All Huskers illustration; photo © Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY Network
Sellout Streak Survives a Difficult Season
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When Memorial Stadium's 100th season wraps up on Saturday, Nebraska football's home sellout streak will still be chugging along at 60-plus years and 389 games.
The Huskers' home finale against Wisconsin was listed as sold out early Thursday afternoon on the Nebraska Athletics ticket site. Just an hour earlier, about 70 seats remained unsold, so it appears several dozen tickets were purchased in bulk to secure sellout status.
Three weeks ago, it seemed a Wisconsin-Nebraska sellout was a lock with just 50 tickets unsold. Then things got a little weird, probably due to returned tickets from the Badgers' allotment. From 50, the number of available seats shot up to nearly 100, then shrank gradually to under 30, then popped back up to 100 just two days ago.
The apparent bulk sale Thursday of the final 70 tickets is a repeat of what happened in the days leading up to the Minnesota game two weeks ago and the Illinois game in late October.
On the resale market, the game between the 3-7 Huskers and the 5-5 Badgers is shaping up as the biggest bargain of Nebraska's home football season. A few tickets are listed at under $10 (plus fees), and some club-level seats can be had for under the $80 face value. The average price Thursday on SI Tickets was $61, down from $103 for the Minnesota game and $124 for the Illinois game.
Nebraska football's NCAA-record home sellout streak began in early November of 1962 during Bob Devaney's first season as head coach. The 1962 Kansas State game, played during the Cuban Missile Crisis, was the last to come up short of sellout status.
After Saturday's game against Wisconsin, the Huskers will finish the season on the road against Iowa. The next test of the sellout streak's longevity will come next September. That's when Nebraska hosts Northern Illinois, Louisiana Tech and Michigan on consecutive Saturdays after opening the season with road games against Minnesota and Colorado.
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