Nebraska Athletics Wants to Rent Sports Facilities to Public

Nebraska Athletics has hired two employees for a Special Events department to get more use out of the Huskers facilities.

The department will begin work in mid-August and will “prioritize external rentals, allowing the public more access to Nebraska facilities while providing increased revenue opportunities for Athletics,” according to a news release.

The goal is to utilize Memorial Stadium for events when the Huskers aren't playing football. The release said other competitive spaces will be available to rent for conferences, banquets, galas, private receptions and corporate functions.

“Lincoln is a vibrant city with a lot of activities and events, but Husker Athletics can become more active in continually driving events and people into our community,” Nebraska Director of Athletics Troy Dannen said in a statement.

“We have talked regularly about engaging Memorial Stadium more than just seven home games in the fall and making all our facilities more available to the public.

“The next step in that process was to create a department that can focus on these types of events and better engage the public.”

Arek Olson and Kaci Natale will begin work on Aug. 11. Olson spent the past four years as the director of event operations in Arkansas’ athletic department. Nebraska’s news release said Olson oversaw about 175 revenue-generating events per year.

Olson also worked in event management at Lehigh and Syracuse.

Natale recently worked as a marketing specialist at Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s. Natale also worked six years as an events service manager at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Memorial Stadium as a concert venue

Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City has been the host of many concerts, including three nights of Taylor Swift in July 2023 and another show in June 2023.

For Nebraskans, Memorial Stadium would be a more convenient venue for concerts than Kansas City. The distance between Memorial Stadium and Arrowhead Stadium is 210 miles.

Memorial Stadium was the site of Farm Aid in 1987, Billy Ray Cyrus concerts in 1992 and 1993, Larry the Cable Guy in 2009, Brad Paisley and Brett Young in 2016 and Garth Brooks/Trish Yearwood in 2021. Scotty McCreery did a show as part of Volleyball Day in Nebraska in August 2023.

A rental page will be available on huskers.com with details and availability for the public to rent the facilities. Until the page is ready, the public can send questions to Olson at aolson73@huskers.com

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