Category: Omaha stories

College World Series Omaha Guide

The College World Series transforms Omaha into one of the most exciting sports destinations in the country each summer. Fans from across the United States and the world travel to Omaha for championship baseball, restaurants, nightlife, entertainment districts, arts venues, breweries, and local attractions throughout the city.

Whether you are visiting Omaha for the first time or returning for another year of the tournament, this guide will help you explore Omaha during the College World Series.

ABOUT THE COLLEGE WORLD SERIES IN OMAHA

The College World Series is one of the most recognized traditions in college baseball and one of the largest annual sporting events in Nebraska. Each summer, fans from across the country and the world travel to Omaha to watch the final teams compete for the national championship.

Omaha has hosted the College World Series since 1950 after local civic leaders worked to bring the tournament to the city. Over the decades, the event became deeply connected to Omaha’s identity and helped establish a national association between the city and college baseball.

Volunteer organizations, local businesses, civic leaders, and generations of fans helped shape the College World Series into one of Omaha’s most recognized annual traditions.

The tournament continues to draw visitors from across the country and world while helping shape Omaha’s national reputation as both a sports and tourism destination.

Games begin 12 June and the official schedule when available will be located here:
https://cwsomaha.com/sports/baseball/schedule/2025-26

QUICK NAVIGATION

About the College World Series in Omaha
About Charles Schwab Field Omaha
Old Market
Blackstone District
Midtown / Central Omaha
Aksarben Village
Capitol District
Millwork Commons
NoDo / North Downtown
Things To Do Between Games
Places To Watch Games
Classic Omaha Food Experiences
Breweries & Nightlife
From Our Interviews

ABOUT CHARLES SCHWAB FIELD OMAHA


Games are played at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in downtown Omaha near restaurants, nightlife, entertainment districts, and RiverFront attractions.

The stadium sits near several visitor areas including:
• Old Market
• Capitol District
• NoDo / North Downtown
• Millwork Commons
• RiverFront parks

The downtown location allows many visitors to explore restaurants, bars, attractions, arts venues, and entertainment districts before and after games.

OLD MARKET


The Old Market is one of Omaha’s most recognized visitor districts and becomes especially active during the College World Series.

Block 16
1611 Farnam St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://block16omaha.com

Spaghetti Works
502 S 11th St
Omaha, NE 68102
402-422-0770
https://www.spagworks.com/spaghettiomaha

Upstream Brewing Company
514 S 11th St
Omaha, NE 68102
402-344-0200
https://upstreambrewing.com

Brickway Brewery & Distillery
1116 Jackson St
Omaha, NE 68102
402-933-2613
https://brickwaybrewery.com

Clio
1001 Farnam St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://www.clioomaha.com

BLACKSTONE DISTRICT

Blackstone has become one of Omaha’s busiest dining and nightlife districts.

Crescent Moon
3578 Farnam St
Omaha, NE 68131
402-345-1708
https://crescentmoon.com

The Berry & Rye
3355 Farnam St
Omaha, NE 68131
https://berryandrye.com

Mula
3932 Farnam St
Omaha, NE 68131
402-934-8734
https://mulamexican.com

Coneflower Creamery
3921 Farnam St
Omaha, NE 68131
https://www.coneflowercreamery.com

Archetype Coffee
3926 Farnam St
Omaha, NE 68131
https://archetype.coffee

MIDTOWN / CENTRAL OMAHA

Midtown Omaha includes restaurants, coffee shops, international cuisine, and locally owned businesses located between downtown Omaha and west-central neighborhoods.

Lalibela Ethiopian Restaurant
4422 Cass St
Omaha, NE 68131
402-991-5662
https://www.lalibelaomaha.com

Lucy Ethiopian Coffee
421 N Saddle Creek Rd
Omaha, NE 68131
402-916-9427
https://www.facebook.com/lucyethcoffee/

AKSARBEN VILLAGE

Backlot Taphouse
2110 S 67th St Ste 108
Omaha, NE 68106
402-502-1917
https://backlottaphouse.com

Inner Rail Food Hall
1911 S 67th St
Omaha, NE 68106
https://theinnerrail.com

Grand Patisserie
2283 S 67th St
Omaha, NE 68106
https://www.facebook.com/Omahagrandpatisserie/
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-interview-zied-allam-rafika-oudelha-grand-patisserie-an-omaha-french-bakery/

Blue & Fly Asian Kitchen
721 S 72nd St., Omaha, NE 68114
(402) 504-6545
https://www.blueflyasiankitchen.com
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-interview-joe-kang-and-yi-san-owners-blue-and-fly-restaurant

CAPITOL DISTRICT

Let It Fly Sports Bar
1080 Capitol Ave
Omaha, NE 68102
https://letitflysportsbar.com/omaha

