At a ‘tipping point,’ Nebraska’s sellout streak walks a tenuous line | Football

“We started hearing, well, the streak might not make it. And I started to think, well, the streak is something that should be earned. It existed because of the product on the field. People went to reward the success,” Schleich said. “And to just have a sense of entitlement — ‘Well, the streak has to continue,’ well, why? Why should people pay an absurd amount of money, frankly, to go to a game now, where the product is one of the worst in the conference?”

Schleich’s grandfather, his namesake, played tackle on both offense and defense for the 1940 Nebraska team that played in the 1941 Rose Bowl against Stanford. He has a place in Nebraska’s athletic hall of fame. And he has a grandson in Pennsylvania who has never been inside Memorial Stadium, yet still roots for the Huskers because of those ties.

That’s not the same as a season-ticket holder. But Schleich’s thoughts aren’t all that dissimilar from a growing portion of the fan base.

There also remains the other side, the committed, the diehards who will all stick together in all kinds of weather.

Matt Borland’s family has had season tickets since 1962, when the streak began in the final game of Bob Devaney’s first season in Lincoln.

“We have continued them and the sellout streak is important, but it’s hard to support a team that we see on Saturdays in the fall the past 4 years,” said Borland, a Lincoln native who lives in Kansas City. “However, I’m a huge Husker fan through and through. I will always support and do my part to continue the sellout streak.”