Troy Dannen Gives State of the Cornhuskers; Memorial Stadium Renovations Remain 'Status Quo'

The department set a record for number of donors, with 17,763. Last year was the first time more than $70 million in donations came in for a single year.

Dannen noted that "nobody compares to Nebraska" when it comes to attendance. The women's four sports - volleyball, soccer, women's basketball, and softball - had the second-best attendance in the nation (337,000), trailing only South Carolina. Adding in football, men's basketball, and baseball, Nebraska had 1.3 million in attendance, which ranked seventh nationally and second in the Big Ten Conference, behind Ohio State.

"I
think every coach in this department would tell you expectations, competitive expectations for this year are equal to or greater than they were last year," Dannen said. "And frankly, that's all I can ever ask for. That's all any of us can ever ask for our programs."

Memorial Stadium Renovations

Dannen says renovations right now are "status quo".

"In a normal time, a stadium project like this, allof this work would be done without anyone knowing we're doing it," Dannen said. But the fact that the project was out there public approved to some degree in planning by the board. I think everybody's waited for the next step."

Dannen said they are continuing to look at the totality of the facility and not just south stadium. However, because of the "structural deficit at the university" - $27 million in cuts coming for UNL - he says, "there's going to be a lot of trauma ahead."

"We're not going to take anything to the board for their approval," Dannen said. "I don't know when we will, but the time is not now. In the midst of what I would almost level some some some degree of crisis on campus, consternation at the very least, crisis at the very most, now is not the time to debut a big capital project."

Dannen said his team will continue to work on plans and fine-tuning the financial model. That includes working with the new concessions provider.

Aramark has invested about $7 million inside the stadium. New concessions offerings and alcohol will be available for football games this fall.

"We had a little bit of a trial run during the scrimmage last Saturday night and everything went as smoothly as it could be," Dannen said.

Dannen reiterated that mobile ticket and cashless concessions will continue, as well as a new no-reentry policy. He says he understands those things "will cause consternation," but adds that he believes the process has been made as seamless as possible for the fans.

Security is also a focus around Memorial Stadium. "Evolv", a contactless screening system, was introduced last year. This fall, the stadium will also see a jump from 75 to 100-110 uniformed officers on hand. That number is likely to increase next year.

"While we're in a place where security sometimes is an afterthought, I don't think in this day and age we can do anything less than best practice and anything less than have a secure and safe environment, to the extent that we can do," Dannen said.

Also at Memorial Stadium, Verizon has made a $20 million investment in cellular service inside the stadium. Wi-Fi will be part of the stadium project eventually, but is not being upgraded until the stadium project is complete.

Other Expansions and Projects

When the winter sports season is over, John Cook Arena will see an expansion. Current capacity is just over 8,300. That will jump to more than 10,000.

That increase will not be in place for the Big Ten championships that will be held there, with both men's and women's gymnastics. Nebraska will also host the outdoor track and field championships in the spring. That facility is expected to be completed in the fall, with seating for about 2,500.

As for what will change for volleyball matches, reseating will move the student section away from the four corners to one end. That will be the only section without seatbacks, as those will be installed for the rest of the lower bowl.

Golf, bowling, and rifle are among the teams to now have locker rooms. Golf is getting a men's and women's hitting and putting space.

Hosting Events at Husker Facilities

Nebraska is continue to work on plans to host events at Husker facilities, beyond regular sporting contests. They've hired two people so far, and will hire a third, to lead the special events division.

"We have to use our venues," Dannen said. "We have to start thinking entrepreneurially. The days are past when we just rely on, 'Hey, there's seven home football games and we're gonna shutter the stadium.' We have to find ways to generate revenue."

Dannen said the necessity for the special events division is to raise money without raising ticket prices. Those events could include concerts and conventions, as well as the potential for weddings. 8:3

"That may not seem like much, but if in a revised stadium, there's an open-air space for 2,000 people to have a wedding," Dannen said. "Part of the integration of the plans as we develop it is how can we use this for other things? Not just an 80,000-seat football game, but how does 2,500 seats work in here?"

Revenue Sharing

That financial model is the fuse that's going to light whatever success we have.Nebraska AD Troy Dannen

The biggest change to collegiate athletics stems from the House settlement.

