Big Red Business: Fan friendly features coming to Memorial Stadium

Imagine this: It’s Nebraska versus Oklahoma -- an early 2022 season headliner at Memorial Stadium -- and the Cornhuskers are leaving their spacious new locker room to begin the Tunnel Walk.

With the music blaring, the team enters a new northeast tower that allows fans to not only slap the players’ hands but also allows others at multiple levels of the stadium and football complex to look down and cheer on the team as they make their way inside the nearly 100-year-old stadium.

While the $155 million football athletic complex promises lots of the latest and greatest bells and whistles for all 600-plus Nebraska athletes, there are some fan-friendly features built into the plans as well.

The upgrades are not just enhancements to the game day Tunnel Walk either. Fans in the north end zone will be the biggest beneficiaries of improved creature comforts, with escalators, elevators and other vertical people movers, and more concession stands and restrooms closer to the top rows.

There’s also talk of adding a culinary kitchen in the west side of the stadium to enhance game-day food options.

The long-neglected south side of Memorial Stadium? Nothing this time.

The athletic department declined to comment on any of the repurposing plans for Memorial Stadium, saying that no final decisions had been made. Chancellor Ronnie Green, who spoke at the project unveiling event in late September, also declined to comment.

The athletics project, which received the green light Friday from the Board of Regents, now moves to the design stage. The athletic department expects to hire the architecture and design team and construction management company by December, with site preparation and construction beginning next June, according to documents submitted by the athletic department to the Board of Regents documents prior to its Oct. 25 meeting.

The 350,000 square-foot complex -- to be constructed west and north of Memorial Stadium -- is scheduled to be ready for the 2022 season. All phases of the project, including reconfiguration of space inside Memorial Stadium, will be finished by March 2023, the Regents documents said.

A related project, to move the Ed Weir outdoor track complex from ground to be used for the new athletics facility to a new location near the Devaney Center, also was approved by the Regents. That project is expected to cost $11.48 million -- with $1 million expected from private donors, and $10.48 million from the rainy day trust fund, the documents showed.

So what can fans look forward to?

*People movers. Not a fan of those Himalayan hikes from the ground floor to the upper reaches of the north end zone, and then back down at the end of the game? Those days are about to end.

As Athletic Director Bill Moos correctly noted at the project unveiling ceremony, the fan base is aging and the long climb to seats in the north end zone can be hard on the joints and lungs.

The project calls for escalators, elevators and other elements to improve the flow of fans in and out of the North Stadium.

* Pit stops. More concession stands and restrooms will be added closer to the top of the north stands.

*Suites. Green said at the announcement event that plans call for “four, five, or maybe six new suites,” possibly in the north stands. The last time suites were added in that section was 2006.

*Gourmet dining. Many fans cannot live on Runza’s, Valentino’s pizza, and hotdogs alone. Green said there have been discussions about repurposing of space in the west side of Memorial Stadium to add a culinary kitchen and other “club amenities for the stadium.”

While Green didn’t elaborate, it is possible the kitchen could be used solely for club and suite ticket holders as another amenity to improve the value of their seat contributions. A culinary kitchen could also be used for other game day events.

Professional sports teams have been the driving force in “an increasingly dynamic foodservice environment that’s invigorating a once mundane element of game day,” according to an article in QSR, a restaurant industry trade publication.

Forget about the days of just dispensing just hot dogs, pizza, and nachos. Will Nebraska up its food-service game at Memorial Stadium? And if so, might it use mobile ordering services and apps to dish out the food? Think of the aroma coming from ribs, gourmet burgers, corn on the cob, and smoked salmon wafting around Memorial Stadium.

*Ed Weir improvements. The new track stadium will include improved stadium seating, a press box, concessions, restrooms, and parking, according to the Board of Regents report.

Memorial Stadium has long been considered one of the best college football venues, and university officials want to keep it that way.

Here’s one outsider’s perspective on the stadium, which opened in 1923 and was designed initially to mirror Ohio Stadium at Ohio State University:

The sports website Yardbarker recently ranked the top 25 college football stadiums. Nebraska was No. 14 on the list.

“You can’t have a...sellout streak without a special stadium,” Yardbarker said. “Since 1962, Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium has been filled through the incredible highs and terrible lows. While the stadium itself has no outstanding features, the fans make it great. On any given Saturday, Memorial Stadium is filled with a sea of red that is something to behold.”

When completed, Nebraska will be one of about five Power Five schools with football training and locker room facilities that are connected to outdoor and indoor training facilities and the football stadium.

As HuskerOnline previously reported, the project will be financed by donations, revenue bonds and athletic department money held in the rainy day trust fund. The athletic department expects to raise about $100 million for the project, or 65 percent of the total. Proceeds from the sale of revenue bonds will account for $50 million, or 32 percent of the project, and trust funds will make up the remaining $5 million, according to Regents’ filings.

After the new football and athletics complex is completed, what’s next?

Green said the athletic department has also done “a lot of planning” on revamping the south side of Memorial Stadium. Might that mean people movers, more concessions, restrooms and suites? Again, Green did not elaborate.

That part of the bowl hasn’t received major attention since the 1970s, to the consternation of ticket holders.

Why wasn’t South Stadium included in the new facilities upgrade? And what about planned improvements for the golf and swimming and diving programs?

Jim Rose is a former Nebraska football play-by-play announcer and athletic department fundraiser who is now a marketing executive in Omaha. Stressing that he didn’t have any direct knowledge of facilities expansion plans, Rose said it makes sense not to roll out too much at one time. Keep the fundraising focused, complete the athletic facility and track projects, then move on to the next ones.

At some point, he said, “everybody will get fed.”

Steve Rosen writes about the business of sports for HuskerOnline. Questions, comments, story ideas? Contact Steve at sbrosen1030@gmail.com.