The University of Nebraska athletic department has established a new Special Events department with the goal of engaging Husker facilities on a more regular basis.
According to Monday's announcement at huskers.com, two employees have been hired to develop and execute unit operations, which will begin in mid-August. The Special Events team will prioritize external rentals, allowing the public more access to Nebraska facilities while providing increased revenue opportunities for the athletic department.
The University of Nebraska athletic department has established a new Special Events department with the goal of engaging Husker facilities on a more regular basis.
According to Monday's announcement at huskers.com, two employees have been hired to develop and execute unit operations, which will begin in mid-August. The Special Events team will prioritize external rentals, allowing the public more access to Nebraska facilities while providing increased revenue opportunities for the athletic department.
Husker Special Events aims to host large events in Memorial Stadium in the offseason. In addition, Nebraska plans to make other competition spaces and facilities available for rental gatherings such as 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. “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 has been hired to lead the department and will serve as Nebraska's assistant athletic director of special events. Olson served the past four years as the director of event operations in the Arkansas athletic department, where he oversaw approximately 175 revenue generating events per year, including the first ever public ticketed concert in the football stadium.
Kaci Natale will join the department as assistant director of special events, having spent six years as an events services manager at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln.
A dedicated rental page detailing all spaces and opportunities available to the public will be available in the near future on huskers.com, according to Monday's announcement.
