Nebraska Football Memorial Stadium Project: Revamp or cancelation ahead
If Trev Alberts leaving the university high and dry wasn’t a big enough warning sign that the Nebraska Football Memorial Stadium Project was dead and buried, interim president Chris Kabourek's comments on Friday were like a flashing red light and a deafening siren.
During a regents meeting that accomplished beer finally be able to be sold at baseball and softball games and a new Nebraska Football facility being named after Tom Osborne, one issue wasn’t settled. There still isn’t a straight answer on where the university is with the Memorial Stadium Project.
This was Trev Alberts’ crowning jewel. It also wasn’t something that was remotely popular among certain segments of the Nebraska fanbase. It was unpopular among some chiefly because it reduces the capacity of Memorial Stadium. Some regents weren’t fans of the project because of the cost. So far, it doesn’t appear the new administration is either.
During the meeting, Kabourek asked the Board of Regents to give new AD Troy Dannen more time to review the particulars of the project.
“We’ll take the time to have some conversations and figure out exactly what the right plan going forward should be,” Kabourek told the BoR while gesturing to Dannen, who was sitting in the audience.
The new AD, who came to Lincoln just about a month ago didn’t speak at the meeting. But when his current boss made his comments about showing patience, Dannen did nod his head in agreement.
Nebraska Football’s Memorial Stadium project is on life support with a poor prognosis
It is of course possible that Dannen really is just too busy to give the project the time and attention it deserves. Though that feels unlikely.
Considering that time is of the essence and the scope of what Alberts was trying to do, it seems like a foregone conclusion that the Nebraska Football team’s home won’t be getting everything Alberts envisioned. At least not for when it was envisioned.
At this point, it feels as though Kabourek and Dannen are waiting for the right time to announce the project has been killed. Announcing it so soon could look like a petty move in retaliation for Trev Alberts leaving.
Still, if Nebraska Football’s Memorial Stadium project is going to move ahead, it’s going to look quite different. And it wouldn’t be shocking at all to see it come to an end, at least for the foreseeable future.