LINCOLN, Neb. — A University of Nebraska regent has proposed a way for lifelong Cornhusker fans to carry their support into the afterlife.
When Memorial Stadium undergoes its next renovation, Regent Barbara Weitz of Omaha suggested building a columbarium under the football field where departed fans can have their ashes inurned.
The idea might be dead on arrival. Her fellow regents laughed at the proposal at a recent meeting.
Weitz acknowledged she made her pitch light-heartedly but didn’t think any proposal should be dismissed out of hand with the university facing a $58 million budget shortfall. The price for niches, where cremation urns are stored, could vary depending on location, with a spot under the 50-yard line or end zone sold at a premium. Revenue, she said, would go to academics.
In a state full of lifelong Nebraska Cornhusker fans, a member of the university’s Board of Regents has proposed a way for those folks to carry their fandom into the afterlife.
“One thing I know best about Nebraska is how much the football team and the volleyball team mean,” Weitz said. “We really do love our sports teams and follow them everywhere. It’s part of being a Nebraskan. So why wouldn’t being buried under the field be a great way to be close to your team forever? So it was kind of a combination of needing money, talking about ways to get it and then kind of trying to say let’s use our imaginations.”
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