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Memorial Stadium to decrease capacity following renovations, per Trev Alberts
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Memorial Stadium is preparing to embark on a major project with Nebraska announcing a $450 million renovation plan on Thursday.
A key piece of that renovation plan will be a complete demolishing and reconstruction of the south stadium. Part of that plan is to create a 360-degree concourse throughout Memorial Stadium.
At a press conference to discuss the details, AD Trev Alberts confirmed the south stadium will be torn down at the conclusion of the 2024 football season. Alberts also solidified the plan is to play just one season (in 2025) without the south stadium reconstruction complete, but any delays could lead to 2025 and 2026 football seasons without the reconstruction complete.
The AD also confirmed Memorial Stadium will have a significant decrease in capacity by the time the renovation is wrapped up. At the start of 2023, Memorial Stadium had a capacity of 85,458 fans, and Alberts revealed there will be a 10-12% reduction in capacity.
“The reality is if you look at putting in the modern amenities that our fans would like, the physical structure of Memorial Stadium remains the same, but you’re going to have a 10-12% reduction in capacity just based on widening aisles, putting in handrails, adding ADA touches and doing other things that I think a stadium in 2023 really demands,” said Alberts.
Asked for a specific number about the final capacity, Alberts declined to get specific. However, he expects a final capacity in “the mid-70,000 range” at the completion of the renovations.
“I don’t want to say a number that I get held accountable to and everyone goes ‘You said!’ I’ve learned that, but I would envision based on it’s going to be in the mid-70,000 range. Plus or minus somewhere in there,” Alberts explained. “I can also tell you this is not some sort of effort to decrease supply and increase demand and use a decrease in supply to increase ticket prices to force new revenue. That’s not really what this vision is about. This vision is about the amenities and those are the ones that ultimately drive the 10-12% reduction.”
At the start of the 2023 season, Memorial Stadium ranked 4th in the B1G for stadium capacity and was the largest stadium outside of the “big 3” of Michigan Stadium, Beaver Stadium and Ohio Stadium. If the final number is indeed 75,000, that would put Nebraska right in line with Spartan Stadium for 6th/7th overall capacity among current league teams.
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.