Where the Devaney fits into arena plans

Hug, the associate athletic director in charge of facilities and events at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said he also receives "daily inquiries" about doing concerts.

He doesn't encourage them.

The last major concert the Devaney Center hosted, Hug recalls, was a performance by the Dixie Chicks in 2000. That's when acts brought 12 semi truckloads of equipment, far fewer than today's shows, Hug said.

The extra equipment, stages, lifts, speakers and lights used in concerts today are too heavy for the Devaney Center's permanent basketball floor and outdated roof.

Groups with meetings and banquets could rent the space - if space existed on the calendar.

"The biggest issue we have is trying to find the time window to put those in," Hug said.

The 34-year-old Devaney Center - home to Nebraska men's and women's basketball, wrestling, men's and women's gymnastics, women's swimming and men's and women's track -- is congested and needs a facelift.

That's why the NU Athletic Department is in the planning phase for improvements and renovations to the university-owned building.

Marc Boehm, Nebraska's executive associate athletic director who oversees basketball, said the Athletic Department is developing two sets of plans. One of those will be put into action on May 12, the day after Lincoln residents vote on a new arena.

Plan A: Voters approve financing for the arena in Lincoln's Historic Haymarket, where the Nebraska basketball teams would play games. The Athletic Department then would spend an estimated $10 million to upgrade Devaney for the remaining sports that would call the building home.

Plan B: The arena vote fails, and the Athletic Department plans major renovations to Devaney. Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne said that project would cost nearly $40 million, which includes $15 million to

$20 million for a parking garage. A parking garage wouldn't be built, Osborne said, if the arena vote passes.

Boehm said the major renovations under Plan B would be strictly for athletics. Don't look for UNL to make Devaney, which seats 13,595, into a multipurpose arena that could host concerts or more civic events.

"We have so many sports that utilize Devaney," Boehm said. "To try to get into the concert business, it just wouldn't work with schedules."

That's not the case at the University of Texas in Austin, where the university-owned Frank Erwin Center hosts 70 days of concerts, shows and circuses per year, along with high school graduations, trade shows, fairs and banquets, said John Graham, UT associate athletics director.

The Erwin Center was built in 1977 as a multipurpose arena and has a capacity of 16,800 for basketball games and 17,200 for concerts.

Unlike Devaney, the Erwin Center hosts only men's and women's basketball games, no other UT sports, freeing the arena for other events.

"We really embarked upon a major effort to increase our sponsorship dollars and to go after events, concerts and shows like never before," Graham said.

"We set out to get every single show we can find. We don't get them all. It's like fishing. But we go after everything that's out there."

Upcoming concerts at the Erwin Center include John Mayer on March 8, Taylor Swift on March 10 and Elton John on April 10.

A $55 million renovation from 2001-03 added 28 suites and doubled the size of some concessions stands and restrooms and quadrupled the size of others.

A basketball practice facility also was included in that project. The Erwin Center, which is on campus and near downtown Austin, never closed during the renovations.

For Devaney, Boehm said, planning discussions have included the possibilities of building suites and loge seating areas, expanding concourses and "just doing things to modernize the facility." Those plans are only conceptual at this point.

Short-range improvements include replacing seats. Boehm said new seats will be installed in B-level sections before the 2010-11 basketball season. The rest of the arena may or may not get new seats, depending on the outcome of the May 11 vote.

With or without a new arena, Boehm said, improvements are needed with HuskerVision, and there have been discussions about adding a new scoreboard over center court.

The last center-hung scoreboard was replaced in 1999-2000, when HuskerVision screens first were installed on the end walls. That was part of a

$7.9 million renovation that included updating concourses. The building has had no major renovations since then.

The Devaney Center also hosts commencements, summer wrestling and basketball camps, state high school basketball tournaments and high school swimming and track events.

A basketball and wrestling practice facility, scheduled to be completed by fall 2011, will alleviate some of the scheduling conflicts at Devaney but not all, Hug said.

For instance, the wrestling and gymnastics teams would prefer to schedule competitions on Friday nights, but a Big 12 Conference rule stipulates that visiting basketball teams must have access to the main arena floor for two hours the night before a game.

"And I know there's probably a push to do more volleyball over there," Hug said, "but with the basketball games and stuff, it pretty much eliminates that opportunity to do it."

Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.