Have you been following the latest local political dust-up? Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey and several important businessmen want to build a new baseball stadium in North Downtown (a/k/a NoDo), near the Qwest Center and the new riverfront development. Rosenblatt Stadium, on South 13th Street, next door to the world-class Henry Doorly Zoo, is to be abandoned, apparently.
Pressure comes from several directions to support this. The new stadium would be smaller, which would improve the attendance figures (and hence revenues) of the Omaha Royals, Triple A farm team for the Kansas City Royals. The new stadium would have all the latest amenities, including luxury boxes, thus improving the city's revenues. Creighton University could play its home games there, making for an easier, shorter trip from campus to ball park than the student-athletes have to endure now. [And if you cannot feel the sarcasm dripping from that statement, either you have no clue about Omaha geography or I am losing my touch.--Ed.] The out-of-town guests who come to the College World Series every year would have a much more cohesive experience, as their commute from their hotels to the new stadium would be easier. Plus the locals would have to use the Qwest Center's parking lot . . . again adding to the city's coffers. Finally, the zoo would now have room to expand. In its present configuration, its expansion is apparently blocked by Rosenblatt's presence.
What no one connected with the proposal is saying, however, is how this would be a more efficient use of money than re-re-re-renovating Rosenblatt. Building a new stadium is estimated to cost $50 million dollars. Making Rosenblatt 100% state of the art would cost much less--plus the history of the place would be preserved. Besides, what do the powers that be at the NCAA and the College World Series have to say about this? They regularly sell out all the games at Rosenblatt. A new, albeit smaller, stadium, surely cannot please them, despite the suggestions that temporary bleachers can be helicoptered in for the CWS games and then removed again once the CWS is over. I know as a CWS fan, I'd not be happy paying more (as I am sure I would have to) to sit in temporary bleacher seats. That strikes me, as a fan, as being more than a bit of a rip-off.
What of the complaints of the Omaha Royals that Rosenblatt is just too big? They wouldn't have that problem if they'd field a better team. The Royals had no trouble at all regularly selling all the available seats in the mid-80s . . . which is the last time both the Omaha and Kansas City incarnations of the Royals were winning.
And what of all the renovations already made to Rosenblatt to keep the CWS here? That includes the destruction of several homes along the east side of 13th Street. These homes were razed to improve the landscaping around the side of the stadium that most people see first. The human cost of that was huge. At the time, most of us (including many of the homeowners whose homes were taken) thought it was a worthy and noble sacrifice for the sake of keeping the CWS in Omaha. But to abandon Rosenblatt just a few years later makes it a cruelty to the people whose homes were taken.
Further, Rosenblatt is up on a hill, and it's pleasant to attend games there even in the hottest of Omaha summer weather. A new stadium, farther north and down by the river, would be a sauna . . . except in the luxury boxes, I suppose. Nor would a new stadium be nearly as charming, even if the "Road to Omaha" sculpture is moved to the new stadium's entrance area.
Nonetheless, despite the large and vociferous outcry against it, I suspect that the building of the new stadium is a done deal. Fahey wants his legacy, the financiers want their vision of the riverfront, and the money is probably already in place. The SAC Museum (renamed the Strategic Air and Space Museum) got moved from its historic home in Bellevue because the powers that be [i.e., those with the money--Ed.] wanted it to be nearer Interstate 80 for easier tourist access, historical accuracy be damned. They got their way because they refused to finance enclosed display spaces for the historic planes unless the museum relocated. And they lost a tremendous amount of local support from the large US Air Force (active duty and retired) community in Bellevue . . . but they think their success in increasing tourist dollars has more than compensated for it. They're probably right, darn it.
I hate to see Rosenblatt go, though. No matter what amenities are built into a new stadium, there is no way it will be as charming a place to watch a ball game as is "the Blatt."
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