OmahaNebraska.com’s Interview withAmy Hornocker, Executive Director at College World Series of Omaha, Inc.
You’ve been doing this for several years now. What changes have you seen?
Every year, we’re trying to make things better. When I first started here, we were transitioning from the paper to the mobile ticket, and now we have almost everybody on the mobile ticket. I think one of the things that we are really excited about this year is that we replaced our original video board. It was original to the building in 2011, and we added a second one and then a ribbon. So since the stadium opened, we’ve been hearing from people that they’d really like to see another one. So all that stuff went in, and we actually have new lights that have the capability of doing light shows. We did about an $8 million upgrade in technology over there. So for the game presentation and venue experience, there’s going to be a lot more fun stuff to do.
How has it grown and evolved since you’ve become an executive director?
Well, it continues to grow. I think there’s more interest in the event as a whole, and we actually did an economic impact study with Ernie Goss from Creighton for the 2025 series. The last time we had enlisted Ernie was in 2019. So pre-pandemic in 2019 it was $88.5 million economic impact and last year it was $147.6 million, so it’s showing more than just a rebound from the pandemic. It’s popular, and there’s a lot of things that go into that…the teams that are here and that kind of stuff. But yeah, it continues to grow in popularity. We’ve had a really exciting regional round. The Super Regionals start today, so by Monday we should know who will be here. There’s been a lot of upsets, and there’s a lot of Cinderellas coming through, so I think one thing that’s kind of fun about college baseball is it seems like anybody can win.
There’s certainly a lot of dedication from the players and the coaches and the fans, and I think that really makes this a special experience.
Yes, definitely.
What challenges go into preparing Omaha or here for an event of this scale? I mean, it’s huge. How many did you have last year?
How many, attendance-wise? I think it was, like, 340-some thousand that went through our gates. That doesn’t account for the people that are down here just enjoying the atmosphere. I think it’s really cool to see how it used to just be kind of us in Baseball Village, and now we have the Millwork area that’s really building up, and there’s a ton of new stuff over here. And now west, over here by Kiewit’s headquarters, we have a new sports bar and an outdoor venue that will be another fun place for people to gather. We’re always saying that even if you don’t like baseball, you should just come down here because there’s just so much fun to be had, and as you mentioned, it’s a huge lift. We have five people working on it on our staff year-round, but we also have all the stadium staff and then the resources that the city provides: police, fire, public works, parks, everybody. We just had a meeting in April with everybody, and it’s, like, a room full of people that have a role in making sure that this thing runs smoothly.
I’m impressed, from the games and things I’ve attended, just how smoothly it goes.
Yes. MECA, who runs our stadium, are wonderful and they have a lot of pride in this, and so they’re good partners for us.
What feedback from fans has helped shape things for this year?
Of course we did hear about the scoreboard since we’ve opened, so we finally were able to make that happen. We hear about Wi-Fi. Those are things that we’ll look at, and just keeping the team or the fans engaged. We also look at different experiences for our student athletes to make sure that they have everything they need and they have a good experience while they’re here. So every year we’re looking at something new, and we have a lot of things in mind as we look forward. Our contract is through 2036. Obviously, we’ll want to start talking about an extension sooner rather than later on it, so we have some ideas cooking.
Are there still local nonprofit organizations hosting the event?
Yeah. We still have our team host. Some of these guys have been doing it since before I was born, and they love it. They have a lot of pride, so they go to the airport and meet the teams and then they will be with them throughout—they’re assigned to them, and they host one special event opening weekend that the team will get to go through…anywhere from Offutt Air Force Base, which they get to go down and tour the base, which is pretty cool, and then, too, the American Legion does a lunch and karaoke. So there’s just a bunch of different things that they do with the guys.
What are some of your favorite things about the College World Series and Omaha?
