The University of Missouri-Kansas City basketball teams will play most of their home games next year at Municipal Auditorium downtown.
The men’s team, under new head coach Mark Turgeon, will play 15 dates in one of the more historical basketball venues in America.
The cost to the university: zero. “Rental is complimentary…for the UMKC Basketball Season from November 2026 through March 2027,” according to the contract obtained by KCUR through Missouri’s open-records law, called the Sunshine Law.
The contract also obligates the city to reimburse UMKC up to $650,000 for the “coach’s suite build-out and renovation.”
“The University of Missouri-Kansas City is the City’s premier higher education institution,” Mayor Quinton Lucas’ office said in a statement. “It was an easy commitment to invest further in our facilities while providing the facility without charge.”
The contract does call for the city and UMKC to split sponsorship revenue. The university will get 65% of permanent sponsorships and the city will pocket 35%.
UMKC is responsible for game-day operations, including hiring off-duty Kansas City police officers as security, according to the contract.
The Roos are moving back downtown after playing the past six years at Swinney Center on campus.
Turgeon called playing in the auditorium a gamechanger for the program. “Kansas City is ready to embrace this team, and we are ready to give the city a team that matches its winning culture," he said in a statement.
Since being hired in February, Turgeon has moved quickly to leave his mark on a program that has seen little success.
Turgeon has recruited heavily around Kansas City and hired assistants with Kansas City ties.
The Roos won only four games this season under former head coach Marvin Menzies. He was fired with one year left on his $350,000 contract. The university was negotiating a settlement with him.
Turgeon is making $200,000 a year at UMKC. In 2025, he was still drawing his $1.2 million University of Maryland salary, making him one of the top 10 public employees in that state, according to the Baltimore Sun.
New women’s head coach Candi Whitaker, who returned to UMKC 15 years after her first stint as Roos coach, is making $350,000 a year, according to her contract.
Municipal Auditorium has hosted thousands of basketball games since it opened in 1935.
Nine NCAA Final Fours have been played there, more than any other venue. That included the University of Kansas triple overtime loss to North Carolina in the 1957 championship game.
The NAIA plays its men’s championship games at the auditorium.
