LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Construction on a new home for the University of Nebraska’s football program has been delayed in part because of the potential financial fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, the school’s athletic director said Friday.
Design work for the $155 million facility is continuing but construction is in “pause mode,” Athletic Director Bill Moos said.
Construction was scheduled to begin in June with an expected completion date of June 2022.
The delay comes as college athletic departments await decisions on how, or if, sports seasons will resume in response to the the coronavirus.
“Because among other things, we have tremendous budget woes we’re looking at,”Moos told The Lincoln Journal-Star. “You start taking a couple of those (home football games) away, and then you start saying, ‘Hey, the stadium can only be 30% full.’ You’re talking about huge, huge numbers in terms of … revenue streams.”
The 350,000-square-foot facility will provide the football program with a new locker room, strength and conditioning center, athletic medicine facility, equipment room, meeting rooms, coaches’ offices and an additional outdoor practice facility. It also will include the training table and academic support facilities for all of the university’s student athletes.
The project included building a new track for Nebraska’s outdoor track and field program but that project also will be delayed.
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