Businesses weigh in on the possibility of canceled or delayed football season

What will happen to local businesses that thrive on Husker football and tailgating if they don't play this fall? We talked with several Haymarket destinations that are worried for that possibility.

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Most establishments in the Haymarket rely heavily on football season, the game bringing in thousands of fans and tailgaters to the entertainment district and other areas around Lincoln.

Buzzard Billy’s General Manager, Stephen Engel, said “survival” is a good word to use to describe what will happen if football season is cancelled over coronavirus concerns.

“We pay higher rent to be in the entertainment district and if you remove Husker football and all the events we are paying taxes on, it will have a devastating effect, you’re basically losing two months of sales” Engel said.

Another business, the Best of Big Red memorabilia shop, is also worried about what will happen to their shop if football doesn’t happen.

“Obviously having a Husker store and with football being so big in Nebraska and Lincoln, a lot of our revenue throughout the year does come from the football season itself so one of our worries is not having the season, losing money because we are not going to have people down here tailgating or going to the game or just shopping in general” General Manager Joey Rupp said.

Rupp added the season being pushed to the Spring is better then no football at all.

The Big Ten has not formally made a decision yet on if the season will continue, they are expected to announce their decision as early as Tuesday.