- UNL proposes a $600 million Memorial Stadium upgrade
- Funding relies on donations and private bonds
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) – The Nebraska Board of Regents and Husker Athletics are proposing a $600 million modernization upgrade to Memorial Stadium.
$250 million of the estimated cost will come from donations, with the remaining $350 million coming from private bond financing.
Ernie Goss, an economics professor at Creighton University, said the private bonds will be issued to the public.
"The private bonds will be issued to the public at large and those individuals can purchase the bonds and they receive interests from the University of Nebraska Lincoln. And that, of course, incentivize you to buy the bond," Goss said.
Goss said the higher interest rates could be seen across the state, and the bonds could increase the university's chance of defaulting.
"When you compete, you're going to pay a higher premium, and that would be in the form of higher interest rates," Goss said.
The stadium announcement comes months after the university cut nearly $30 million in funding for academics. Funding for academics and athletics are separate budgets at the university.
Richard Leiter, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln law professor and the incoming Faculty Senate president (his term starts next week), said higher education is increasingly prioritizing athletics over academics.
"It's just ironic that we're spending this amount of money to renovate the football stadium when the academic program has been suffering from a lack of financial support," Leiter said.
Leiter gave the example of ESPN coming to Lincoln to cover a football game, "but they're not gonna spend any money to bring cameras in and cover my class, which is advanced legal research. They probably will be lucky to get any viewers for that."
The Board of Regents will vote on the stadium plan on Friday morning.
Proposed changes include a concourse that wraps around the entire stadium and replacing bench seats with bucket seats. The renovations will shrink the stadium's capacity by about 10,000.
If approved, construction would begin after this season, with completion set for 2028.
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