Fieldhouse Renovations: A recap and introduction of all the renovations Allen Fieldhouse has undergone during the offseason to prepare for the 2024-25 basketball season, and how the East community is reacting to the changes

East parents and KU alumni appreciate that the University of Kansas’s Allen Fieldhouse has kept its old-school atmosphere after an 18-month renovation process. 

Taking place during basketball off-season, the $55 million makeover includes a state-of-the-art video board and sound system, 1,100 new chairback seats and a closer student section, according to kuathletics.com.

“My one key takeaway is how impressed I was that the building kept its charm and its very traditional look while being brought into 2025 technology and amenities,” KU Alumni and East parent Matt Taylor said. “I was actually very impressed.”

The last time KU updated Allen Fieldhouse was in 2009. Sophomore Hallie Pfiefer said KU’s 15-year-old jumbotron was “outdated” compared to other college basketball arenas. 

The new central LED video board has four identical screens that are the same size of the old Jumbotron. The new setup includes two more underbelly screens for people in the lower sections to better see the video board. 

“I think it’s cool they have video screens underneath the new one,” KU season ticket holder and east parent Ryan Pfeifer said. “​​If you’re sitting way down low, you can see a video screen without having to raise your neck up and see the new, improved one.”

The facility also added two videoboards on the northwest and southwest sides of the fieldhouse to display statistical information about the game for fans in the upper levels of the fieldhouse. To create room for the videoboards, however, the facility had to remove around 1,000 seats.

Fans worried a potential downside to removing so many seats could be the lower noise levels which can affect Allen Fieldhouse’s reputation of being extremely loud. But Taylor said he believes the opposite. 

“Most of the seating that was lost were way, way, way up high in the corners where they’ve put the two new video boards,” Taylor said. “Those seats are the farthest from the court in the whole building. I don’t think it’ll really impact the noise level or experience at all going forward.”

KU also added 1,100 chair-backs to original bench seats on the facility’s west side for added fan comfort, according to KU alumni board member and East parent Sasha Boulware. 

Boulware said fans asked for chair-back seating because bench seating was uncomfortably crowded with each person being assigned a small section of the bench, rather than a designated chair. 

KU also expanded the student section by adding more seats to the front — making students closer to the court. The facility omitted the original fiberglass barrier, which students used to bang on, increasing the noise levels in the fieldhouse and replaced it with an open metal railing. 

“People will cheer as loud as they always have if not louder,” KU student and East Alumni Brayden Tuttle said. “I don’t think it’s gonna affect [noise levels] a whole lot, but it definitely will take away that tradition we had.”

To keep the stadium’s energy, the student section will retain the original metal benches for students to cram more than the intended amount of people.

Allen Fieldhouse has changed from the original facility built in 1955, but according to Ryan, the fieldhouse needed 2025 technologies and updated amenities. 

“What makes Allen Fieldhouse special is the fans and the old-school feel of the field house,” Ryan said. “It makes it feel like a more intimate old-school arena.”