THE STORY BEHIND NEBRASKA’S LIGHT SHOW AND DRONE DISPLAY

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - This Friday marks Nebraska’s third consecutive prime time game, and fans can’t stop talking about the light show and drone display.

Between the third and fourth quarters, Memorial Stadium transforms into an entirely different place, and it takes a lot of work to pull it off.

The highly anticipated light show started in 2017 and has only grown since then. It started with upgrading the LED lighting in the stadium.

Then, Fantasy Drone Shows based in Norfolk approached Nebraska to help with Volleyball Day in Nebraska last year.

“Selling them a drone show was very difficult because no one really knew what a drone show does,” said Don Wisnieski, Fantasy Drone Shows.

Then football wanted in on the fun.

“Last year we had 150 drones, this year we have over 300,” said Brandon Meier, Senior Associate AD for Marketing and Multimedia.

“Once we get the soundtrack from the university, we try and do light sequences and make our drones to the beat of the sound, we need the timing, that’s very crucial, you don’t know when the third quarter’s gonna get over and three seconds into it we have to launch,” said Wisnieski.

Everything is rehearsed the day before, and it seems even the opposing team enjoys it.

“It’s nothing I’ve ever seen before, nothing I’ve ever been a part of,” said Jahmal Banks, Nebraska football wide receiver.

“When I got home my ears were ringing, it was that loud,” said Jaylen Lloyd.

“I think it’s good to have a collective activity during a break of the game,” said Kieren Kistler, Husker fan.

The theme of this week’s show will focus on the 400th consecutive sellout.

“There’s a lot of younger fans, kids that I know and their parents say ‘hey we normally leave early cause it’s bed time, but we want to stay till the end of the third quarter to watch the drones and the light show’,” said Meier.

This Friday will be the last scheduled night game for fans to watch the light show.

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2024-09-19T00:22:04Z dg43tfdfdgfd