Athletic Director Troy Dannen is well aware that profit margins are going to shrink when revenue sharing goes into effect and he’s hoping the Nebraska football program can be leaned on fore new money streams.
Dannen sat down for an interview with the Omaha World-Herald’s Sam McKewon where he talked about a number of topics, but all of those topics came back to how much money the university is hoping to make, because of how much money it will have to spend in the near future. The stadium renovations are part of that, but it was more about all the ways that Dannen has been thinking about turning over couches and shaking out change.
With revenue sharing arriving this fall, Dannen knows the Nebraska football program will need to lead the way in providing new money. Among the avenues hes looking at is finding a way around exempting certain season ticket holders from giving donations in order to renew their tickets because they’ve been grandfathered past that rule.
Nebraska football on the lookout for new revenue streams
“If all those donations were paid, today, that’s $22 million,” Dannen said. “Those seats aren’t going to renew at 100%, but just think of the size of that against what, maybe, we’re looking at with the new expenses ahead for us.”
One of the other things Dannen is “looking at” is using the Hawks Practice Field as a tailgating location during gamedays. That isn’t in the works for this fall, most likely but instead Dannen said Nebraska will try some sort of “expanded perimeter” where people can pay to hang out, drink and use porta potties.
One area that will bring in new revenue is the new deal with Aramark, that Dannen said is “doubling” how much money concessions bring in. There will be more food options, according to the AD while also offering the infrastructure for selling alcohol this fall.
The good news here is that it’s clear that Nebraska football can offer new ways to make money for the university. The bad news is that some of those won’t be enough in the short term.