Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - HOLY COW: David Booth's $300 Million GIFT SHOCKS Kansas Athletics | Will This TRANSFORM KU's Future?

Starting point is 00:00:00 David Booth, you are a madman, you are a Jayhawk hero, $300 million donation. I'm going to tell you why this puts Kansas in a favorable position moving forward for possible conference realignment, just as a program for every sport possible, even though it's mostly directed to football, getting all that on this bonus episode, Locked on Jayhawks. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast. on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:38 What's going on? Derek Johnson here at D. Johnson Radio on Twitter at L.O. underscore Jayhawks on that account. And thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks, your first listen every day. Thank you, the everydayers catching each and every episode of the show. We are free and available anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show.

Starting point is 00:00:56 And a little bonus episode for you coming on Locked on Jayhawks today. because David Booth is giving $300 million to the University of Kansas to KU Athletics specifically. So we're going to break that down, what all goes into it and how this makes KUA possible future Big 12 powerhouse. And maybe somebody who's not part of the Big 12 altogether. We'll get to all that on today's episode of the show. Let's start with the news from David Booth giving $300 million to KU. And this is from the story online, KUathletics.com, that they released talking about the news. He said, just days before the Kansas Jayhawks football season kickoff against Fresno State on August 23rd,

Starting point is 00:01:41 the University of Kansas announced an unprecedented gift from alumnus David G. Booth of Austin, Texas. The extraordinary gift amounting to approximately $300 million is the largest in Kansas athletics and University of Kansas history and is among the largest single gifts in history of college athletics. Booth, a graduate of both Lawrence High School and KU, is an investing legend and founder of Dimensional Fund Advisors, a global investment firm that manages $853 billion in assets as of June 30th, 2025. Booth's visionary gift includes a $75 million challenge to other donors that launches the next phase of progress on the Gateway District

Starting point is 00:02:21 and David Booth, Kansas Memorial Stadium. the remainder of his commitment will generate a steam, a stream of income that will strengthen Kansas athletics across generations. Here's what Travis Goff had to say in the article, David's unprecedented generosity is transformative now and for our future. It accelerates phase two of the Gateway District and the new booth and inspires others to step up and join in completing the vision. We're profoundly grateful for David's leadership, an extraordinary impact on generations of student athletes and fans. There's no more generous and impactful Jayhawk. we're so fortunate to call them a friend and a mentor now what's obviously very interesting with this is how they're going to be using the money obviously three hundred million dollars that is a lot of money right how are they going to be using it out but you heard them talking about there in the article 75 million of it going to the gateway district now i personally am not the biggest fan of the gateway district i'm more about tailgating with college football but i can see the vision for k u and obviously this is a gigantic deal for kansas and david booth what i am even more interested in is that other two $225 million. That is what really interests me here with everything, because that $225 million,

Starting point is 00:03:29 this is from the story again for KATHletics, the remainder of Booth's gift will allow Kansas athletics to be strategic, innovative, and maintain a leadership position in college athletics. With the advent of revenue sharing and the continued changes in NCAA and conference dynamics, his generosity will help enable KU to take the next step in cementing itself as a national leader in college athletics for booth giving back to k u is an investment in the university and its mission he hopes his philanthropy will inspire others to support the gateway district project and what he calls the prototype for future football stadiums at whatever level they can but that 225 million is essentially going to be going into a fund i guess a rainy day fund you could

Starting point is 00:04:14 call it no a kind of fund for k u that is going to allow them to make interest on the money, basically have their own bank account to spend the money. And my understanding of it is that other $225 million is something that Kansas is going to be able to use. I'm sure they'll budget it out in a certain way in different ways. But what I find most interesting is, is it going to be something that is going to basically rev share? Is it going to be something that is going to cover that? And in addition, you're also going to be getting money from, like I said, the interest that. down payment, stuff like that. And so if we're just talking about what this means with David

Starting point is 00:04:53 Booth, like you're talking about someone who, yes, he has a Jayhawk hero at this point. Like I pose this on Twitter today that if you're talking about the most influential figures in KU athletics all time, but you wind up with a conversation of the influential coaches, James Naismith, Fogg Allen, Roy Williams, Bill Self, you talk about influential players, Gail Sayers, Danny Manning, Lynette Woodard, and on and on, like, there's so many different players and athletes and coaches and administrators that you can talk about donors. I mean, you can, David Booth is on the short list for the Mount Rushmore. I guess it would be the argument that you could have there. Like, you could put David Booth in your top four if you wanted to based on all that he has given because it's not just this.

