LINCOLN, NE - SEPTEMPER 6: The Nebraska Cornhuskers play the McNeese State Cowboys at Memorial Stadium on September 6, 2014 in Lincoln, Nebraska. Nebraska defeated McNeese State 31-24. (Photo by Eric Francis/Getty Images)The Nebraska football program is busy making some important offseason adjustments before the 2022 campaign kicks off next fall. The latest change that the school plans to make is set to affect Memorial Stadium.
Nebraska athletic director Trev Alberts announced during his “Sports Nightly” radio appearance on Wednesday that the end zone seats at Memorial Stadium will be wider this fall. According to Husker Extra’s Parker Gabriel, the bleacher-style seats in the end zones at the home of the Huskers will be widened from 18 inches to 20 this offseason.
“Seat comfort is very obvious and important,” Alberts said on the show, per Husker Extra. “… In the end zones, the average width is 18 inches. We’ll immediately expand those to at least 20 inches or more. What we’re going to have to do is, we’ve got a lot of rows with 27 seats. We might reduce them to 24.”
Alberts did acknowledge that there will be a minor sacrifice as a result of the wider seats. Overall, Memorial Stadium’s total capacity will diminish slightly.
“Of course, that will impact our capacity a little bit. We’re going to lose some seats,” Alberts added.
#Huskers AD Trev Alberts on the radio: Many end zone bleacher seats to be widened at Memorial Stadium for 2022 https://t.co/Z9TgHQpx9I via @JournalStarNews
— Parker Gabriel (@HuskerExtraPG) January 27, 2022
Nebraska came to the decision after conducting an athletic department survey about changes to Memorial Stadium recently. Alberts shared that the survey had approximately 20,000 responses.
“Typically you’re looking at a response rate that is, I don’t know, it’s not a high rate,” Alberts said. “Husker Nation, as they always do, is just a little bit different.”
Fans won’t get a chance to see the wider seats right away as Nebraska kicks off the 2022 football season against Northwestern in Dublin, Ireland on Aug. 27.
However, the Huskers faithful won’t have to wait long to enter the re-furbished Memorial Stadium. Nebraska will play its home-opener on Sep. 3 against North Dakota.
