Denver men’s soccer face Omaha in an early conference showdown on Saturday, October 1st at Caniglia Field, home of the Mavericks. Omaha is promoting the match against a key rival in an effort to outdraw the neighboring Nebraska Cornhusker football program that face Illinois at 85,465 seat Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska the night before.
The former AD at Omaha, Trev Alberts, fled to Lincoln as a headman a year ago. In an attempt to ‘fill’ Memorial Stadium, Alberts installed larger seats this season, hoping to mask sliding attendance. However, after his football head coach Scott Frost lost to Georgia Southern on September 10th at home, Omaha hatched the idea to outdraw iconic Memorial Stadium. A week later the Huskers absorbed a 49-14 home thrashing by Oklahoma which further opened up the possibility of Omaha soccer outdrawing Big Red. A Husker bye last weekend allowed Omaha time to refine their attendance plan.
NU AD Trev Alberts says all 18 inch wide seats for Memorial Stadium will be at least 20 inches. Capacity will go down a little. Immediate change for 2022. #huskers
— Sam McKewon (@swmckewonOWH) January 27, 2022
The Mavs are marketing a family plan for Saturday’s match. Children under six will receive a 2-liter Coke and Mentos and mom and dad get coupons for two free Wendy’s Baconators™.
Video: An Omaha video promotes spectator engagement at Caniglia Field.
Caniglia Field seats 3,000 fans with plans to add temporary bleachers to outdraw the Huskers on the Saturday afternoon match (2 pm MT) against Denver.
Top photo of Caniglia Field courtesy of University of Nebraska-Omaha