Tom Osborne cancels TransCanada stadium ads during Husker football games

Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska. Photo: BeatBoxBadHabit, Flickr

UNL Athletic Director Tom Osborne has voided a contract negotiated by IMG Husker Sports Network last April for TransCanada stadium ads during Husker football games.

"I want to make it clear that the athletic department has no position, either pro or con, regarding the proposed Pipeline," Osborne said in a statement.

The stadium video ads elicited booing during recent games.

BOLD Nebraska, which is fighting the TransCanada Pipeline, launched an online petition earlier this week to get Osborne to drop the ads and was planning to purchse 1,000 foam “cornfingers” with anti-pipeline slogans that fans could hoist into the air when the TransCanada ads were displayed.

A TransCanada official told the Omaha World-Herald that company was disappointed with the decision to drop the ads, saying they were not political but aimed at glorifying Nebraska's traditional “pipeline” of great offensive linemen.

(Please excuse AKSARBENT for a moment while it visits the restroom to talk to Ralph on the Big White Phone.)

Although Bold Nebraska has called off the stadium protests, it isn't done with TransCanada's spin on the story.

It's crystal clear that TransCanada's become too toxic to handle. When college football's best fans start booing your ads (not even the other team), well, the actions speak for themselves.

     Of course, TransCanada's spin doctor Jeff Rauh was on hand to express the company's remorse that they can't "be a part of the community" anymore. Sorry guys, foreign companies who bully landowners and buy off elected officials aren't community members Nebraska wants.

     He promised that TransCanada would take the ad money and give it to non-profits in the state. Well if that's true, we want a list published of when they get their checks and how much they are getting. 

     Maybe TransCanada considers their astroturf group the Nebraska Energy Forum a non-profit and will give them more money for their misleading push polls? Or does Rauh mean real non-profits that actually contribute to our communities like the Center for People in Need?

     And even if TransCanada does try to donate money to real non-profits, will they accept it? The Huskers have already shown that they're steering clear of TransCanada's toxic cash. Will anyone else want money that's as toxic as the tar sands TransCanada wants to pump through the Ogallala Aquifer?