The Missouri Tigers and Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball teams raised over $1.75 million for hurricane relief this past Sunday.
In honor of their first meeting since 2012, when Missouri left the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference, the arch-rival universities brought back the “Border War” rivalry for a day. For the “Showdown for Relief,” all proceeds from the exhibition game went to foundations aiding areas affected by recent hurricanes, including the Houston Harvey Relief and Florida Disaster funds.
Tickets sold out within a matter of days of the event’s announcement.
KU spokesperson Jim Marchiony said the demand for tickets was so high that the universities decided to add a $40 live stream of the event online for people who weren’t able to attend the game.
The live stream ended up being a huge boost for the event, adding over half a million dollars to the ticket sales alone.
“Ticket sales were in excess of $1.1 million,” Marchiony said, “and the live stream added another roughly $725,000.”
And while the Jayhawks ended up defeating the Tigers 93-87, Marchiony said the most important part of the event was the two rivals coming together for a good cause.
“I think both KU and Missouri are really proud of the fact that together we are going to donate nearly $2 million to a very, very worthy cause,” Marchiony said. “I don’t think there’s many places in the country that are going to be able to say that.”