Where the Devaney fits into arena plans
Lincoln Journal Star
February 27, 2010
By Brian Rosenthal
Butch Hug often hears from groups or organizations asking to use the Devaney Sports Center for meetings, banquets or presentations.
Hug, the associate athletic director in charge of facilities and events at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said he also receives "daily inquiries" about doing concerts.
He doesn't encourage them.
The last major concert the Devaney Center hosted, Hug recalls, was a performance by the Dixie Chicks in 2000. That's when acts brought 12 semi truckloads of equipment, far fewer than today's shows, Hug said.
The extra equipment, stages, lifts, speakers and lights used in concerts today are too heavy for the Devaney Center's permanent basketball floor and outdated roof.
Groups with meetings and banquets could rent the space - if space existed on the calendar.
"The biggest issue we have is trying to find the time window to put those in," Hug said.
The 34-year-old Devaney Center - home to Nebraska men's and women's basketball, wrestling, men's and women's gymnastics, women's swimming and men's and women's track -- is congested and needs a facelift.
That's why the NU Athletic Department is in the planning phase for improvements and renovations to the university-owned building.
Marc Boehm, Nebraska's executive associate athletic director who oversees basketball, said the Athletic Department is developing two sets of plans. One of those will be put into action on May 12, the day after Lincoln residents vote on a new arena.
Plan A: Voters approve financing for the arena in Lincoln's Historic Haymarket, where the Nebraska basketball teams would play games. The Athletic Department then would spend an estimated $10 million to upgrade Devaney for the remaining sports that would call the building home.
Plan B: The arena vote fails, and the Athletic Department plans major renovations to Devaney. Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne said that project would cost nearly $40 million, which includes $15 million to
$20 million for a parking garage. A parking garage wouldn't be built, Osborne said, if the arena vote passes.
Boehm said the major renovations under Plan B would be strictly for athletics. Don't look for UNL to make Devaney, which seats 13,595, into a multipurpose arena that could host concerts or more civic events.
"We have so many sports that utilize Devaney," Boehm said. "To try to get into the concert business, it just wouldn't work with schedules."
