3-4 p.m. — Homecoming parade, beginning at 67th Street and Mercy Road, winding through Elmwood Park and ending at the Sapp Fieldhouse.
4-6 p.m. — Tailgate party in the Sapp Fieldhouse.
6-7:15 p.m. — Free shuttle rides from campus to the hockey game at the CenturyLink Center Omaha.
7:07 p.m. — UNO Mavericks play the University of British Columbia.
9-10 p.m. — Free shuttle rides back to campus.
For more information, visit unoalumni.org/homecoming
Now that football is gone, UNO will celebrate this year's homecoming on ice.
The University of Nebraska at Omaha will mark its 80th homecoming on campus on Oct. 1, then bus fans to the season-opening hockey game at the CenturyLink Center Omaha. The Mavericks play the University of British Columbia that night.
"Many of the traditions of doing things on campus, having parades ... and celebrating homecoming all will continue," UNO Chancellor John Christensen said Wednesday. "Although it will be somewhat different, I suspect that at the end of the day, people will have a great time."
UNO in March dropped football and wrestling as part of a step up to NCAA Division I. But the demise of Maverick football never meant the demise of homecoming, university leaders said Wednesday.
"We wanted to make it a celebration still," said Elizabeth Kraemer, the school's alumni programs coordinator.
"We switched the focus from being around football to hockey," she said. "We'll get a lot of people from the community, alumni, students, faculty and staff, all around hockey so everybody can come together and celebrate UNO."
UNO plans an open house, a parade and a tailgate party on campus. Kraemer said anyone who attends the tailgate party will receive a coupon for $10 off a hockey ticket. Maverick hockey tickets normally run between $17 and $20 for adults and cost $15 for youths.
"Homecoming is all about coming home," Kraemer said. "And we still want people to feel like they can come home to UNO."
The free shuttle buses will run for an hour before the hockey game and for an hour after the game. Attendees — students, faculty members, alumni and other fans — are welcome to park on the UNO campus, Kraemer said.
Last year, about 1,200 people attended the UNO tailgate party alone. University officials are hoping the number who attend homecoming activities grows.
"It seems reasonable," said alum Neil Azevedo, who graduated in 1994 with a creative writing degree. "It sounds like the whole plan is well thought out and is going to be really in the new kind of culture that UNO is trying to create."
Video: Moving in at UNO
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