As expected, Nebraska is sharing the full allotment of $20.5 million. Four sports - football, men's and women's basketball, and volleyball - are being allocated cash pools to use as they see fit. Those pools could be used for direct payments to athletes or adding scholarships.

"That's why we have GMs," Dannen said. "That's why coaches, everybody's moved to the GMs because there is now a strategy and how are we allocating those resources. Not to mention the fact that nearly every athlete has an agent, and the head football coach cannot be expected to deal with 80 agents. That's the role of the general manager right now."

Six other sports - soccer, wrestling, baseball, softball, men's and women's track and field - have received additional scholarships. Those 16 total scholarships also count against the $20.5 million cap. Dannen expects more scholarships to be added in the future.

As for where Nebraska found the $20.5 million to allocate this year, Dannen said they focused on reducing operating expenses. When the House settlement looked imminent, the department held a number of positions and didn't fill them, ultimately seeing 27 positions eliminated. Of those 27, seven were active while while the other 20 had been vacant, creating $2-3 million in savings.

Dannen said they also "reprioritized expenses." With those changes, the additions of alcohol sales and working with the changes with Aramark, and advertising, he expects to be around $5 million positive at the end of the year.

Dannen noted that the financial model in place at Nebraska is his biggest priority. He said not enough credit will ever go to Tom Osborne for getting NU into the Big Ten Conference, which has allowed the school to not have to cut any sports or their budgets.

"That financial model is this we don't take any student fees, we don't take any institutional subsidies, we don't take any state dollars," Dannen said. "We pay full rack rate for
scholarships. There's no out of state differential waivers. And we pay the last two years, and this year again, $5
million back to the university as a subsidy.

"That financial model has to be
protected at all costs. It's that financial model that allowed us to do

essentially nothing draconian to get to the 20.5. And that 20.5 is growing 4% a year. That cost is going to continue. It allowed us to not raise ticket prices. It allowed us to not reduce the subsidy.
It allowed us to keep budgets whole through the 24-sport lineup.

"That
financial model is the fuse that's going to light whatever success we have. We will protect it at all costs."

As far as deals that Nebraska has offered through the new clearinghouse, NIL Go, none have been rejected.

• 39 deals submitted
• 20 approved
• 4 recently submitted
• 15 deals with no decision
• Deals range from $600 to $40,000
• 3 over $35,000
• Most under $10,000
• Most are not cash, but are in-kind
• Up to the athletes to submit their deals

Competitiveness for Basketball vs. Non-Football Schools

While Dannen is not giving away specific numbers for how Nebraska is distributing money to each sport, he did give a glimpse into the percentage of the distribution.

Dannen said basketball is receiving a higher percentage of distribution than what the sport generates in revenue, relative to the rest of the department. Most of the revenue generated at Nebraska, like most FBS schools, comes from football. That means football is receiving a lower percentage of the revenue share than what it generates.

As far as how programs with football at their school compete with those that don't have football dollars to worry about, Dannen says you have to spend money reasonably.

"I think historically those who have spent the most have not won the most," Dannen said. "You have to certain investments. But if your decision as to whether we can have success is whether I have the largest NIL budget, there are going to be a lot of places that aren't your place."

Dannen said "basketball coaches are challenged" with whether or not they have football programs pulling at the revenue share dollars. However, he added those schools don't have football driving any revenue either.

Football Scheduling

Dannen doesn't expect to touch the football schedule for awhile. That means the schedule, which is mostly complete through 2032, is set outside of how the Big Ten decides to make matchups.

However, the College Football Playoff has not set requirements to schedules. Until that point, Dannen said the schedule will not see changes.

"I don't care if we haven't been close to that's where we want to
be," Dannen said. "That's how we have to schedule. So, we'll schedule in what is optimal to get into the postseason."

Dannen also touched on Friday night games, beyond the Black Friday game with Iowa. He said he didn't expect the Minnesota game to be on a Friday this year, but he does expect to have one every year through the end of the current media deal.

Last year, Nebraska hosted Illinois on a Friday. Dannen expects Nebraska to have two more home Friday games between 2027 and 2032.

You can watch Dannen's full media appearance below.