Fans cheer at Arrowhead Stadium during the first half of a game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Detroit Lions on Sept. 7 in Kansas City, Mo.
Nebraska football is headed to Kansas City in August to play Cincinnati.
The Bearcats and Huskers announced Monday that their neutral-site season opener, originally scheduled to be played at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, will now be played at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs.
The game has been moved, too, to Thursday, Aug. 28, which allows for more national TV exposure and gives the Chiefs a week to prepare the field for their own home opener should the NFL again select Kansas City for its annual Thursday night season kickoff game.
Headed to the Red Kingdom.
— Nebraska Football (@HuskerFootball)
🔗: x !
Playing in Arrowhead likely guarantees NU will have many more fans at the game — Indianapolis may have been closer to a 50-50 split — while ensuring Cincinnati has a higher gate receipt. Arrowhead seats 76,146 while Lucas Oil Stadium has a capacity of 63,000 for football.
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“We are pleased to partner with the University of Cincinnati and the Kansas City Chiefs to bring our 2025 season-opening matchup to Arrowhead Stadium,†Nebraska Athletic Director Troy Dannen said. “Since arriving at Nebraska, one constant message I have heard from our fans is they miss having road football games that are within driving distance. This game offers an excellent opportunity for our great fan base to make a short trip to watch the Huskers open the season and enjoy Labor Day weekend in Kansas City.â€
Nebraska last played at Arrowhead for the frigid 2006 Big 12 Championship, won by Oklahoma 21-7.
Prior to that, NU beat Oklahoma State 24-17 on Oct. 3, 1998. For a $1.3 million guarantee, OSU voluntarily gave up a home game to play Nebraska in KC, as 79,555 packed into Arrowhead to watch the Huskers hold on with a dramatic goal-line stand on the game's final play. Reporters estimated 50,000 of the spectators that night were Husker fans. The Chiefs played at Arrowhead the following day, beating the Seahawks 17-6.
This will be Nebraska's first neutral site game since the 2022 season opener in Dublin, Ireland. The Huskers lost 31-28 to Northwestern.
It's the fifth true neutral site regular season game in the last 50 years, with NU winning three times — in 1983, 1988 and 1994 — at the Kickoff Classic at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Nebraska and Cincinnati announced the second game of the home-and-home series — rescheduled from 2020, when the Big Ten's rule COVID-related rules disallowed nonconference games — will be played Sept. 10, 2033.
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