Most Husker fans are counting the days until the start of the ’22 Husker football season that begins Saturday Aug. 27 in Dublin, Ireland. Nebraska will take on a fellow B1G foe, the Northwestern Wildcats, at Aviva Stadium. (Seating capacity is 51,700.)
The beautiful stadium, also known as Lansdowne Road and Ireland Stadium, opened in May of 2010. It’s not known just how many Husker/Wildcat fans will make the trip.
The last time Nebraska played a football game outside the United States was in 1992 when the Huskers played Kansas State in the Coca Cola Bowl in the Tokyo Dome in Japan. The game was played on Dec. 5 and only 500 Husker fans made the trip. Before a crowd of 50,000, Nebraska beat Kansas State, 38-24 to clinch the Big 8 title. Current Husker A.D. Trev Alberts played in the game, as did QB Tommie Frazier and RB Calvin Jones.
Note: Nebraska also played a regular-season game on a neutral site in 1998 when it faced Oklahoma State at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City on Oct. 3. Attendance was 79,555. Nebraska rush end Mike Rucker stuffed a run by Cowboy RB Nathan Simmons at the Husker one yard line as time expired to preserve the 24-17 win for the Huskers.
The allure of playing a Husker football game at a venue like Arrowhead Stadium is understandable, as both teams recruit the area heavily. But what about the loss of revenue the home team suffers as a result of playing on a neutral field?
Playing this year’s opener in Dublin won’t have much of an impact on Lincoln because the game, like the ones in Tokyo and Kansas City, was going to be an away game for Nebraska anyway. But why is there a rush to play college football games overseas? Is there a recruiting advantage? Is it to promote the game of college football overseas? Is it to excite the Husker fans?
No clue.
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What is puzzling is why any college football program would pass up a chance to play at home and put the generated revenue directly into the pockets of the local businesses.
As we know, during the 2020 COVID lockdown many businesses in college football towns had to close shop and many of them have yet to come back. After only one year with fans back in the seats, why would any football program want to deny local businesses a chance to make money?
For every Husker home game, the city of Lincoln generates between $5 million and $6 million in revenue.
In my opinion, playing a game in Dublin is hardly a way to say thanks to the local economies.
How ’Bout Them Huskers!
This week’s podcast doesn’t have a guest. It’s just my grandson Will and I opining about the latest in the world of sports. We talk about March Madness, Fred Hoiberg shaking up his staff, Husker baseball and women’s basketball and about the new NFL contracts former Husker players just signed. Thanks for listening to our podcasts. We have some great guests lined up for future podcasts. So keep listening and Go Big Red!!
Here’s the link to this week’s podcast.
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