on Tuesday night, but it will be Jalon Daniels’ turn by Thursday as the Kansas Jayhawks open their season at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas.
In between, there’s a lot of work to do for stadium staff at Sporting KC’s home venue.
“It’s a huge lift for us,” said Josh Blackford, Sporting KC’s vice president of operations and the general manager of Children’s Mercy Park. “Last night, we ended up in a 2 1/2-hour rain delay, which really backed up a lot of our plans.
Sporting KC’s 2-0 win against the Indy Eleven in the Open Cup semifinals didn’t end until 11:45 p.m., pushing back the start of the changeover for Jayhawks football.
No. 22 KU hosts Lindenwood at 7 p.m. on Thursday, so Blackford’s crew was busy Wednesday painting a football field into the grass at Children’s Mercy Park, which had play clocks and rigging for field-goal nets added overnight among other changes.
But it’s not just the field.
“We’re built for soccer; we’re not built for football, so rebuilding our control room like we’re rebuilding the field for football takes a lift,” said Blake McFarland, Sporting KC’s director of match experience.
McFarland oversees the control room where the game-day experience is created and managed.
It’s more than just logos and graphics on the videoboards.
It’s finding ways to incorporate the down-and-distance and number of timeouts, things that are inconsequential to a soccer match.
“It’s going to be really weird seeing football lines and end zones and guys tackling each other on the field and not getting yellow cards, but it’s going to be a lot of fun,” McFarland said. “We’re really excited for this one and the next one.”
Children’s Mercy Park also provides some unique game-day enhancements.
“Whether it’s the LED lights when they score a touchdown and for their intro video or fireworks after the score and when the teams come out, those are things that are an opportunity for KU to have at our venue that they haven’t had over at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium,” McFarland said.
Children’s Mercy Park will host the Jayhawks’ first two home games, including a Sept. 13 game against UNLV, before its conference home games shift to GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
“For me personally, as a KU alum, this is a dream come true to be able to do a KU football game in my workplace,” McFarland said. “Having the opportunity to really elevate it and make it a really cool experience is going to be really fun.”
Blackford is — uh — not a KU alumnus, but he’s eager to make sure the Jayhawks feel at home anyway.
“Children’s Mercy Park, this is KU’s home for the next few weeks,” he said. “Our home is their home. We’re going to make it feel like that on Thursday night. ... We have a few Jayhawks on the staff. They’re obviously taking a little bit of extra pride in what they’re doing for us.”
The game is sold out, but some tickets remain available on the secondary market.
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