Texas de Brazil
1110 Capitol Ave
Omaha, NE 68102
402-783-1122
https://texasdebrazil.com/locations/omaha/

The Exchange
1101 Davenport St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://theexchangeomaha.com

MILLWORK COMMONS

Archetype Coffee
1229 Millwork Ave Suite 101
Omaha, NE 68102
https://drinkarchetype.com/pages/drop-by-say-hello
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-interview-isaiah-sheese-of-archetype-coffee/

Coneflower Creamery
1229 Millwork Ave
Omaha, NE 68102
https://www.coneflowercreamery.com
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-interview-brian-langbehn-and-katie-arant-chapman-of-coneflower-creamery-part-one/

Hot Shops Art Center
1301 Nicholas St
Omaha, NE 68102
402-342-6452
https://hotshopsartcenter.org

NODO / NORTH DOWNTOWN

Slowdown
729 N 14th St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://theslowdown.com

Steelhouse Omaha
1100 Dodge St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://steelhouseomaha.com

CHI Health Center Omaha
455 N 10th St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://chihealthcenteromaha.com

Blatt Beer & Table
610 N 12th St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://www.blattbeer.com

THINGS TO DO BETWEEN GAMES

Family Attractions

Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium
3701 S 10th St
Omaha, NE 68107
402-733-8401
https://www.omahazoo.com

Luminarium
345 Riverfront Dr
Omaha, NE 68102
https://luminarium.org
Omaha Children’s Museum
500 S 20th St
Omaha, NE 68102
402-342-6164
https://ocm.org

Lauritzen Gardens
100 Bancroft St
Omaha, NE 68108
402-346-4002
https://lauritzengardens.org
Arts & Culture

Joslyn Art Museum
2200 Dodge St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://joslyn.org

KANEKO
1111 Jones St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://thekaneko.org

Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts
724 S 12th St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://bemiscenter.org

The Durham Museum
801 S 10th St
Omaha, NE 68108
https://durhammuseum.org

Film Streams
1340 Mike Fahey St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://filmstreams.org

PLACES TO WATCH GAMES

This is just a few of the places to watch the games.

Blatt Beer & Table
610 N 12th St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://www.blattbeer.com

Let It Fly Sports Bar
1080 Capitol Ave
Omaha, NE 68102
https://letitflysportsbar.com/omaha

Crescent Moon
3578 Farnam St
Omaha, NE 68131
402-345-1708
https://crescentmoon.com

CLASSIC OMAHA FOOD EXPERIENCES

Johnny’s Cafe
4702 S 27th St
Omaha, NE 68107
402-731-4774
https://johnnyscafe.com
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-interview-kari-kawa-harding-of-johnnys-cafe/

BREWERIES & NIGHTLIFE

Benson Brewery
6059 Maple St
Omaha, NE 68104
402-934-2928
https://bensonbrewery.com

Vis Major Brewing Co.
3501 Center St
Omaha, NE 68105
https://vismajorbrewing.com

Mercury
329 S 16th St
Omaha, NE 68102
https://www.mercuryloungeomaha.com

FROM OUR INTERVIEWS

“There are no bad days in Omaha.”
— Anthony Holman

“The College World Series is just growing in national profile.”
— Amy Hornocker

“The College World Series is something that I think Omahans love and can’t wait for every year.”
— Mayor Jean Stothert

“You will fall in love with Omaha.”
— Mayor John Ewing Jr.

The College World Series offers visitors the opportunity to experience not only championship baseball, but also Omaha’s neighborhoods, restaurants, nightlife, attractions, arts venues, museums, breweries, and local culture.This guide will continue expanding with updated recommendations, interviews, local coverage, and Omaha visitor resources leading into the 2026 tournament.

Please visit back and learn more about Omaha and the fun things to do here!

Did we miss something you enjoyed? Email us at info@omahanebraska.com and let us know!

Omaha Interview: Sam Laughlin, Executive Chef at Noddle Hospitality (on Sammy’s and Tiny’s at Aksarben’s Inner Rail)

Sam Laughlin at Sammy’s with menu in background

OmahaNebraska.com Interview with Executive Chef Sam Laughlin at Noddle Hospitality

OmahanNebraska.com here with…

Sam Laughlin.

Tell me a little bit about your restaurant.

So, Sammy’s here. We’re not an all-natural but a very little preservative sandwich shop. We like to use healthy ingredients sliced to order for our sandwiches, as in our meats and our cheeses. We like to use local ingredients where we can. So, like our lettuces and our tomatoes, when we can use them, we do try to use them. We like to use local brands like Rotella’s as our bread supplier. Any of our chips and things like that, we like to use a lot of gluten-free options and just different items to kind of make the whole community welcome, including people with food allergies or dietary restrictions and also while making a little bit of a healthier option in the [Inner Rail] Food Hall as well.

