Omaha spending $140 million to keep CWS

By Eric Olson

Published: May 31, 2008

OMAHA, Neb. — Omaha leaders so feared losing the College World Series that they were willing to commit $140 million to build a new stadium that would let the city hold onto an event that lasts less than two weeks a year.

The NCAA agreed to an unprecedented 25-year deal that keeps the CWS in Omaha, the event's host since 1950, through at least 2035.

It's money well spent, say people who make their living booking amateur sporting events.

Tourism dollars and image enhancement motivate Omaha and other cities to woo the NCAA and top-level competitions. Though not on nearly as grand a scale as bidding for, say, the Olympics or Super Bowl, the race is robust.

"The College World Series is like a franchise to Omaha,” Omaha Sports Commission executive director Dan Morrissey said. "It's an important part of our local economy. It's part of our image. It's just a huge part of who we are.”

Cities are going after sports events the way they've historically gone after conventions, said Don Schumacher, executive director of the National Association of Sports Commissions.

The number of U.S. sports commissions has grown from 15 in 1992 to an all-time high of 510 this year. Visitor spending from events defined as those that can move around — more than 3,000 of them — has risen from an estimated $4 billion in 2003 to $6 billion in 2007, according to the national association.

"We don't see any real end to it,” Schumacher said. "Those of us involved in administration of the business are basing our good feeling for the future on what has been accomplished so far and how hungry communities are.”

Omaha's appetite has become almost insatiable.

The College World Series has long been Omaha's flagship sporting event, but the city of 400,000 has begun to aggressively pursue others that five years ago seemed out of reach. The Qwest Center opened in 2003 and ranks among the nation's busiest arenas. The baseball stadium is scheduled to open in 2011.

Omaha hosted first- and second-round games in the NCAA men's basketball tournament in March. The College World Series opens June 14 — the third-to-last time it will be played at 60-year-old Rosenblatt Stadium — and the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials start at Qwest Center the last week of June.

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