Several years ago, Stan Meradith was invited to watch a Nebraska football game in Tom Osborne’s Memorial Stadium suite.
Wow, thought Meradith. This will be a chance to hang with The Coach during a game. Soak up some serious knowledge.
Not exactly.
“Tom said, ‘I better warn you: Once the game starts, I’m not very sociable,’ ” Meradith said.
A generation of Husker fans understand. Tailgating and gabbing are fine. But once the game starts, it’s time to get serious.
But could you imagine a “fan hospitality” area in Memorial Stadium, complete with giant Hi-Def TVs, leather chairs, refreshments and charging stations?
What about beer sold throughout the stadium?
How about chair-back stadium seats, with cup holders?
A concourse that connects around the old stadium, a wrap-around path for folks who will only go to a game if they can walk around and talk?
A capacity of 83,000 rather than 90,000, in the name of fan comfort?
How about a student section that holds more appeal — complete with their own entry gate and student hospitality area — and placed where youthful voices can make an impact, say behind an end zone?
Alarms sounded throughout college football this week. CBS Sports reported that attendance was down in the FBS level by an average of 1,409 fans across the board. That’s the biggest drop for the sport since 1983.
Athletic directors see storm clouds in the distance: Too many games on TV and too many inconvenient game times, the takeover of humanity by smart phones and student apathy.
Is there a drain effect happening in college football?
And is Nebraska immune to it?
When you sell out your spring game in two days, you can argue that there is no place like Nebraska. Hiring Scott Frost seems to lock in that Sellout Streak, right?
Yes. But now is not the time to rest on loyalty and laurels. Now is the time for NU to be proactive and creative with ways to make sure Husker fans keep coming. And make Memorial Stadium the most comfortable, fan-friendly venue in the country.
I spoke to a couple of smart chaps who agree. One is NU Athletic Director Bill Moos, who has an amazing mix of uncommon sense, practicality and vision. The Washington state native continues to give the impression that he’s lived in Nebraska his entire life.
The other is Meradith, the principal sports architect for DLR, which designed the CenturyLink Center, Pinnacle Bank Arena, Haymarket Park and Werner Park, among many other sports venues around the country.
Moos and Meradith agree: The threat is real. “In my playing days, there was one game on a week, on ABC,” said Moos, a former tackle at Washington State. “As a player if you ever got to play on TV, that was a big thrill. Now, you open up the paper and you’ve got several choices.
“People around the country have that choice: Hey, I think I’ll stay home this time, watch it from my living room, don’t fight the traffic. And with night games, when the game’s over, we can go to bed.”
But Moos said just because Husker fans are serious about their football, don’t ever think that can’t happen here.
“If the product isn’t good and the people aren’t excited and happy, it can swing the other way,” Moos said. “That’s where we were last fall when I got here.”
The Frost Effect allows Moos the luxury of balance. Taking care of Husker fans without forcing anything.
» Alcohol. Moos said more athletic departments are turning on beer taps at college football games — not just for revenue but to keep fans coming. Moos was in the process of selling alcohol at WSU’s stadium when he left for NU last fall.
Could that happen eventually at Memorial Stadium?
“It could but I’m not pushing it,” Moos said. “Not sure we really need it. Certainly we don’t in regard to attracting fans. That’s not something I’m going to pursue anytime soon.”
» Ticket and donation prices. While now might seem like a good time to hit fans with a hike — while they’re in a good mood and there’s a long line — Moos sees it the other way.
“We don’t want to upset them,” Moos said. “Some people are really stretching their means in order to afford it. In regards to the donor seating requirements, we have been tremendously sensitive to our fans and what they can afford. You don’t want to price yourself out. Right now we have a tremendous market.
“We are now faced with the challenge of the new federal tax laws, not being able to deduct seat donations from their income tax. We are eager to see how that’s going to pan out. We did have a lot of fans pay early (before Jan. 1), and actually pay for a couple years in advance.”
» Fan comfort. Moos said NU will continue to widen seats at Memorial Stadium (“where we can”). And this: Preliminary plans to install escalators in both north and south stadiums, because “in a lot of cases our fans are getting a little older and it’s getting more difficult to get up to their seats and back down.”
Widening the seats might reduce the capacity but Moos said “it will make it more comfortable. That’s extremely important.”
