In a letter to ticket holders Wednesday, the University of Nebraska athletics department laid out its process of reseating a reduced-capacity Memorial Stadium ahead of the 2027 season, and then again before the 2028 season as stadium capacity ramps back up.
As reported by 247 Sports, it's all part of the athletics department's Big Red Rebuild project affecting the south end of the stadium. The 2027 reseating process is necessary because Memorial Stadium's capacity will drop to approximately 65,000 in 2027 before returning to approximately 80,000 for the 2028 season.
All season-ticket holders will also select new seats for the 2028 season, and Nebraska officials say they don't expect to displace any season-ticket holders. Season tickets in 2028 will start at $299 with approximately 5,000 tickets available at that price. That's more than $100 less than the least-expensive ticket in 2026. Nebraska officials estimate that approximately 25% of seats available to the public in 2028 will not require a donation, 247's Michael Bruntz reported.
"Right now every seat in the building costs $420 for a season ticket. The plan is to tier those ticket prices. Obviously if you're sitting in the far northeast corner versus the 50-yard line, the ticket price should be different," Nebraska athletics director Troy Dannen said on his radio show Tuesday night.
Also beginning in 2027, Nebraska will no longer have grandfathered seating contribution rates for season-ticket holders. All season-ticket holders will pay the priority seating contributions associated with their seats, meaning ticket holders who haven't made donations or paid reduced rates on tickets passed down through generations will now pay the donation associated with the ticket they hold.
Nebraska officials have said that approximately 40% of season-ticket holders (approximately 24,000 seats) are at a reduced donation level for their seats or sit in seats that require no donation.
Per Bruntz, Nebraska expects revenue generated from ticket sales and donations to increase from around $67 million in 2026 to approximately $95 million in 2028, the first year at full capacity. Nebraska expects to be in the top third in the Big Ten in revenue generated by Memorial Stadium.
Reseating has proven lucrative — albeit on a smaller scale — at the University of Arkansas, which reported earlier this month that its Baum-Walker Stadium (baseball) reseating plan generated $8.8 million in new revenue for the Razorback Foundation within 20 days of the plan's announcement, according to Whole Hog Sports.
Some of Memorial Stadium's renovated spaces, including premium suites and new locations for students and the marching band, will be ready for the 2027 season. The 2028 season will bring new luxury loge boxes and more than 20,000 chair backs in the stadium overall, as well as a more spacious west concourse. The project is on-pace to be ready for the 2028 season, and is still on-budget, officials said, per 247 Sports.
