The University of Nebraska Board of Regents last week approved a $28.5 million bond issue to help finance a plan to rehab and expand its sports facilities to make it more competitive with those of other Big 10 college teams.
The Cornhuskers joined the Big 10 Conference this year.
The school expects to spend a total of $100 million, including an expanded Memorial Stadium and new practice facilities for the football team.
The first project on tap will be a renovation of the Devaney Sports Center that will decrease the number of seats and install sky boxes to prepare the center to begin housing volleyball games in 2014.
The basketball team, which has played there since 1976, will move into a new arena in Lincoln in 2013, according to local reports.
“Devaney was a state-of-the-art competition and training facility when it opened in 1976,” said a report justifying the capital projects.
“In 34 years, there have been many changes to the Athletic Department, yet few modifications or changes have been made at Devaney. This project is expected to improve the facility to reflect current ticket demand and improve recruiting competitiveness in the Big 10 Conference.”
