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2025 Nebraska Football Season Might Open in K.C. Instead of Indy

Talks are in progress to move the game against the Cincinnati Bearcats to Arrowhead Stadium.

Joe Hudson

Dec 26, 2021; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Empty stands at the fifty yard line are seen before a game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers at Arrowhead Stadium.
Dec 26, 2021; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Empty stands at the fifty yard line are seen before a game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers at Arrowhead Stadium. / William Purnell-Imagn Images
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Nebraska football might be opening the 2025 season much closer to home than originally planned.

The Huskers' Aug. 30 opener against Cincinnati is currently scheduled to take place at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. However, according to a social media post by Chad Brendel of Bearcat Journal and confirmation from the Cincinnati Enquirer, discussions are underway to move the game to Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium, home of the NFL's Chiefs.

"While a deal isn't finalized, it does appear to be trending in that direction," Brendel wrote.

If the move pans out, Nebraska fans will have a chance to turn a neutral-site game into a de facto Husker home game. Driving from Lincoln to Arrowhead takes a little over three hours, while the trip to Indianapolis is triple that. On the flip side, Cincinnati fans would face a roughly 8½-hour drive to attend what officially is the Bearcats' home game in the home-and-home series. (The teams will play again in Lincoln in 2032.)

The proposed change of venue presumably is all about money, which was also the case in 1998 when Oklahoma State moved its home game against Nebraska to Arrowhead. The Huskers won that one, 24-17, with a goal-line stand at the finish. The Huskers' only other appearance at Arrowhead came in 2006, when Nebraska lost to Oklahoma, 21-7, in the Big 12 championship game.

Cincinnati Bearcats football
Cincinnati Bearcats quarterback Brendan Sorsby runs toward the end zone against the West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024, at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati. / Frank Bowen IV/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Brendel noted that the move would probably come with a "significant payday" for Cincinnati, which is in its second season as a member of the Big 12 Conference. "With athlete revenue sharing on the horizon," he wrote, "the department will have to be aggressive in securing funds to establish the new status quo financially."

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Joe Hudson
JOE HUDSON

Joe Hudson has operated a Husker-related website since 1995 and joined forces with David Max to form HuskerPedia (later renamed HuskerMax) in 1999. It began as a hobby during his 35 years as a newspaper editor and reporter, a career that included stints at the Lincoln Star, Omaha World-Herald, Philadelphia Inquirer and Denver Post. In Denver, Joe was chief of the copy desk during his final 16 years at the Post. He is proud to have been involved in Pulitzer Prize-winning projects in both Philadelphia and Denver. Joe has been a Nebraska football fan since the mid-1960s during his childhood in Omaha. He earned his bachelor of arts degree in journalism and economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1976. He resides a few freeway exits north of Colorado Springs and enjoys bicycling and walking his dogs in his spare time. You can reach him at joeroyhud@outlook.com.

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