Cincinnati Football: John Cunningham to consider expanding Nippert Stadium
By Charles Post
In light of the #Bearcats announcing football season tix are sold out for 2022, Cunningham said expansion of Nippert Stadium needs to be a consideration moving forward, but for the time being, UC wants to focus on riding the wave of demand & improving current gameday experience.
— Justin Williams (@Williams_Justin) June 13, 2022
There are going to be a lot of changes for the Cincinnati football program as the move to the Big 12 Conference nears. It was also recently announced that Nippert Stadium will have seven additional suites that are accessible to fans and the Bearcats completely sold out season tickets for the first time in school history.
"“Demand is good when it comes to ticket sales. This is the first time that we’ve ever sold out season tickets at Nippert Stadium,” athletics director John Cunningham explained in a press conference per Cincinnati Athletics. “Let’s ride the demand for a while and make it a really tough place for opposing teams to come and play.”"
@Big12Conference announced on Friday afternoon that #Cincinnati will join on July 1, 2023 after spending next season in the AAC. According to reports, each program will pay an $18 million buyout over the next 14 years to depart next summer instead of 2024.https://t.co/gu9r9cL3B4
— Cincy on the Prowl (@CincyOnTheProwl) June 13, 2022
Cincinnati Football: John Cunningham considers expanding Nippert Stadium
On top of the increased seating in the North end zone, Cincinnati revealed a new partnership with Revel XP to improve game day experience. Revel XP is a recently-created fan engagement company that reportedly plans to host all-inclusive tailgates for basketball and football home games starting this fall.
"“I think you look at what the MLS is doing with new smaller stadiums and use of premium seating. That’s something we look at with Nippert,” Cunningham said via Cincinnati Athletics. “We also have to look at capacity for our students. We have 45,000 students on campus and we don’t have anything close to that in terms of seating.”"
Cunningham continued to discuss potentially expanding Nippert Stadium in the coming years: “We’ve got a lot to look at in ways that we can increase our student section. Premium seating is important. People have made mistakes by expanding stadiums and then not being able to fill the stadium.”