They were talking to me about your lunch meats.

Our ham and our turkey as of now have no preservatives in it. They are strictly ham and they’re strictly turkey.

That’s impressive.

There’s no meat glues or anything that binds the meat together. So that’s why sometimes when you see us slicing, they tear a little bit more easily because it doesn’t have those preservatives and those glues and such to hold things together.

I didn’t know there was a meat glue.

Yeah. So back in my culinary days, we used to use a gastronomy technique that you could fuse two pieces of meat together to make a certain shape or to make a certain design for those meats as well.

Tell me a little bit about what you did before this and then how and why you started the restaurant.

So, before this I was a cook at multiple places around town: Via Farina, Jackson Street Tavern, Stirnella when that was opened… Au Courant… and that’s kind of where I finished my big extensive culinary journey. Like, learning around town was Au Courant, and then I went out west and helped open up Lost Rail Golf Club as well, that golf course. Helped start their food program working with another chef, eventually taking that over and running it myself. And then now coming back down here. I just kind of wanted the change of pace. Being in the restaurant was fun, and I want to get back into it for sure, because I wanted to change it up and kind of start something a little bit fresh. We also owned Tiny’s over there. That used to be my nickname around town as well.

Oh, so you’re also Tiny’s?

Tiny’s Pizzeria or Tiny’s Pizza Joint, and just kind of been a local around town and kind of earned my nickname Tiny from being made the chef at Au Courant and kind of just wanted to start up the sandwich shop that we felt would benefit Omaha. You know something a little bit more fresh, a little bit more clean, and something that comes from Omaha.

What are some of your favorites? You would have two hats here—restaurants. Tell me what your favorites are here and tell me about your favorites at Tiny’s.

Okay, so my favorites here are—I would say the number one, the Godfather. It’s like our version of the Italian club or Italian sandwich. And then I would say our The Mark, which is our #10, which is basically a Cubano sandwich or a Cuban sandwich. And then I would say for sure the Tuna Crunch. The Tuna Crunch is special because we make our own tuna salad in-house. But we also do a nice, healthy serving of crushed potato chips on the top to then add the crunch to the tuna. And then for Tiny’s I would say the Hot Girl for sure is one of my favorites. And then the Margherita Pizza as well.

I don’t remember which pizza I had. I’m going to have to look at the list, but it was fantastic.

Yeah. I appreciate that. Thank you. The same thing was over here. We’re trying to make the healthier option… the same thing we’re trying to do at Tiny’s as well. We understand that it’s pizza and there’s cheesy deliciousness going on, but like our dough is 100% sourdough so it’s a little bit healthier on your stomach. It’s not too heavy on your stomach. Our ingredients, we use Grandé  cheese, which is again a no-preservative cheese that we like. There’s no caking agents or anything like that in the cheese that we use, but we also like to use local ingredients over there like our mushrooms from Flavor Country Farms. We love them. They serve us with some beautiful mushrooms for our Fun Guy pizza and then also…

That’s what I had.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, that’s a really good one. That’s one of my personal favorites. But the same with the Hot Girl [pizza] and the honey. The honey we use is from a local farm called Miller Dohrman Farms. We get the honey delivered to us by them as well. Beautiful, beautiful farm, and it’s a sense of community that I like to bring to the restaurants that I worked in and that I have worked in the past. It was beautiful seeing the community come together, all the farmers and all the different people that it takes to make a restaurant great.

That is beautiful.

Thanks. I appreciate that,

Why did you pick this area and Inner Rail?

Because Aksarben is growing, it’s beautiful. It’s becoming a community more and more every day, and I can see it. I’ve seen what Noddle Hospitality have done with the… at the Inner Rail, Sonny’s, all of Zone 6, like, it’s been a beautiful journey being a part of their team and being along with them and them helping me grow and do the things that I want to do in this community as well.

Sammy’s Sub Shop
Inner Rail Food Hall
1911 S 67th St.
Omaha, NE 68106-2965
https://www.innerrailfoodhall.com/restaurants/sammys-sub-shop

New Omaha Hotel: The Farnam-A Collection of Images of Our New Autograph Collection Hotel

Enjoy our collection below from the new Autograph Collection Hotel, The Farnam, and our story links!

OmahaNebraska.com’s News, Stories and Interviews for Our Ongoing Series on The Farnam:

OmahaNebraska.com’s Photograph Collection/Gallery for The Farnam:

Please return to this Omaha blog for more stories and interviews of The Farnam and other businesses and events. Please share.

Reminder: All photographs are property of OmahaNebraska.com and Little Mountain Web Design. Please email us for permission and details for use at info@omahanebraska.com. Thank you.

The Farnam
1299 Farnam
Omaha, NE 68102