The project will cost $450 million.
The University of Nebraska’s brass has decided it is time for a facelift for its football stadium and it is going to cost about $450 million to do the renovations. About two-thirds of the cost will be covered by getting money from private donors and $100 million more will come from athletic funds, including $50 million in donor-given reserves and $50 million from athletics generated revenues. But there is still a $125 million shortfall and finding that money might be a problem as the University of Nebraska has never taken any public money for stadium renovations. But times may be changing. The University of Nebraska may have to ask Nebraska legislators to send money to get the stadium renovations done. The plan is to demolish the south stand sometime in 2025. The initial plans indicate the newly built south stand project would be done by August 2026, but Nebraska Athletic Director Trev Alberts said customers may not be back in South Stadium until 2027.
The $125 million needs to come from somewhere. Alberts claimed the Memorial Stadium project would not use any existing state appropriations or student tuition revenue. But that does not mean that he will not go hat in hand to the Lincoln politicians and beg for money. The renovations are needed to get the stadium up to Americans with Disabilities Act compliance. But putting up a new south stand is also designed to be a new revenue generator because new facilities have all sorts of gadgets that are designed to create revenue generating opportunities. Nebraska lawmakers sent Creighton University $30 million to build a baseball stadium for the school. So, the lawmakers are ready to spend.
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