Spring Game fans should plan to come early
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BY KENDRA WALTKE / Lincoln Journal Star
The little ones are looking forward to their first Big Red game — er, scrimmage.
The die-hard fans can’t wait to check out the Bofense.
Normally the Huskers’ Red-White Spring Game is fairly laid back. It is, after all, for practice.
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But for Saturday’s 1 p.m. event, consider this:
* A sold-out crowd of 80,000-plus.
* A 3:35 p.m. Husker baseball game at Haymarket Park.
* A closed Harris Overpass.
* The related closure of North Eighth Street, forcing Haymarket traffic east into downtown.
So come early and linger longer, said Lincoln officials and business people who are gearing up for a record crowd and the same mayhem you might see on a fall football Saturday.
Plan your drive accordingly.
And keep in mind that the Spring Game, with its low-priced tickets, is typically a very family-oriented affair.
“The Spring Game gives a lot of people who don’t have regular tickets a chance to see a game,” said University of Nebraska events coordinator Butch Hug. “It’s a little different mix up there in the seats.”
Getting there
Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady has this advice: Have two lattes in a downtown coffee shop on Saturday morning. If you park downtown or in the Haymarket, stay late. “Order a half-rack of ribs,” he said.
“It’s going to be a bear getting out of that area,” Casady said.
He’s most concerned about all the cars that park in the big lots near the post office and immigration building in the Haymarket.
Because Eighth Street is closed at O Street, traffic that’s normally “a steady stream going south out of the Haymarket” will have to exit from one or two lanes on P Street and R Street, back onto Ninth.
Traffic will back up downtown on Saturday, Casady said.
“What I need people to understand is that there’s nothing that can be done about it. You just have to give it a little time.”
He recommends that fans park to the south and east of the stadium, far from the congestion.
Also, don’t forget that the Harris Overpass heading west from downtown on O Street is out, said Shane Dostal of the city’s traffic engineering department.
Those who come from West O should take U.S. 77, then Rosa Parks Way to downtown, he said. Message boards will direct drivers.
That will help relieve some congestion connected with the Husker baseball game; those fans must take Sun Valley Boulevard to the ballpark, and that road is part of the north Harris Overpass detour.
In any case, “traffic’s not going to be pretty,” Dostal said.
But figuring out how to work around the closure on O Street now could be good preparation for the football season.
Runzas, cheerleaders
In terms of staging the event, the Spring Game is more or less like a regular home football game, NU’s Hug said.
Concessions stands will be open, and parking on campus is limited.
The NU band will be in the stands, though it won’t play at halftime. That’s reserved for a DARE Program rally, and children will take the field for a drug-free pledge. Hug said 10,000 seats have been set aside for the youths. Kids can pick up pledge cards (their passes to the game) at the Husker Nation Pavilion on the Ed Weir Track or at Gate 16 (northeast corner) or Gate 24 (southeast corner)
The Pavilion opens at 10 a.m. Saturday, with live music, cheerleaders and children’s activities. A big screen will show the game live.
Stadium gates open at 11:30 a.m.
This year, for the first time, reserved seats were sold for the east and west sides of the stadium. That means general-admission folks can’t sit wherever they’d like — they’ll be in the north and south ends and should enter through those gates.
Gearing up
Little lodging is left this weekend downtown and along the 27th Street corridor, said Jeff Maul, executive director of the Lincoln Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Rooms at the Embassy Suites “have been sold out for a while now,” said Bryan Sullivan, director of sales and marketing.
“It’s just like a football Saturday, but it’s more of a family event,” he said. The hotel will offer its usual Rock the Dock party, as well as some children’s activities. “It’s economically very good for Lincoln.”
Sullivan said the forecasted warm weather for Saturday should help, too.
The retail forecast looks good for Pelini gear. It’s selling well at the Nebraska Bookstore, where you can buy Bofense hats, BOwl BOund and BOdalicious T-shirts.
General manager Amanda Tangeman also expects a family-oriented crowd. The store will host children’s activities downstairs, with cotton candy and popcorn.
Some Spring Game attendees from out of town already have stopped in, she said. “They’re making it a long weekend.”
Reach Kendra Waltke at 473-7303 or kwaltke@journalstar.com.