Starting point is 00:05:39 It's $300 million for this. It's the $50 million to KU back in September 2017, which, by the way, shout out to to Paul and Linda DeBruce, who gave $25 million to KU, whatever that was like a week or two ago. And it's like, I feel bad for them that it's like, oh, there's this $300 million thing that just happened. And like, shout out to the DeBrews family, too, because they gave a lot of money. $25 million is a ton of money as well. But from Booth's perspective, right, you're talking about the $50 million that he gave in 2017. He donated James Ney Smith's original rules of basketball, right?

Starting point is 00:06:12 If you haven't seen the 30 for 30 on that, check it out, which they, got for I think five million dollars now looking back it's just like ah whatever um which was then you know they ended up building the even more expensive building around it although i don't know how much of that was him um but yeah man he he's given a bunch of money to 2008 he gave 300 million dollars to the university of chicago school of business where he got his MBA so uh yeah man david booth has a lot of money and he likes to give it in a real way and that is really cool for everybody around him that's really cool for the university of Kansas and I want to break this down a little bit more. Reminds me a little bit of of T-Boon

Starting point is 00:06:51 Pickens with Oklahoma State and what this means specifically 4KU with their rev share with possible conference realignment. We'll get to all that next. This is Locked on Jayhawks. This episode of the show brought to you by Monarch Money. Most people can't name all their financial accounts or even what they're worth, whether it's 401Ks, properties or investments, and when you don't have the full picture, you can end up leaving money on the table. That's why there's Monarch money. It's an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean, easy-to-use interface on your laptop or your phone.

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Starting point is 00:07:55 off your first year that's 50% off your first year at monarchmoney.com and code locked on college i think's joining us on this bonus episode of l oj today so this does remind me a lot of t boon pickens who gave i i think over the course of his life it was like 600 million dollars to oklahoma state over the course of things. And he gave a huge donation toward the end of his life. Now, he was older, I believe, than what David Booth is at this point in time, but just really wanted to see success for Oklahoma State. And David Booth is now synonymous with KU athletics, with KU football, with the donations here that he has provided. But again, you're talking $300 million here, so $75 million to that to the Gateway District. What is the Gateway District? Well, that is the

Starting point is 00:08:41 idea of the stuff that is going to be around next to the KU football stadium, right? So you're talking restaurants, you're talking shops, you're talking. I mean, they've even talked about having like office space, doctor's offices, whatever, that are going to be there that are not just businesses during the games, but are businesses that are operating, I guess, whatever, Monday through Friday or Monday through Saturday, Monday through Sunday throughout the weekend. That is something that, you know, they obviously needed money to fund and boom, okay, they're on to that next step with this donation here now the other part of it and again that part is not as interesting to me it's a lot of money and it's a huge donation so shout out to david booth for

Starting point is 00:09:22 doing that again that's not really my cup of tea that part the part that is interesting to me is where that other 225 million dollars is going that other 225 million dollars i think duke has like these funds that that they are putting away you know whatever you want to say the stock market or in uh different investment opportunities that give them money that they're able to use on whatever rev share and i like different opportunities that you could kind of go to i guess not nil that have to be you know coming from a business but um basically to me this is something where if you're talking 225 million and k u's able to put it in a fund where you know who knows what they're going to be able to make in terms of the

