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Nebraska Football Touchdown Balloons Officially Returning to Memorial Stadium

The touchdown balloons are back and will make their triumphant return during the Huskers' game Saturday night against the Colorado Buffaloes.

Kaleb Henry

Nebraska Cornhuskers fans release balloons after their team scored first during Saturday's NCAA Division I football game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb., on November 6, 2021
Nebraska Cornhuskers fans release balloons after their team scored first during Saturday's NCAA Division I football game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb., on November 6, 2021 / Barbara J. Perenic/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
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The balloons are back.

After a tease from Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen last weekend, the official Huskers X account shared another teaser video about the balloons that ended with "9.7.24", the date of this Saturday's game against the Colorado Buffaloes.

Nebraska Athletics subsequently issued a statement confirming the news of the balloons returning Memorial Stadium, though not on full-time basis:

"Saturday’s football game with Colorado and the events surrounding the weekend have been anticipated by Husker fans for months. As we celebrate the rich tradition between the two schools and honor our 1994 national championship team, Nebraska Athletics will bring back a Memorial Stadium tradition of releasing balloons after the Huskers’ first touchdown. Red balloons will be distributed at no cost in and around Memorial Stadium by Husker Athletics staff. Going forward, we will consider bringing back the balloons for select special occasions."

Quick note: the official statement says "after the Huskers' first touchdown", not field goal. Remember this Saturday, and going forward.

The release of the balloons on Saturday will be the first time in more than two years that the tradition will have taken place. Former Nebraska AD Trev Alberts ended the practice in 2022, citing a global helium shortage.

"While we’re still concerned about the environmental impact of the balloons, the reality is acquiring helium in today’s day and age given some of the challenge and some of the production of it is really challenged and it’s been hard to get," Alberts said on an episode of "Sports Nightly" in May of 2022. "And so we’ve been asked by the university that the helium we are getting as a university we need to use for medical purposes at [University of Nebraska Medical Center] in Omaha. And so, we are this year not going to be providing the red balloons for the first time at Memorial Stadium."

In the aftermath, some had attempted to come up with new traditions to take the place of the touchdown balloons. Nebraska Cornhuskers on SI's Dave Feit put forth some "interesting" options:

• Stadium ushers bring a bottle of schnaps or Fireball to each row. Take a nip and pass it on.
• The player who scores the game's first touchdown gets an NIL deal with the Arbor Day Foundation. They plant a tree on the player’s behalf.
• Der Viener Schlinger is retrofitted to become a confetti cannon.
• Fans revive another old tradition and throw oranges on the field.
• A video animation of thousands of balloons flying is played on the screens, with an anti-littering message at the end. Fans pat themselves on the back as they toss their empty plastic soda bottles and pizza boxes on the ground in front of them.
• Seven ceremonial balloons are released, but members of the NU rifle team keep them from leaving the stadium.
• When Nebraska scores, bushels of seed corn are shot into the sky from all four corners of the stadium.
• And many more.

But now Alberts is in College Station and Dannen is running the show in Lincoln. After making quick work of solidifying the relationship between the athletic department and the NIL arm that is 1890, Dannen is dominating in the public relations aspect of his job with Husker fans in bringing back a tradition that many were fond of, even if they had never held a balloon at Memorial Stadium themselves.

Balloons drift skyward after the Huskers' first touchdown of the 2016 season.
Balloons drift skyward after the Huskers' first touchdown of the 2016 season. / HuskerMax

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Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, following HuskerMax on X, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.

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Kaleb Henry

KALEB HENRY

Kaleb Henry is an award-winning sports reporter, covering collegiate athletics since 2014 via radio, podcasting, and digital journalism. His experience with Big Ten Conference teams goes back more than a decade, including time covering programs such as the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Oregon Ducks, and USC Trojans. He has contributed to Sports Illustrated since 2021. Kaleb has won multiple awards for his sports coverage from the Nebraska Broadcasters Association and Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association. Prior to working in sports journalism, Kaleb was a Division I athlete on the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Track and Field team where he discussed NCAA legislation as SIUE's representative to the Ohio Valley Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. 

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