Dear Cornhusker Students,
First and foremost, thank you for supporting our football team. As we await the start of spring football, I hope this finds you well and looking forward to the April 19 Spring Game. As promised, we have been searching for a solution to the problems occurring in sections 12, 13, 14 and 15 in the South Stadium as well as overcrowding in the East Stadium. As you are well aware as a student season ticket holder in 2007, we have had increased conflict between our students, season ticket holders, security and event staff members. Concerns have escalated over the past few years and have caused unsafe situations for students and season ticket holders.
With assistance from ASUN, who submitted two new seating options to the Athletic Department and to the Fan Behavior Group last fall, the Athletic Department has approved the implementation of Option 1 (general admission seating, preference for upperclassmen in the East and elimination of block seating) for the 2008 football season with one addition—student seating will extend to the top of the South Stadium, just as it currently does in the East Stadium. In return for your movement, UNL student ticket holders of the future will receive additional student tickets in the total allotment; preferences for juniors and seniors and potentially some sophomores in the preferred East Stadium; general admission seating in both the East and South Stadiums which will reward those who come early and more accurately reflect the current seating practices; and a guarantee of no increase in student ticket prices over the next four years (2008-2011). We hope you will support this solution.
The Athletic Department will begin the process of relocating season ticket holders out of the upper sections of 12, 13 and 14. The student seating will now extend to the top of sections 12, 13 and 14 and will no longer be located in section 15. While I know there are concerns that students are losing lower seats in parts of section 14, I feel compelled to alert you that regardless of where the student section begins in Section 14, the lowest rows of this section will continue to be reserved for non-traditional students, student-athletes and Husker recruits on official visits. Therefore, the general student body is not losing these closest-to-the-field seats in those sections. While block seating that previously occurred during signup will no longer be in effect (per ASUN Option #1), those students who come together can sit together, much like the current practice. The Athletic Department will provide wristbands for those students with preferred seating in the East Stadium, to protect students from overcrowding. Those who prefer to sit with underclassmen may still do so in the South Stadium by indicating that preference upon signup.
I can assure you that moving students up in the South Stadium will not produce a financial windfall for the Athletic Department. Fans who are moved to lower sections will not be required to pay more. Also, the higher one sits, the better the view of the entire playing field. I sit high in the North Stadium and see the game much better than those in the lower rows.
In April, we will have season ticket signup by class status, with seniors allowed to sign up first and to pick their seating preference (April 7-9), followed by juniors (April 10-12), sophomores (April 13-15) and freshmen (April 16 and beyond). We are confident the preferential opportunity for upperclassmen to sit in the East Stadium (who with the previous lottery system may never have received that chance), the increase in the total allotment of student tickets, decreased conflict with security, event staff and season ticket holders and the guarantee of no price increase through 2011 will meet with your approval.
We appreciate the leaders of ASUN, who over the past few years have provided their time and expertise in solving these difficult issues that have been prevalent for decades. We appreciate your continued support of the Cornhusker Football Program and Nebraska Athletics. When you pick up your tickets in the fall, you will be given a new Husker T-shirt, commemorating the beginning of a new era in Husker Football. And just so you know, we've been listening and there's a definite possibility that the T-shirt will not be red. We hope you'll enjoy wearing it to the first game. You are valuable members of our team.
Tom Osborne
