Nebraska Athletic Facilities Projects Continue

JournalStar.com

http://journalstar.com/special-section/new-directions/several-projects-ongoing-for-nu-athletic-department/article_e2a87266-073f-599a-af97-17ce1af33a5b.html

A major college athletic department, it seems, never stops growing.

That’s certainly true at Nebraska.

When the football team’s string of consecutive sellouts began in 1962, Memorial Stadium barely seated 35,000. And when the baseball team qualified for the College World Series in 2001, it played where the football team now practices.

Later this year, after the latest major addition to Memorial Stadium, capacity for football games will top 90,000. And a new arena for basketball is going up next to Haymarket Park, the still-sparkling home to Nebraska’s baseball and softball programs.

Preparing to move the basketball teams to the new downtown arena alone would be a significant project, but makeovers of Memorial Stadium and the Devaney Sports Center also in progress signify a unique growth spurt for Husker athletics.

The three projects touch several of the Huskers’ marquee programs — football, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball.

John Ingram, NU’s associate athletic director for capital planning and construction, has had a part in several big projects in his 20 years with the athletic department.

“What’s different about this period in time is having several large ones going on at the same time,” he said. “Before we maybe had one large one, and several small ones. It’s been challenging.”