Big Red Business: What's a game in Memorial Stadium cost to put on?

By the time Nebraska football players stream out of the Memorial Stadium tunnel to open the season Saturday against South Alabama, Matt Davidson will be well into his game plan.

No, not Matt Davison, the miracle at Missouri receiving great and radio broadcaster who’s now Nebraska’s assistant athletic director for football. This is the athletic department’s other Matt -- Matt Davidson, who oversees event management and game staging at Memorial Stadium.

During the seven home games this season, Davidson and his small army of contract employees, volunteers, and staff will handle everything from steering fans into parking lots, hawking programs, taking tickets, enforcing the clear bag policy, ushering people to their seats, monitoring weather conditions, keeping a sharp eye for medical and security issues, and yes, even cleaning up trash at Memorial Stadium after the game.

For a wow factor, Davidson also arranges the military jet pre-game flyovers.

If it has anything to do with the gameday experience -- short of playing the game, tooting out music from the tuba section, selling Runza’s and Valentino’s Pizza, and synchronizing the pre-game Tunnel Walk-- Davidson holds much of the responsibility.

“Not too many people know the nitty-gritty of what we do,” said Davidson, the associate athletic director for event management. “But if we’re doing our job right, they shouldn’t.”

To be sure, a lot of money is involved in transforming Memorial Stadium into the third-largest city in the state seven times a year -- complete with retail and fast food outlets, and medical and police supervision.

How much money? Neither Davidson nor other athletic department officials would hazard even a guess.

They note that there is no financial report or profit and loss statement that spells out costs and revenue from each home football game.

“There’s virtually no way to define what costs are tied to putting on a home football game,” said Keith Mann, an athletic department spokesman. In many ways, he added, “much or most of what many of us do on a daily basis is directly or indirectly related to seven Saturdays in the fall.”

Still some financials are available, and to give you a ballpark idea, HuskerOnline reviewed and crunched some of those numbers.

The athletic department is required to file an annual income and expense report with the NCAA. According to the latest report, which covers the 2017 season, the department said it shelled out $2.9 million to cover home football game day expenses that year. That includes officiating, security, event staff and an ambulance.

As a baseline, that rounds off to about $429,000 a game for seven Saturdays. But that money doesn’t cover everything.

Digging deeper, here are some other numbers and game day details to factor in:

*Guarantees. South Alabama will receive $1.2 million for playing in Lincoln. The other non-conference foe, Northern Illinois -- victorious here in 2017 -- gets $920,000 as part of a four-game contract for games in Lincoln. They received $820,000 in 2017.

*Referees. “We are invoiced by the Big Ten for our share of officials costs, but we are not provided detail,” said Mann. Those costs include game fees, travel and other expenses, practice referees, the spring game and more.

*Event staff. There are about 450 ticket takers, ushers, parking attendants, and other game operations workers, with the majority being paid. In addition, there are about 1,100 concession workers who are paid-- stand workers, vendors and hawkers.

All event staff positions inside the stadium pay $9.75 an hour; parking staff is paid $10 an hour. Concessions fall under a different department in athletics, although Davidson said workers are likely on a similar pay scale as event staff.

On an average game day, concessions will sell 23,000 slices of Valentino’s Pizza, 14,000 hot dogs, 13,000 Runza’s, 9,000 bags of popcorn -- all washed down with 55,000 bottles of Pepsi, and 20,000 sold in souvenir cups, according to the athletic department.

*Clean up crew. Davidson said the athletic department also contracts with the Nebraska campus ROTC to clean up the stadium seating areas once fans have cleared out. Between 20 to 30 ROTC members handle this three-to-four hour chore of picking up the bulk items. A refuse company is then paid to haul away the trash to a recycling vendor.

ROTC workers also provide game-day security of checking bags. Davidson declined to disclose how much ROTC is paid.

(As an aside, Davidson said stadium workers pressure wash seating and concourse areas after each game to remove the nacho cheese stains, dirt and mud, and other grime.)

*Medical. The athletic department coordinates with various organizations and medical groups to make sure there are physicians, paramedics, and other emergency personnel on site. Those groups include Red Cross volunteers, University of Nebraska Medical Center physicians, and Omaha-based Midwest Medical Transport Co.

So, looking at all the costs associated with hosting South Alabama, for example, the total is a minimum of $1.6 million (That’s the sum of the guaranteed payout for coming to Lincoln plus a minimum of $429,000 for game day expenses based on the NCAA filing.)

By all accounts, however, the actual cost to the athletic department for hosting a game at Memorial Stadium is well north of that number. And don’t forget costs incurred to the city of Lincoln’s budget, some of which are reimbursed by the athletic department. On the flip side, revenue generated by the city from spending and taxes on football Saturday’s softens the blow.

Matt Davidson ramps up preparation for the football season home opener shortly after the Fourth of July.

That involves hiring event staff, training, credentialing, handling budgeting and payroll, and coordinating with about 35 different agencies to make sure every aspect of game day is covered. Those agencies range from the National Weather Service to city, state, county and campus enforcement, medical providers, and other athletic department officials.

