Nebraska would have a new 16,000-seat arena ready for Big Ten basketball in 2013

Whichever conference Nebraska is calling home in 2013, it will have a brand-new 16,000-seat downtown arena in which to play its basketball games.

Who else but Huskersextra.com to tell the story for us?

Lincoln Haymarket Arena. It'll work.

Now Nebraska just needs a competitive men's basketball program.

Here's the Lincoln Journal Star story on the $25 million bond issue passing last month to green-light the arena.

Said Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne: "It showed that there is a pretty good sense of vision and purpose from enough of our citizenry to carry forward.''

The arena will save the university about $30 million in renovation costs at the Devaney Sports Center.

"There's no reason why Nebraska shouldn't be very competitive in both men's and women's basketball down the road," Osborne said. "It doesn't happen overnight, but we do think we'll gain considerable momentum."

Nebraska hasn't won a men's basketball regular-season title since 1950, and has never won an NCAA tournament game. It hasn't even had a first-team All-Big 12 player since 1999.