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LINCOLN — Smiles on the faces of Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman and Athletic Director Tom Osborne were evident Wednesday morning as they sat down to discuss the approval by Lincoln voters of a 16,000-seat downtown arena.
Less noticeable but more important to both men was the reduction in stress provided by the 56 percent to 44 percent victory.
“I thought this vote was really going to be somewhat of a watershed moment for Lincoln,'' Osborne said. “It showed that there is a pretty good sense of vision and purpose from enough of our citizenry to carry forward.''
Neither Husker leader felt comfortable about the outcome ahead of time.
“It was more substantial support than I thought,'' Perlman said. “I'm a pessimist on elections, so I was getting a little nervous.''
Osborne agreed, saying: “I thought it would be a real nail-biter — 1 or 2 percent either way.''
The $344 million project provides a new home for the Nebraska men's and women's basketball teams starting in the fall of 2013.
“But helping our basketball program was about third on my list of Top 10 reasons of why I'm excited about this,'' Perlman said.
He called the downtown project consistent with the growth coming to the old fairgrounds on the university's Innovation Campus. Also, the project will boost Lincoln's economy and help the university — the city's largest employer — attract students and faculty.
“Inevitably, the university's success is tied to the success of this community,'' Perlman said. “This is an action on the part of the people of Lincoln to make this a vibrant, energetic, progressive community.
“I couldn't be more happy with the result.''
Osborne said he took a phone call Tuesday from a longtime friend who is a hotel developer, saying the man would build in Lincoln if the arena vote succeeded.
Another man, whose son had moved from Lincoln, called Osborne to say the son and three friends want to move back and start a business now that the arena was approved.
Had the arena vote failed, Nebraska was prepared to begin work immediately on renovating the Devaney Center, which opened in 1976.
That project, Osborne said, would have cost $50 million and included the building of a parking garage.
Now NU will spend about $20 million on previously scheduled updates at the Devaney on such things as new entrances, expanded concourses, new seats, remodeled restrooms and a possible new exterior.
The Devaney will remain home to the men's and women's gymnastics teams, swimming and wrestling. Osborne said there will be talks about volleyball, which has a long sellout streak at the Coliseum, playing more matches at the Devaney if demand stays high.
If Nebraska had been put in position to remodel the Devaney at $50 million, Osborne said, the university would have been far less likely to be part of a joint project for a new arena with the city. And without a major tenant, the city would have had more difficulty winning approval.
“There was no Plan B,'' Osborne said.
The arena won't be built to accommodate an ice surface, so seats can be closer to the basketball playing floor, Osborne said.
The planned configuration is for 36 suites; 100 to 120 loge seats; 800 club seats; 2,500 student seats; 4,700 reserved seats in the lower level; and 8,000 upper-level seats.
During the discussion, one reporter tried to sneak in a question about how the arena vote might impact the prospects of Nebraska joining the Big Ten.
Perlman shot that down, before adding: “We do know that we're not returning to the Missouri Valley Conference.''
Contact the writer:
444-1024, lee.barfknecht@owh.com
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