Trev Alberts provides timeline, demolition schedule for planned Memorial Stadium renovation

On Thursday Nebraska announced plans to propose a $450 million Memorial Stadium renovation to its Board of Regents, an overhaul that will completely change what gameday looks like in Lincoln, Neb.

Unfortunately, the project will also cause some disruptions to gameday operations while construction is ongoing.

Athletics director Trev Alberts outlined a very basic construction timeline, then addressed some of the concerns about the disruptions the massive renovation are likely to cause for fans in the interim.

“The initial infrastructure package we can get started immediately given approval, and hopeful approval, on the 5th (of October),” Alberts said. “Then ultimately the major construction and, quite frankly, the major disruption that’s going to be a real challenge is directly after the ’24 season.”

Few impacts will hit the stadium or its surrounding areas until after the 2024 season, the first in which the Big Ten expands and welcomes four new members.

After that, things will get underway in serious fashion, with the goal to keep the disruption from the Memorial Stadium renovation as limited as possible.

“So roughly January of ’25 we will demolish South Stadium and rebuild it,” Alberts said. “Obviously the hope is to have one season of disruption, so the goal is by August of ’26 that South Stadium is rebuilt in a way that’s indicative of the quality of the rest of the stadium.

“But we need to be honest with ourselves. We live in Lincoln, Neb., and it’s very hard to predict the weather. Also we’ve had some challenges in construction, as you all know, relative to supply chain issues and those types of things.”

In other words, it’s quite possible that the renovations take longer than expected.

Still, they’ll likely be a significant enhancement of the gameday experience for Nebraska fans. Chairback seating will be going in on the East, West and South Stadiums, while a 360-degree concourse will be constucted at the lower levels and a 270-degree concourse will be constructed at the upper levels.

Concessions options are going to expand with more points of sale, as well, while restroom renovations will also take place.

There might still be other elements to the Memorial Stadium renovation that have yet to take shape. Through it all, Alberts urges Nebraska fans to be patient.

“We’re going to dive into additional details. Again, we have one opportunity to do this,” Alberts said. “We’re going to rethink everything about Memorial Stadium, and we’re going to be willing to do the tough stuff.

“I would just ask our fans to give us a little grace. It is physically not possible to be responsive to 22,000 of our fans on a survey to modernize our stadium in a way that doesn’t cause some pain and disruption for our fans. So I would just ask them to be patient with us and try to focus on what the future looks like.”