“We are a hub of the athletic department,” said Davidson. “We work with all other departments on what they want to have happen on game days. We connect the dots.”

Altogether, Davidson maintains a data base of about 3,300 workers who are on call, including event staff, law enforcement, medical providers, Lincoln city traffic engineers, and his own 15-member staff.

That data base also holds the names of about 800 event staff workers, who can be tapped to cover not just football, but about 350 events across the entire sports scene at Nebraska, including the spring football game and state high school events at athletic department facilities.

Davidson’s department takes applications year-round at huskers.com/fanhost, but the hiring cycle is typically June 1 to Aug. 1. It’s a very seasoned event staff, with not much turnover.

Take Gerry Lobeda, who is in his 90’s, and recently received a 50-year service pin. His wife, Arlene, has also worked for event staff for a long time. On football game days, the Lobeda’s make the drive from Ong, Neb. and this season they’ll be taking tickets at Gate 8.

Nebraska is one of the few schools that does not use a third-party event staffing company, said Davidson.

“We’re unique here,” he said. “We like to keep it in-house. It makes the work more personal and the staff is more dialed in to how we want to operate.”

Davidson is in his 11th year at Nebraska, and was named to his current position this summer following the retirement of Butch Hug.

On football Saturday’s, Davidson will be all over the stadium during about a 15-hour work day, keeping in touch with a command site. His game day starts about seven hours before kickoff and typically ends about four hours after the conclusion of the game when television crews finally pull out. During that time, he’ll get reports on everything from medical issues, fan behavior, and even the need for more toilet paper.

The costs for hosting a Saturday football game extend beyond the confines of Memorial Stadium.

There are law enforcement, medical and fire, and road-related issues that involve planning and staffing.

*Lincoln’s transportation and utilities department generally avoids having ongoing projects during a football Saturdays in and around downtown and on major thoroughfares, said Lonnie Burklund, an assistant director.

Additional staffing is brought in for home games to deal with pre-and post-game traffic duty, shifting traffic cones, and readjusting traffic lights. “It’s a pretty big lift,” Burklund said.

No major projects have had to be postponed this year because of football, he said. His team is coordinating with a contractor on an improvement project on N. 27th Street north of the Cornhusker Highway to keep lanes open before the South Alabama game and then commence work as needed to finish the job.

“Our strategy really focuses on primary corridors coming into and out of the city to keep through lanes open,” he said. “We also constantly coordinate throughout the year with contractors to allow repairs to be done on off-weeks where football games are scheduled out of town.”

The cost? Burklund estimates football-related costs for staff overtime and materials can range from $30,000 to $40,000 annually -- money that is the budget to cover special events.

*The Lincoln Police Department devotes significant resources on game days, including dealing with traffic at more than 20 key intersections before and after the game, assisting with stadium security, providing staffing at the Railyard entertainment zone, and patrolling the North Bottoms area that draws a young crowd before, during, and after the game.

“We have a large contingent of staff working on these game days,” said Lincoln Police Chief Jeffrey Bliemeister.

All that staffing comes with a price tag to the city of Lincoln, Bliemeister said.

Every game day costs the city about $3,500 to $6,000 in overtime pay for traffic control, he said. The athletic department also reimburses the city about $10,000 per game for Lincoln police security at the stadium.

Police officers also provide staffing at the Railyard entertainment area, which is paid for by the district’s management company. The police department also receives a grant from the Nebraska Highway Safety Department for the cost of patrolling North Bottoms, mainly a student housing area north and west of Memorial Stadium.

As one can imagine, football Saturday’s -- which brings about 100,000 people downtown with alcohol adding party fuel -- can be busy. Last year for the early September Colorado game, police responded to about 473 calls in a 24-hour period in the area in and around Memorial Stadium, compared to 353 calls during a non-game September weekend, Bliemeister said.

The Lincoln police work jointly with campus police, Lancaster County law enforcement, and the Nebraska highway patrol to provide security in and around Memorial Stadium. The Lincoln police department also coordinates with The Bridge, a nonprofit organization that promotes campus safety and provides shelter for students impaired by alcohol.

*The Lincoln Fire and Rescue Department will add nine or ten emergency medical responders and other personnel a stone throw’s away from Memorial Stadium and downtown on football Saturdays early in the season, said Chief Micheal Despain.

That number might drop to two by the end of the game, he said. By mid-year, perhaps only four extras are needed, he added.

Weather also plays a factor in staffing up, Despain said, especially during the hot and humid early weeks of the season, and ice and snowy game days at the end. There are also more alcohol-related calls early on partly because of the influx of college freshmen in the house who may be experiencing alcohol for the first time.

“We’re always a bit nervous during that first game,” he said.

Despain said his department runs up about $30,000 in expenses during the season, covering staffing, planning meetings, and equipment costs. The department is reimbursed about half that amount from health care insurers, the chief said.

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