I think together the just the way the community embraces this thing. It takes a lot of people to make it go, but then the way they come down here—it’s just not like anything else. And I think when people come here—and we’ll have eight teams that were not here last year, and we will have two that have never been here before—so I think that they will be pleasantly surprised. Sometimes there’s still that “Are we landing in a cornfield?” mentality, and they get here and they see that we’re very much a thriving city, and then just all the stuff that we do to celebrate them. So it’ll be good.
What are some of the behind-the-scenes preparations that people don’t normally see?
We’ll have road closures starting next week where they bring down barricades, and this is all for pedestrian safety, public safety. One funny story I tell a lot is that there is somebody from Public Works whose job is for the sewer perfume, just to help our visitors a little down here in the low spots of the downtown area sometimes.
Wow.
There are so many stories like that. You see all the tent companies. We were talking about this the other day, the little things that go on that people have no idea about.
It’s a new thing to learn about, sewer perfume.
Yes, always. Yeah, one thing we’re excited about is we had a local foundation that was generous enough to provide our first-ever drone show. After game two, so Friday night postgame, it’s actually an America 250 celebration, but it has baseball flair. We’re going to have 400 drones, and it has been interesting to learn about all the rules and regulations around putting drones in the air. Anyway, that’ll be exciting for people to see. There will be an end game component, like a video of the show, but if you are outside the stadium, you’ll be able to see the drones.
Where’s a good place for spectators inside and outside the stadium?
Inside, pretty much everywhere it’ll be visible because they came in and flew and then they sat in different seats outside. It will be over the convention center, so anywhere around there it should be visible.
What are you most excited about for this year?
I would say the drone show. We also are going back to the zoo. We have a closed team event on Thursday night to welcome the teams to Omaha, and they get to bring their families. We were trying to think of ways that they could see other parts of the city, and last year we went to the zoo for the first time, and it was fun. It was just like a bunch of very large guys, like children, running around the zoo. I think that’s another thing we take for granted, being an Omaha person, is how wonderful our zoo is and how cool it is. They get to do animal encounters, so they’ll get to feed the alligators, and there’s a cheetah that they’ll get to see, so it’s pretty cool. They’ll eat there. And then the other thing we wanted to make sure of is that they could see their families, because they’ve been in a really long season, and they go from Regional to Super to here. To give them a chance to reunite with their families without people around was important to us.
We’ve already touched upon what’s new for fans this year. On the games itself, for special events and family activities, what do you have on the different days?
Obviously these are always subject to what’s going on in the world, but for Game 1 we will have a flyover of F-16s—I believe that’s South Dakota Air National Guard. There’s the drone show. Kids’ Day is Monday, Game 8, so after the game, kids run the bases, and that’s always a popular event. Game 10, Tuesday night, is Heroes in the Heartland, so it’s a salute to first responders and military in our community. Teacher Appreciation Day is Game 11, Wednesday, at 1, so we’ll have some teachers that were nominated to be honored, and we’ll have some concession gift cards for teachers who come to the games so they can have some free food on us. Then we’ll have another flyover on Saturday, Finals 1. Those are F-16s from Colorado, I think. Another special thing that’s going on where there’s some involvement with the College World Series is that the United States Navy does what they call Navy Week where they go into markets where they don’t have a huge presence. All over the city a ton of Navy people will be coming in. So we’ll have an anthem and color guard. Their brass band will be here at one point, but they have some stuff sprinkled across the city that they’re doing. So that’s kind of interesting.
What week is that one?
I think they start on the 12th, and then they’re here until the 21st. On Friday night, our off night, on June 19th they are planning a show at the Gene Leahy Mall with a bunch of different Navy bands, like woodwinds and brass, so that’s something for people to do on our off day.
Okay. I don’t remember that previously.
Yeah, they go around the country, and this is the first time they’ve done this event here in Omaha.
Thank you. What are some of the well-known and lesser-known College World Series traditions?