» On attracting students: “There are so many different ways to watch a game without being in the stadium, especially for those of a younger generation. We’ve got to make it the place to be. As we get back into competing for championships, there’s going to be one or two games where they are going to be the difference.”
The students need to be a bigger factor at Nebraska games. They’re shoved into a corner of the stadium. Moving them would mean uprooting current fans from longtime seats. And would it mean more of them will go to games?
Meradith said you could do it, and give NU students their own entrance to the stadium and even have a student “hang out” area on the concourse. That’s a good idea.
DLR is currently doing the Sun Devil Stadium renovation at Arizona State, which is over $300 million and will be funded entirely by private donations. Meradith said ASU demolished the lower bowl of the stadium and is building chair-back stadium seats in the new lower bowl, creating new suites and a student athletic building.
Meradith said ASU is going hard after students, who are going to be enticed with good seats.
I find the stadium seats idea intriguing for Memorial Stadium. You could make it similar to Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, chair backs (with cup holders) everywhere.
Meradith said not so fast. He said because of the way Memorial Stadium was built, in 1923, the space or “treads” where the seats would go is too narrow for chairs. He said adding chair backs would mean tearing up the stadium and “re-pouring.”
You wouldn’t, and couldn’t, do it at Memorial Stadium. But could you take sections of the lower bowls in the east and west side and do that? Eventually, sure.
Here’s another idea I had: Building a Wi-Fi Sports Bar in South Stadium, where fans could congregate and watch other games on TV, socialize, etc. You see these areas more and more in new stadiums, particularly in Dallas and Atlanta.
Well, there’s not going to be beer in Memorial Stadium. But Meradith said you could do it, build a “fan hospitality area” (a dry one) in South Stadium where fans could meet and socialize, a la the end zone at the CenturyLink Center or the baseball parks in Omaha and Lincoln.
In fact, Meradith said you could connect the concourses around Memorial Stadium to create the “walk-around” effect that attracts a lot of fans.
Why encourage fans to ignore the game or watch on TV at the stadium? The answer: Because whether you like it or not, this new fan behavior is not a trend. It’s becoming a way of life.
“I just know that everybody is worried and scared to death about attendance,” Meradith said. “Perhaps it’s less acute in Nebraska because we’re all such rabid Husker fans.”
If you want them to keep coming, you’re going to have to spoil them. On and off the field.
Wow, thought Meradith. This will be a chance to hang with The Coach during a game. Soak up some serious knowledge.
Not exactly.
“Tom said, ‘I better warn you: Once the game starts, I’m not very sociable,’ ” Meradith said.
A generation of Husker fans understand. Tailgating and gabbing are fine. But once the game starts, it’s time to get serious.
But could you imagine a “fan hospitality” area in Memorial Stadium, complete with giant Hi-Def TVs, leather chairs, refreshments and charging stations?
What about beer sold throughout the stadium?
How about chair-back stadium seats, with cup holders?
A concourse that connects around the old stadium, a wrap-around path for folks who will only go to a game if they can walk around and talk?
A capacity of 83,000 rather than 90,000, in the name of fan comfort?
How about a student section that holds more appeal — complete with their own entry gate and student hospitality area — and placed where youthful voices can make an impact, say behind an end zone?
Alarms sounded throughout college football this week. CBS Sports reported that attendance was down in the FBS level by an average of 1,409 fans across the board. That’s the biggest drop for the sport since 1983.
Athletic directors see storm clouds in the distance: Too many games on TV and too many inconvenient game times, the takeover of humanity by smart phones and student apathy.
Is there a drain effect happening in college football?
And is Nebraska immune to it?
When you sell out your spring game in two days, you can argue that there is no place like Nebraska. Hiring Scott Frost seems to lock in that Sellout Streak, right?
Yes. But now is not the time to rest on loyalty and laurels. Now is the time for NU to be proactive and creative with ways to make sure Husker fans keep coming. And make Memorial Stadium the most comfortable, fan-friendly venue in the country.
I spoke to a couple of smart chaps who agree. One is NU Athletic Director Bill Moos, who has an amazing mix of uncommon sense, practicality and vision. The Washington state native continues to give the impression that he’s lived in Nebraska his entire life.
The other is Meradith, the principal sports architect for DLR, which designed the CenturyLink Center, Pinnacle Bank Arena, Haymarket Park and Werner Park, among many other sports venues around the country.
