Financial uncertainty regarding federal funding, as well as a new revenue-sharing era thanks to the House Settlement, has the Nebraska football team officially feeling the crunch. In fact, Athletic Director Troy Dannen says that amid a "crisis" at the university, the plans to renovate Memorial Stadium are officially on hold.
The project, first unveiled under former AD Trev Alberts, was already scaled back from the very lofty approach. At the time, Dannen said that he didn't believe they'd be able to do everything they originally wanted because donors and money were already starting to dry up.
During a Friday morning press conference, Dannen laid out what he's facing more specifically. While NU remains financially stable — its Big Ten Conference membership and profitable Nebraska football program play a key role- renovating Memorial Stadium would change the school's financial landscape. "We're not going to take anything to the Board (of Regents)," Dannen said. "And I don't know when we will. But the time is not now."
Dannen went on to say that at least part of the reason the crisis is such a big one is because of donor fatigue. Donors are "wondering why they're writing checks when the university is sharing revenue."
Troy Dannen lays out how revenue sharing is spent at Nebraska
The House Settlement, Dannen said, has changed the way that the university gets help paying players as well. He said that the "days are gone" of 1890 Nebraska, "gathering cash and distributing it as pay for play."
However, the collective is still facilitating NIL deals. Dannen reiterated his appreciation and Matt Rhule's appreciation for Tom and Shawn Peed of 1890 to do everything with the collective that Nebraska has asked. That's especially important amid the aforementioned donor fatigue.
Cash payments out of the $20.5M revenue sharing pool go to select athletes at Nebraska in football, men's and women's basketball, and volleyball. "I'm not going to talk about numbers," Dannen said. He added that after the season, he'll be talking to coaches again about revenue sharing pieces of the pie.
What's clear is that this new era, mixed with outside influences, has made things harder even for programs like Nebraska football that are routinely in the black financially.