Yeah, so Zesto’s, obviously the ice cream place, when it opened for Big Tens, we were always excited because, like, “Oh, the College World Series is coming.” Rocco’s has the Jello Shot Challenge that they do every year, and they donate proceeds to the food banks of the teams that had the most. LSU won by a lot, so a big check went to the Baton Rouge Food Bank. So that’s kind of become a fun tradition. And I’m sure there are other things I don’t know about yet.
What trends are you seeing in attendance or visitor behavior compared to previous years?
We continue to see it remain steady or in a little bit of a climb. Like I mentioned, it does depend on who’s here as far as a team fan base. We have some teams that have not ever been here before, like I mentioned, so it will be interesting to see what this year’s turnout looks like. We also have the youth tournaments in town. Almost a thousand teams come in and out for different sessions, so they buy a lot of our outfield seats, and they’re consistent. I think we’re staying about the same or climbing, just kind of depending on who’s here.
And how far in advance do visitors typically prepare or plan for their Omaha trip?
Some people will book their hotel for next year when they leave here if they can. And then some people will be trying to find tickets on Monday when they know that their teams are getting here. So it just depends. It’s hard to get a hotel at this point, I know, so people get pretty creative. We also have the World Cup going on in Kansas City and there’s, like, games, but they say that there’s a lot of time in between, so they feel like there may be some visitors even just for a day, because they’re looking for something to do, and we’re not far up the road. So we’ll see.
What surprises do you think first-time visitors might notice when they come to Omaha?
I think that they’ll be surprised by how vibrant the community is and how there are so many things to do and just the ease of getting from the airport to the stadium. People are surprised at how close that is, and I think they’ll be surprised by the food and entertainment options that they’ll have.
We have some really great options nearby and a little further away. too.
One of the major questions we get is brunch locations, so we’ve got a list of those.
Oh, that’s good to know. I’ve been having a hard time finding a brunch place.
Yes. Lola’s is the one downtown. But some of these folks, when they have time, they like to explore.
What neighborhoods have people been exploring?
I think Blackstone has become part of that, because it’s not terribly far from here. So that’s one neighborhood that we point people to, and Benson, Midtown area, Dundee. It’s not terribly far, but it’s kind of a different vibe from down here.
What advice would you give someone who is attending for the first time?
I would say our website is a really good resource: CWSOmaha.com. We have all the ticket information, all the information on the ways that you can get tickets, transfer them, and sell them now that they’re mobile. We also have city information. I think something interesting this year is that we’ve been working with the city on a GIS system. We’ll have a map on our site that will be kind of real time that we’ll be able to update, like with Park Omaha parking lots we’ll provide updates on which ones have spots available. What’s important is that while a lot of construction will stop, for the Series, some of the streetcar stuff has to remain, so just learning how to navigate around that, we have that information available on the website. We’ll communicate that through our social channels, and MECA will, and I know the police department will describe the best ways to get in and out of downtown. Obviously with large events you have to be bring your patience regardless of the street conditions, so plan way ahead. So that’s the resource for most questions you might have, and we also have a live chat feature on there that if you can’t find the answer to a question, then it uses some AI, and if that doesn’t help you, it will escalate to a live person.
For families who will be visiting Omaha for the first time, what types of places would you recommend or make sure they experience between games?
Omaha Baseball Village is a really good spot. Our Fan Fest is great. There’s a lot of fun, it’s interactive, and it’s free. You don’t even have to have a ticket. There are fun, interactive things in Fan Fest, like wiffle ball, the Ferris Wheel, the batting cages. Omaha Baseball Village has a ton of vendors. You can buy gloves, bats, sunglasses, all that stuff. But outside of downtown, obviously the zoo. The Kiewit Luminarium is right behind CHI. So if you’re looking for other things to do, there’s a ton of stuff that we’ll promote through Visit Omaha on our website. There’s even like Fontenelle Forest. There are just a ton of things to see if you want to explore.
We covered a little bit of this, but what’s new this year? Is there anything else to add?
There will be some new things in Fan Fest. The drone shows are new, and the video boards.
What do you think makes Omaha a successful host city?