Starting point is 00:10:03 returns but let's say it was even something like 5% a year on 225 million right um and again if you're talking 225 million like you're probably i mean shoot david david booth operates in an investment firm like they're they're going to have like the best people on this where realistically and especially you know with the market the way it is it can be up and down but you would think that they're going to have the best people on it that maybe it's more than 5% right but if we're even just talking 5% a year that you make on uh 20 or 225 million dollars that's 11.2 million dollars that you're just making off of interest in this fund now if you're pulling more than the 11 million the number on the interest goes down as you're pulling more right you pull more and

Starting point is 00:10:50 more the interest number goes down and what you're making back but point being you're talking about if we just don't even include interest that would essentially rev share is what 20.5 million dollars that you can give to all your athletics programs however you want to divvy out per season as a college football program or as a college athletics program that basically means that you are covering um you know 250 million dollars that basically means that you are covering uh 12 seasons 12 and a half seasons before you get involved in the interest of the revs year for k you now you add on all that interest and this could be something that that spans you know 20 30 years for k you in terms of david booth has just covered the next again 20 or 30 years for k u

Starting point is 00:11:38 in the rev sheer department. And then by the time you get to the end of that, maybe the college landscape is different. Maybe you've accrued money from other areas, other donors to, you know, make up those future years as well. But that is such a gigantic guilt. Think about what that means that KU can do with its other money, so to speak, right? If David Booth has given you enough money that you can check off spending all of the money. And to be clear, not every school is going to be able to hit the full 20 and a half million. If this gives Kansas the leg up, in terms of, okay, we can spend the full 20 and a half million, however, they want to divvy it out. But in addition to that, that means every other set that gets donated into Kansas can go to

Starting point is 00:12:18 the other things Kansas needs. That can be brand new facilities in some different sports. That can be the continuation of the new stadium, the new booth for KU football. That can be to going to funding even more in terms of, hey, instead of you giving $2 million donation, why don't you give a $2 million NIL deal to this player that we think is going to be a stud and we really need him basically they will have a fund used for a suppose pain players that stuff will be checked off the list and completed whenever the stadium gets done which you would think is going to be within the next handful of years that will be checked off and that means that all future donations once you do finish the football stadium are just going to go to those sorts of

Starting point is 00:13:01 things so whenever the stadium is done that means all future donations become the cherry on top of your donations, right? Just like, think about the potential that that gives KU, that all other KU donations could go straight to NIL building rosters, could go to finishing other facilities, like say, you know, reupping the baseball stadium, for instance. It's basically to like give an analogy here, thanks to the ginormous hand in funding that David Booth is kind of providing you here. The analogy here is that you as a person finished off paying your house and finished off paying your your car and you finish paying off all your I don't know your loans that you kind of have right and now all your income that you're building in i.e in this case all the other donations Kansas is getting in you can use on

Starting point is 00:13:50 fun things like a fun vacation to Italy or buying a boat buying a jet ski you know buying a membership to a golf club that's equivalent to what Kansas is going to be able to do where they're saying hey we already have our basics you know let out so now all this other donation money we get that's going to go to getting our our future quarterback in the transfer portal when our good one goes off to the pros a year earlier than we were expecting to. Or that can go to our future small forward who we think can be the difference in us making a final four. That can go to us paying an offensive coordinator that we think we are going to lose to another job, but we're able to double his salary to stick around with the program. And so I'm not saying KU is going to compete necessarily with the oil money

Starting point is 00:14:33 that like, you know, the Texas tax of the world have, or maybe you say that like Texas tech is tier one of spending ability in the big 12. But if you're talking tier two, and maybe Kansas can be in tier one led by David Booth now, but if you're at least talking tier two, you are talking the Kansas Jayhawks on that next tier. And we've seen that. And you see some of the revenue figures that are coming out, some of the money that is being spent on merchandise among teams in the big 12. Like Kansas is continually at the top of these lists in the big 12. Now you got this funding to support it. Now you've got the brand new football stadium that is going to continue to be built and funded by guys like David Booth. This has legitimate repercussions, not just like if Kansas

