[Husker] Futbol in Lincoln

[Mike Jaixen]

What about the cement sidewalks over the old track on each side?  Could you move those fences towards the stands to allow for a wider field?

Let's assume that US Soccer is looking at huge football stadiums for "World Cup" sized crowds.  Most NFL stadiums are in the 60k-70k range, with Washington and Kansas City being the exceptions, so you probably want to focus on college stadiums to get larger crowds in.  Assuming a $100 ticket and two to three games at each location, the extra 15,000 fans you could get into Lincoln, you are looking at $3 million to $5 million in EXTRA ticket sales.

I'd assume that NU will probably replace the FieldTurf perhaps twice in the next ten years; would it be practical to replace it in 2018 with a wider field?  I'd think the extra ticket sales would justify the cost.  NU would probably have to return back to a painted field at that time, as I doubt the World Cup organizers want any sign of American football on the futbol field.  (I think FIFA has sanctioned FieldTurf, so NU wouldn't have to plant grass, unlike the last time the World Cup was held in the US.)

Georgia held a few games of the World Cup back then, and they had to dig up the hedges to accomodate the wider soccer field.  They transplanted them to a temporary location, then replanted them immediately after the soccer games.

--- On Thu, 4/9/09, Mike Nolan <nolan at romaine.tssi.com> wrote:

From: Mike Nolan <nolan at romaine.tssi.com>
Subject: Re: [Husker] Futbol in Lincoln
To: gzimmerman at everestkc.net
Cc: husker at tssi.com
Date: Thursday, April 9, 2009, 1:37 PM

> Is the field at Memorial Stadium wide enough. For a World Cup match it need to be 75 yards wide. That's the problem with Arrowhead Stadium, the widest field they can manage is less than 70 yards wide. 

Hopefully they've already checked on that.  

A football field is 160 feet wide, so they'd need 33 feet on each sideline, 
plus room for the players and coaches.

Looking at a satellite view of Memorial Stadium, there appears to be 11-12
yards of sideline on both sides of the field, so it could be a tight fit.

The World Cup championship game was in the Rose Bowl the last time, 
and I don't think there's much more sideline space there than at 
Memorial Stadium.
--
Mike Nolan

_______________________________________________
husker site list
husker at tssi.com
http://romaine.tssi.com/mailman/listinfo/husker