The sports teams at the University of Kansas are known as the Jayhawks. They participate in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big 12 Conference.

Men's sports

• Baseball
• Basketball
• Cross country
• Football
• Golf
• Track and field

• Basketball
• Cross country
• Golf
• Rowing
• Soccer
• Softball
• Swimming and diving
• Tennis
• Track and field
• Volleyball

University of Kansas athletic teams have won nine total NCAA Division I championships, including two in men's basketball, one in men's cross country, three in men's indoor track and field, and three in men's outdoor track and field.

The Kansas Jayhawks football program is the intercollegiate football program of the University of Kansas Jayhawks. The program is classified in the NCAA's Division I, and the team competes in the North Division of the Big 12 Conference.

KU football dates from 1890. While not a national powerhouse like the men's basketball team, the football team has had notable alumni including Gale Sayers, a two time All-American who later enjoyed an injury-shortened yet Hall of Fame career with the Chicago Bears; John Riggins, another Pro Football Hall of Famer with the Washington Redskins; Pro Football Hall of Famer for the Cleveland Browns, Mike McCormack; plus John Hadl, Dana Stubblefield, Bobby Douglass, and Nolan Cromwell. The Jayhawks have appeared three times in the Orange Bowl: 1948, 1969 and 2008. The team currently plays in Memorial Stadium (capacity 50,071), the first stadium built on a college campus west of the Mississippi River, which opened in 1921. Mark Mangino, former Kansas State assistant coach, has coached the team since 2002. As of January 4, 2008, the program's overall record is 554-538-58 (.507).

The Jayhawks have two traditional archrivals. KU competes with the University of Missouri Tigers in the longest uninterrupted rivalry in college football west of the Mississippi River, first played in 1891 and originally known as the "Border War." The name of the rivalry has since changed to the "Border Showdown" following the advent of the Iraq War. Each year the winner of the game is awarded a traveling trophy, the Marching Band Drum. Following the 2007 Border Showdown Kansas retired the current drum. In addition, KU has a rivalry with the Kansas State Wildcats called the Sunflower Showdown; when the two teams compete in football, the winner is awarded the Governor's Cup by the governor of Kansas.

Kansas has also played an annual game with the Nebraska Cornhuskers since 1905. This gives Kansas the second- and third-most played college football games in existence. KU is only 23-88-3 all-time against the Cornhuskers (as of 2007), and from 1969-2004 the Huskers rang up 36 consecutive victories, second longest in NCAA Division I (only Notre Dame's streak over Navy was longer). That streak ended on November 5, 2005, when Kansas defeated Nebraska 40-15 in Lawrence. They also beat Nebraska 76-39 in Memorial Stadium on November 3, 2007. This was the largest number of points ever surrendered by a Nebraska team; the Jayhawks also set records for for most points against Nebraska in a half (1st half, 48 points) and quarter (2nd quarter, 27 points). The 95 points scored by the Jayhawks in 2006 and 2007 combined is the largest consecutive two-year total in the series. Also, the 32 points scored in an overtime loss at Nebraska on September 30, 2006, was the most by any Jayhawk team in Lincoln since 1899, when KU won 36-20 in the two teams' eighth all-time meeting.