Starting point is 00:15:14 stays in the Big 12, you're one of the big fish now. You are spending like that is the case. If you do end up getting the opportunity to leave for another conference, this is probably something that is why. If you do end up getting an opportunity to eventually one day leave for the Big 10 or the SEC, this is probably. one of those, you know, pivotal moments that you could point to and say, yeah, that would probably be why. And so you bet your butt this helps Kansas impossible future college football realignment. But even if they don't leave, even if this just does help you stay up top on the Big 12 pecking order, so to speak, that is a big deal too. And so just a gigantic

Starting point is 00:15:54 deal overall, an unbelievable sacrifice by David Booth. And by the way, Travis Gough might just end up being the best athletic director in Kansas athletics history with what he is doing, has done, with the hiring of coaches, the early returns on those, the combination of where he's gotten these programs, and how he is fundraising this thing. So hats off to Travis Goff, hats off to Doug Gerard, and obviously hats off to David Booth, $300 million. All right, some of the other latest news that, I don't know, this feels like the news. It is the news. I'll get to some of that next. Thanks to join us on locked on Jayhawks. Don't forget you make Locked on College Football, Locked on College Basketball, your second list in every day. Don't forget to check

Starting point is 00:16:42 out and thank you the everydayers who are due are normal content each and every day. Some latest news to finish things off. KU. Woman Soccer begins the season pre-ranked 25th in the country. Of course, if you remember, they had a solid season. It was in year one of Nate Lee till the end of the regular season. And then they got hot. They won the Big 12 tournament. That was awesome. They go to the NCAA tournament. So now bigger expectations for the full year ahead for Nately in year two with KU women soccer and cool to see them preseason ranked there. Sky's obviously the limit for what this program can be with. That's the really cool thing that like Kansas City is an epicenter for like you look at the women's sports that KU, you know,

Starting point is 00:17:23 has done very well in in previous years. Women's soccer and KU volleyball or volleyball in general. Kansas City is like actually an epicenter for recruiting for both of those sports, for women's soccer and women's volleyball, which gives Kansas a high potential in both. And obviously, we've seen that with volleyball and we've seen that year in the occasional year with tournament appearances here and there for KU Women's soccer. But I think Nate Lee is going to get them to be a consistent power in the Big 12. KU women's hoops, by the way, they're going to be getting one of three visits from a class of 2027 five-star center in Eve Long.

Starting point is 00:17:56 That could be a big deal for KU. They've really ramped up recruiting here of late. And it seems like that's something that they're going to be able to keep rolling. And you think some I Nichols, you think about a couple of the top end to high four stars or five star recruits they have coming in on this year's team. So, you know, to even be involved and continue to have those opportunities moving forward is going to be a big deal for Brandon Schneider and the KU Women's program. And then the last bit of news, it was announced today that injury reports, basically status reports are going to be a thing in the big 12 now moving forward. awesome news from our perspective um obviously i'd imagine this is a little bit like gambling related right because the gambling companies are like hey we want injury reports so people can be able to bet on

Starting point is 00:18:37 the games and know what's going on here and there and that is going to make these leagues these schools even more money because they can do those things from our perspective this is amazing news because when we do our game previews now we can actually point to and be like this guy's questionable this guy's doubtful this guy's probable we can talk about it throughout the week that uh oh this player now got listed as questionable what does that mean are they okay right and the players are getting paid now like i've always thought like i don't know hey i get coaches probably don't like this because they don't want to share this information but if the other team has to share it too it's not an advantage and like guess what the best teams and players in the world in the NFL have been

Starting point is 00:19:17 sharing their injury reports for years so the college teams and coaches they're going to be just fine doing it too that's going to do it for this episode of locked on jahawks you can find or show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. David Booth, if you would like to sponsor the show, I will be accepting sponsorships from Mr. Booth. I will see you next time for another edition of Locked on Jayhawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - HOLY COW: David Booth's $300 Million GIFT SHOCKS Kansas Athletics | Will This TRANSFORM KU's Future?

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