Fewer students will have front-row seats in the south section of Memorial Stadium starting on the date of Nebraska's first home game against Western Michigan. In addition, block seating will be eliminated.
Athletic Director Tom Osborne confirmed the changes Tuesday.
Some of the changes include making all student tickets general admission, with priority for upperclassmen to sit in the east stadium. Students wishing to sit in a block will now have to show up early enough to claim their seats before others.
And about 2,000 students in several sections of the front portion of south stadium will be displaced to cheaper seating in the top portion of Memorial Stadium's southeast corner. Season ticket holders who previously sat there will fill the vacated front seats.
If the athletic department decides to charge ticket holders the same price as nearby front seating, it could bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars more annually than it did with students sitting there.
However, "(the change) was not done for financial reasons," Osborne said. "We have no idea whether there will be an increase in revenue or not. We're sure the seats will be sold."
Osborne said one reason for the change was because students have a tendency to stand on their seats throughout the game, and it wasn't fair for the season ticket holders who sat behind them.
"We're doing what we can to be fair," Osborne said. "But I just have to tell you, people who buy a ticket are entitled to see a game, so it wasn't happening. That's why this move has been made."
The meeting over changing student seating didn't happen overnight. Discussion between members of the athletic department and the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska have been going on for more than a year.
Former ASUN President Matt Schaefer said he was in related talks with the athletic department as far back as the spring of 2006.
"Then when we came back in the fall, (the athletic department) unilaterally ditched those (discussions)," he said. "They just backed away from them without informing us they were going to do that. We were kind of surprised when football season started up that a couple of things weren't happening."
Osborne wasn't at the most recent meeting between ASUN and athletic department officials on Feb. 8, but he said he was told student leaders offered no objections to the plan that was presented.
Osborne said the first of any objections he heard to the plan came from an e-mail ASUN President David Solheim sent him on Monday, proposing a plan to keep a portion of the front seats open to students.
But this plan wasn't feasible, Osborne said, because the 675 seats in that section have already been sold to season ticket holders. The time to object would have been at the Feb. 8 meeting, he said, because commitments have already been made and invoices will soon be mailed to ticket holders about the change.
"We've done the best we can to be fair," he said. "If people are mad at somebody, they have to be mad at me."
But Solheim said he approached university officials much earlier than Monday. Solheim sent a proposal on Oct. 31 that he and other student leaders wrote regarding student seating to members of the Fan Behavior Group, which has members from the athletic department, student affairs, University Police and ASUN.
Solheim said he didn't get a response from the athletic department until Jan. 28, which was an e-mail asking when to meet. After some schedule shuffling, the group met on Feb. 8, which is when the plan to move students in south stadium was suggested.
"Yes, I was there," Solheim said of the meeting. "We were asked to agree (on the proposal) for the entire student body. But that's not how this university works."
Solheim said there needed to be more discussion among other members of the university.
Solheim thought he made it quite clear at that meeting the group still had some issues to discuss, he said. The group discussed whether or not it would work, and how removing block seating might create animosity among greeks.
"It wasn't a satisfactory meeting," Solheim said.
At 5:58 p.m. that day, he sent an e-mail to various administrators from the group - including one in the athletic department - about his concern for the portion of seats he wanted to keep open to students. He also wanted to know about the revenue the seating change would bring in.
He got e-mails back from Juan Franco, vice chancellor of student affairs, and Susan Poser, associate to the chancellor, who are both in the group.
Solheim said he brought up the need for more discussion again during a meeting with Franco on Feb. 15, and again during a meeting with Poser on Feb. 19.
During that meeting, Solheim said he had to clear up with Poser that moving students from the front row was not ASUN's idea, but rather the Athletic Department's.
Solheim said after every meeting, he expected to get some sort of response from the Athletic Department.
Finally, Solheim met with Chancellor Harvey Perlman on Feb. 29 and again requested revenue statistics the seating change might cause.
On Monday, he e-mailed Osborne and Perlman and requested the revenue information again.
Osborne sent Solheim a response around 5 p.m. Tuesday, which was about half an hour after a Daily Nebraskan reporter called to confirm information about the new seating arrangement.
Solheim said student football seating is a critical issue that should have a broader discussion on campus, and he'd like to continue the discussion.
This change to student seating isn't unprecedented. Decades ago, students used to sit at the 50-yard line before they were moved to the southeast portion of the stadium.
"I don't want this to be (a continuation) in the long line of marginalizing students with football tickets," Solheim said. "This has probably been one of the most frustrating events in my student career."
andyboyle@dailynebraskan.com