Everybody who gets involved is helping us to be successful. There’s a lot of pride in it. And then, just the way that the community makes sure that everything’s fun and safe. People just keep coming back for that.
I know there’s such a love for the College World Series here.
Yeah.
I’ve lived other places, and I’ve just not noticed that kind of love anywhere else, so that’s really nice. What would you like visitors to remember when they’re leaving Omaha?
Hopefully that they had a good experience and that they can tell everyone back home about that we’re not just a cornfield.
We get that a lot.
Yeah, yeah.
Or people are like, “Nebraska, where’s that?”
Yes.
How important do you think it is for the College World Series to serve as sort of an introduction for others to Omaha and Nebraska?
Well, we take a lot of pride in that, and we hope that we can be a piece of what makes Omaha attractive. So even if it’s for a visitor or if it’s for someone that may want to come live or work here—there’s always the conversation about brain drain and young people leaving—and so we feel like we could be a really good selling point for making this a fun place to live and work and visit.
And I’ve noticed around the ballpark so much economic activity and new businesses over the years.
Yes! So when they moved from Rosenblatt, the thought of this downtown ballpark was obviously twofold. Like, we needed a really nice facility to host this, but also their vision was that it would help revitalize the north downtown, and it’s been so cool to see how this has transformed. And not even just the north downtown, but our park systems with the riverfront and Gene Leahy Mall opening within the last few years. So, from when this went in to now has been super fun to see.
I’ve noticed these ripples economically.
Yes.
They’re really interesting, including, of course, Millwork Commons.
Yes, which is so great over there. It’s just very lively, and you go in near the Ashton (?) and you’re just trying to get a coffee and they are always having some sort of activity.
I did an interview there with Archetype Coffee.
Oh, yeah.
It’s amazing, the awards he’s won.
Yeah, yeah. We have a lot. That’s another thing.
People don’t even realize that we have all throughout, sprinkled through Omaha, in the different areas, award winners.
Oh, yeah, great coffee.
International.
Yeah, sushi. That’s what I tell people. They’re like, “Sushi in Nebraska?” I was, like, “He’s a James Beard finalist at Yoshitomo.”
Where?
Yoshitomo in Benson, and then he also has Koji, which is at Countryside Village. But his sushi is award-winning, and people are like, “What?”
I didn’t know that. I’m gonna have to try that.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Are there any questions you would have liked me to ask that I didn’t ask?
No, I think we covered it. I think it’s gonna be a really fun year to see. There’s four teams that have never been to Omaha before, and they’re in the same side of the bracket, so they will come here and play each other. So for someone it’ll be their first time here and their first win here. So in the state of college athletics and NIL and all that stuff to see to get new people here. You know, schools that maybe don’t have the big brand. That’s pretty fun. And Omaha does a great job of embracing a Cinderella.
I know a lot of people here will be fans of any particular team.
Yeah, and then obviously we still have the schools from Mississippi. There’s three teams from Alabama. So the Southeast represents well, they travel well, so we’re excited with whoever we get.
Thank you.
Yeah.
And then I want to verify, next Wednesday, 11 at the ballpark.
Yes. So just right across the street, that door, the club.
Where it has been.
Yep.
I think it got moved once one year somewhere.
Yeah. We used to do it on the concourse, and then we moved it inside because it was either too hot, raining, so…
It was really hard to take pictures there, too.
Yeah. And I will say that, so, um, Adam Straight is the new president of MECA. With Roger, his communications people were really the only ones that the media could talk to, but next Wednesday, Adam’s opening it up. Dan Blank, who’s the head grounds crew guy, is gonna be there, where people have always asked questions about the field, so to hear from him is gonna be cool. And then Chef Katie obviously will be there with the food. Some new, a chance for media to get some new aspects of it.
Oh, thank you very much.
Yeah.
I appreciate it.
College World Series of Omaha, Inc.
808 N 13th St.
Omaha, NE 68102
(402) 554-4422
https://cwsomaha.com
