By John Kurtz
K-State’s 2021 season opener on September 4th against Stanford will no longer be in Manhattan. Instead, the Wildcats and the Cardinal will play at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, home of the Dallas Cowboys, in the Allstate Kickoff Classic.
K-State will get a guaranteed payday of $2.8 million to move the game. Athletic director Gene Taylor expects to net around $2.2 million when all is said and done – a substantial increase from an estimated $500,000 for a typical home game.
Stanford will get only enough money for travel costs as stipulated in the original home-and-home contract.
“We were honored when AT&T Stadium contacted us about potentially playing in this prestigious game,” Taylor said. “The idea of taking a home game away from Manhattan and Bill Snyder Family Stadium is a big decision, and as a staff and university, we feel that it is an opportunity that we could not pass up.”
The Wildcats will still have an industry-standard seven home games this season, but critics of the move cite the impact an extra home game would have on a struggling local business community that thrives on the influx of fans on game days.
Still, it is not a certainty that Riley County officials will allow full attendance at Bill Snyder Family Stadium when the season kicks off on September 4th. That makes a seven-figure guarantee even more enticing for an athletic department that suffered significant financial hits itself throughout the pandemic.
While the financial motivation is clear, there are benefits beyond the dollars and cents.
“Playing a quality opponent such as Stanford in one of the world’s top sporting venues is a chance for us to showcase our program to recruits all over the country,” K-State football coach Chris Klieman said.
It is an opportunity to take center stage amid arguably the most fertile recruiting ground in the country. There are already 20 players on K-State’s roster from the lone start state – more than double any state besides Kansas.
It is also a chance to join an elite group of schools that have played in this game since it started in 2009. Alabama, Michigan, USC, Wisconsin, Auburn, Florida, and Oregon have all participated. LSU has done so three times.
Taylor says discussions about moving the game started in the summer of 2019 when the Cowboys approached him at Big 12 media days. The pandemic altered the timeline for an official announcement.
While full attendance details won’t be available until closer to kickoff, expect this to feel like a K-State home game. The Wildcats get an allotment of 30,000 tickets compared to only 3,000 for Stanford and will have control over “pageantry elements” of the game like hype videos and the marching band.
