NU Cancelling Oklahoma Game?

BIG ERN said:
Fans will hate it and opposing fanbases and media will mock us BUT this is a good decision by Moos. We already have to now play @ Illinois in the opener who we just lost to and they return lots of players as we do. New coach but this game will be a tough one. You then come back and play a Buffalo team who is no slouch either. Then you want us to go lose at Oklahoma (that's what would have happened). Possibly then 1-2 and the walls are caving in on Frost and Nebraska early. 

We already have crossover games of Michigan, Michigan St and Ohio State. FROST NEEDS DUBS. Period. People look at your record. I've seen teams schedule patsies for the past decade and no one cares - they look at your record. We aren't there yet. We need to get wins and confidence in this team. 
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Just remember that beating weak teams and losing to conference rivals is what lost Bo Pelini his job. It will likely lose Jim Harbaugh his job, too. That's not a Nebraska thing, it's a winning thing. 

As someone just pointed out, there is no glory or even progress in going 4-8 vs. 3-9 if you swap Oklahoma for Bethune-Cookman, and it this case it might be the opposite. Know how some folks are paranoid about the national media having it in for Nebraska? They don't, really. But there would be no other way to report this. We ran away from celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Game of the Century.

Easy fix, though. If we just want to ensure this heralded game is celebrated in a full stadium, work to push it back later in the season or till next year. But do it transparently. Anything less and Nebraska takes a huge and deserved hit. 

And what if we gave Oklahoma a good fight in a close loss, like we did a much better Ohio State team on the road in Frost's first year? What if....we won? A team that's scared of its own shadow will never know. 

 
Enhance said:
With the amount of fan apathy in general, this is kind of where I'm at. I don't think people will care that much. Sure it'll be a fun punching bag on social media for the off season if it happens, but fans and sports are fickle. It's all 'what have you done for me lately.'

If by some miracle NU pulled out against OU but went on to win 9-10 games and a division title this year, I don't think the average fan would care about OU.

(FWIW... by the time I was born, most of the NU/OU glory days were done. OU was not very good in the 90's when I grew up watching Husker football. This is probably blasphemous to some of our older fans, but to me personally, I never viewed them much differently than any other team on Nebraska's schedule).
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I don't disagree, people are very short sighted.  I think the average fan would care if we were talking about post season at that point and how that win could come into play.  I just don't see this going away.  I think it will get brought up again in some fashion once the game would be close to happening, even it's forgotten in a few months.  And you can be damn sure other teams will use it against us in recruiting.

 
Enhance said:
The AD said in 2020 that each home game generates $5 million in revenue and about $12 million total when taking into account the local economy. Even if all the other optics and variables make this a bad idea, that type of cash flow is nothing to scoff at as an athletic department, particularly when UNL is one of a handful that actually generates profit each year.

I'm not saying pulling out against OU is the right call to make, but if revenue is an important KPI for you (which we know it is in the AD), then that may be why they looked into it.
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So the AD nets $5 million per home game with a full stadium. Even with the progress of the Covid vaccines, I think it's fair to say we probably won't see full capacity this fall.

For the sake of conversation, let's say we have half capacity. That would reasonably put the revenue at $2.5 million. Factor in the buyout for the OU game which is $1 million. So that leaves the AD with a $1.5 million net revenue. 

There's no guarantee of getting a W. The brand will take an irreparable hit, with unprecedented fan outrage. All to net $1.5 million? I'm not really seeing the revenue argument. 

If they want to recoup lost revenue, sell alcohol at games. 

 
Will be just as interesting if this report turns out to be false.  If it isn't Moos still has time to back peddle like a mo fo and put out a statement acting as if nothing has happened and saying the game is on as scheduled. 

This is really bizarre.

 
Fru said:
So the AD nets $5 million per home game with a full stadium. Even with the progress of the Covid vaccines, I think it's fair to say we probably won't see full capacity this fall.

For the sake of conversation, let's say we have half capacity. That would reasonably put the revenue at $2.5 million. Factor in the buyout for the OU game which is $1 million. So that leaves the AD with a $1.5 million net revenue. 

There's no guarantee of getting a W. The brand will take an irreparable hit, with unprecedented fan outrage. All to net $1.5 million? I'm not really seeing the revenue argument. 

If they want to recoup lost revenue, sell alcohol at games. 
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Don't forget, you pay OU a buyout and pay the next opponent as well.

But look, I'm the most negative fan on this board. No matter how bad I think Nebraska is, they finds ways to decend further below my already low expectations. 

 
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Guys... we defend y'all against big10 a-holes all the time. This feels like betrayal from a family member. 

 
Dr. Strangelove said:
Don't forget, you pay OU a buyout and pay the next opponent as well.

But look, I'm the most negative fan on this board. This truly has football team, no matter how bad I think they are, finds ways to decend further below my already low expectations. 
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Excellent point, completely spaced that. 

 
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