Memorial Stadium renovation will shrink capacity to mid-70,000s, per Trev Alberts

A planned $450 million Memorial Stadium renovation could also come with some seating reduction in the stadium, Nebraska athletics director Trev Alberts revealed on Thursday.

The renovation plan calls for the introduction of chairbacks on the East, West and South Stadium sides, which will naturally lower capacity a bit.

“The reality is if you look at putting in the modern amenities that our fans would like, the physical structure of Memorial Stadium remains the same, but you’re going to have a 10-12% reduction in capacity, just based on widening aisles, putting handrails, doing the things from ADA and other things that I think a stadium in 2023 really demands,” Alberts said.

The Memorial Stadium renovation plans, which will go before the Nebraska Board of Regents on Oct. 5, call for a handful of upgrades, including the introduction of chairback seating across a large swath of the stadium.

Also included in the plans are a 360-degree main level concourse connection, as well as a 270-degree upper-level concourse connection. That will allow fans more mobility to meet up with friends who might have tickets in other areas of the stadium on gameday.

In addition, the renovation project would bring concessions upgrades with refurbished menu options and additional points of sale throughout the stadium, as well as a restroom modernization throughout the stadium.

Still, many fans will focus on the overall reduction of seating capacity as a potential negative.

Alberts viewed it as a necessary sacrifice to get better amenities in the stadium.

“I don’t want to say a number I get held accountable to and everybody says, ‘You said,'” Alberts said. “I’ve learned that. But I would envision, based on — it’s going to be in the mid-70,000 range, plus or minus, somewhere in there.

“I can also tell you this is not an effort to try to decrease supply, increase demand and use a decrease in supply to increase ticket prices to force new revenue. That’s not really what this vision is about. This vision is about the amenities and those are the ones that ultimately drive that 10-12% reduction.”

Memorial Stadium’s current capacity is listed as “beyond 85,000.”