Moos and Meradith agree: The threat is real. “In my playing days, there was one game on a week, on ABC,” said Moos, a former tackle at Washington State. “As a player if you ever got to play on TV, that was a big thrill. Now, you open up the paper and you’ve got several choices.
“People around the country have that choice: Hey, I think I’ll stay home this time, watch it from my living room, don’t fight the traffic. And with night games, when the game’s over, we can go to bed.”
But Moos said just because Husker fans are serious about their football, don’t ever think that can’t happen here.
“If the product isn’t good and the people aren’t excited and happy, it can swing the other way,” Moos said. “That’s where we were last fall when I got here.”
The Frost Effect allows Moos the luxury of balance. Taking care of Husker fans without forcing anything.
» Alcohol. Moos said more athletic departments are turning on beer taps at college football games — not just for revenue but to keep fans coming. Moos was in the process of selling alcohol at WSU’s stadium when he left for NU last fall.
Could that happen eventually at Memorial Stadium?
“It could but I’m not pushing it,” Moos said. “Not sure we really need it. Certainly we don’t in regard to attracting fans. That’s not something I’m going to pursue anytime soon.”
» Ticket and donation prices. While now might seem like a good time to hit fans with a hike — while they’re in a good mood and there’s a long line — Moos sees it the other way.
“We don’t want to upset them,” Moos said. “Some people are really stretching their means in order to afford it. In regards to the donor seating requirements, we have been tremendously sensitive to our fans and what they can afford. You don’t want to price yourself out. Right now we have a tremendous market.
“We are now faced with the challenge of the new federal tax laws, not being able to deduct seat donations from their income tax. We are eager to see how that’s going to pan out. We did have a lot of fans pay early (before Jan. 1), and actually pay for a couple years in advance.”
» Fan comfort. Moos said NU will continue to widen seats at Memorial Stadium (“where we can”). And this: Preliminary plans to install escalators in both north and south stadiums, because “in a lot of cases our fans are getting a little older and it’s getting more difficult to get up to their seats and back down.”
Widening the seats might reduce the capacity but Moos said “it will make it more comfortable. That’s extremely important.”
» On attracting students: “There are so many different ways to watch a game without being in the stadium, especially for those of a younger generation. We’ve got to make it the place to be. As we get back into competing for championships, there’s going to be one or two games where they are going to be the difference.”
The students need to be a bigger factor at Nebraska games. They’re shoved into a corner of the stadium. Moving them would mean uprooting current fans from longtime seats. And would it mean more of them will go to games?
Meradith said you could do it, and give NU students their own entrance to the stadium and even have a student “hang out” area on the concourse. That’s a good idea.
DLR is currently doing the Sun Devil Stadium renovation at Arizona State, which is over $300 million and will be funded entirely by private donations. Meradith said ASU demolished the lower bowl of the stadium and is building chair-back stadium seats in the new lower bowl, creating new suites and a student athletic building.
Meradith said ASU is going hard after students, who are going to be enticed with good seats.
I find the stadium seats idea intriguing for Memorial Stadium. You could make it similar to Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, chair backs (with cup holders) everywhere.
Meradith said not so fast. He said because of the way Memorial Stadium was built, in 1923, the space or “treads” where the seats would go is too narrow for chairs. He said adding chair backs would mean tearing up the stadium and “re-pouring.”
You wouldn’t, and couldn’t, do it at Memorial Stadium. But could you take sections of the lower bowls in the east and west side and do that? Eventually, sure.
Here’s another idea I had: Building a Wi-Fi Sports Bar in South Stadium, where fans could congregate and watch other games on TV, socialize, etc. You see these areas more and more in new stadiums, particularly in Dallas and Atlanta.
Well, there’s not going to be beer in Memorial Stadium. But Meradith said you could do it, build a “fan hospitality area” (a dry one) in South Stadium where fans could meet and socialize, a la the end zone at the CenturyLink Center or the baseball parks in Omaha and Lincoln.
In fact, Meradith said you could connect the concourses around Memorial Stadium to create the “walk-around” effect that attracts a lot of fans.
Why encourage fans to ignore the game or watch on TV at the stadium? The answer: Because whether you like it or not, this new fan behavior is not a trend. It’s becoming a way of life.
“I just know that everybody is worried and scared to death about attendance,” Meradith said. “Perhaps it’s less acute in Nebraska because we’re all such rabid Husker fans.”
If you want them to keep coming, you’re going to have to spoil them. On and off the field.
