Steven M. Sipple: Osborne says NU feels arena is 'doable'

“I think right now, tentatively, we feel it’s something that’s doable,” the Nebraska athletic director said Saturday. “We’ve taken a look at what it would cost (for the Husker men’s and women’s basketball teams) to leave the Devaney Center and go to a new arena, and we think we could make it work financially.

“But the agreement we have with the city is very tentative. The numbers aren’t really firm.”

Nothing very important about the project will be firm until John and Jane Q. Public have their say. Until then, we can study proposals and data as they become available. We can read between lines. We can call university officials and community leaders, as I did Friday, coming away convinced this project has significant momentum.

What does it all mean? For one thing, it means the Devaney Sports Center might eventually settle into a diminished role. Quite frankly, that time has come. The building has been a loyal friend. It’s enjoyed a nice run in its 30-plus years and held up well. Danny Nee used to get the place rocking. Doc Sadler and Connie Yori now are giving it a go. The big gray barn as a Big 12 hoops arena is OK. But since when have Husker athletics settled for OK?

Let’s face it, Qwest Center Omaha, and the nearby downtown district, offer Creighton hoops fans a much better game-day experience.

So let’s dream big here. Let’s keep the Devaney Center involved as a home for Nebraska’s Olympic sports — track and field, swimming, wrestling, gymnastics, et al. Maybe keep the state high school basketball tournaments on Court Street. Spend a little money to fix up the place. Move events and conventions currently held at Pershing Center to the Devaney Center. Charge an operation fee to generate revenue to help pay for our hoops dream west of the Haymarket.

It’s hard to imagine Sadler or Yori being opposed to such a move, especially if a practice facility is involved. Oh, how those two coaches crave a practice facility — which is being discussed by key officials.

“I do believe if you look around the country, you realize a new arena does have some appeal to new recruits and to fans,” Osborne said. “Usually you’ll see a jump in attendance of 10 to 15 percent in a new arena that has nothing to do with the performance of the team.

“It’s a new venue with the opportunity for skyboxes and preferred seating that don’t exist at the Devaney.”

Those skybox opportunities never will exist at Devaney.

Osborne added, “We just have to make sure it wouldn’t be an albatross around our neck to move to a new arena. Right now, from what information we have, we think it’s something we could do. We wouldn’t be losing money, at least not a lot of money. But that’s as far as we’ve gotten, really.”

That’s plenty far enough to get your blood pumping if you’re a Husker hoops fan and also happen to be interested in seeing an improved overall quality of life in Lincoln. Believe me, wheels are churning behind the scenes as city leaders try to make this thing work. Soon the media will begin to full-court press city and university officials with questions that can’t readily be answered. (See Omaha’s downtown stadium fiasco.) It’s all part of the fun, all part of a city thinking big.

“It’s all very preliminary,” Osborne cautioned.

Yet it all seems increasingly possible.