I told my brother the exact same thing after watching the B1G media interviews.
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Big Red Preview - August 2nd 2025
- Thread starter Seaofred92
- Start date
It was estimated ~2500 people showed up, which at $10/pop (some were more expensive than that) they would’ve made $25k for 1890 without any additional donations they got during the event
I honestly wonder how long these open practice type deals will last. Its not just a Nebraska thing but they don’t seem to get a big crowd anywhere and frankly the $25k is nothing considering the school then turns around and has to pay for the staff, security, concessions, etc to put the event on
Wouldn't it be far easier (and more profitable) to sign up 25k fans to donate $1/month
Or they could just live stream practice and charge $2. It would probably still be more profitable
I think the reality is most fans are not well versed enough to attend a practice and understand what they are looking at for most position groups. Therefore it likely doesn’t interest the casual fan much. You aren’t exactly getting there early, doing all the tailgating, etc. It’s basically a way for die hards to see the team which is great but also the overlap with existing ticket holders/donors is probably 95%+. Plus, the actual season starts in 3 weeks - people are getting their last Saturday night date nights in, taking the family vacation before school starts, etc. I can’t imagine too many people being successful at convincing their wife to drive to Lincoln from Omaha on a Saturday night to watch a practice instead of a show, dinner, etc.
I think pairing it with Fan Day is a good idea to drive attendance, maybe Fan Day is after the open practice and those in the stadium get first dibs on autographs? You can sell tiered ticketing that way, maybe $40 for watching practice and first in line at Fan Day and $20 for non-practice Fan Day or something like that would work.
You could also just include it as a “free” perk for season ticket holders and raise donation prices $100 with the extra $ going to 1890. That’s probably the most effective option.
Adult tickets were $20 each, kids were $10. They also sold concessions and alcohol.
It’s just a nice thing to do for the fans since there isn’t a spring game anymore. This is really the best opportunity to introduce young kids to the program and grow the next generation of fans.
I’m not disagreeing with that at all but unfortunately college sports are no longer about “doing something nice for the fans” and purely about “how much revenue can we squeeze out of this thing”, hence my comment and thought exercise around ways they can change it.
Looks like we may be getting some video content from 1890 from this
