husker, thanks for your post! you stated a lot of what we heard from locals. i think the whole thing was a cluster and college baseball fans everywhere dont like it. it is obvious from the fans we talked to they think this is a load of crap. yes, we will still go, but it will never have the same feel to it, imo. the neighborhood that rosenblatt is in is part of what makes the cws special. the whole ambiance to it. personally, i think okc would have been great. but it would not have been the rosenblatt. when the whole idea was being talked about i knew for me okc would have been ideal, personally, but i preferred omaha because tradition is tradition. and the whole part about the royals getting a different new stadium... way to waste money! i hope lsu makes it to the cws next year. if they do, i plan on being there to see the old girl out.
StaceyO - The main reason is because the Royals' ownership has no interest in playing downtown. They did not want to leave south Omaha, and were going to stay at Rosenblatt, untill it was decided that Rosenblatt would be torn down and made into a parking lot for the Henry Doorly Zoo, leaving them without a home. So the Royals gave a big FU to the city officials, and told them they would build their own ballpark, which is exactly what their doing. A waste of money? - Absolutely. But they don't really have a lot of options now.
A real FU would have been to move the team elsewhere, especially if they're going to build their own park. It seems like the city didn't take the Royals' interests into consideration. Having a private organization sink that much of its own money into a facility is more of a "thank you" than an "FU". I do realize, however, the proximity of Omaha to Kansas City, which makes it a very practical place to have a farm team.
but my understanding is the royals minor league park will be built in bellvue (sp?). dont know how far that is outside of omaha, but if it is in a different municipality, then omaha wont get the direct tax revenues. nor will the surrounding business that get patronized by fans be in omaha.
Even better.....move them out, but not so far away that the idiots in Omaha won't be able to see what they let get away. Now that's an FU.
I was talking to an Omaha FD and he was telling me Ameritrade got the naming rights for only 750,000 a year. He sounded kinda pissed that they got it so cheap for having that much pub. It really wasn't that expensive. I was able to go for 4 days for about $500. Room, gas, food, going out, and reserved tickets. The local businesses around the stadium is great. My favorite was the little BBQ place. Famous Dave's I think. In the front yard, they set up and sell their BBQ, but the building behind it is the best. It becomes a bar room 1 month out of the year. The other 11 months, it is a church! ha . Ha. we paid 10 bucks to park in some guy's back yard for game one. Then just parked in the grass between the zoo and stadium for games 2 and 3.
