The College Word Series Pre-Game Press Conference was held this morning at the
In attendance were:
Jim Pillen, Governor, State of Nebraska
John Ewing, Mayor, City of Omaha
John “Jack” Diesing Jr., Chairman and President of College World Series of Omaha, Inc.
Anthony Holman, NCAA Vice President of Championships
Roger Dixon, President and CEO of MECA
The format this year was different with each speaker taking a turn to speak and then receive questions from the press.
Here is the transcript:
2025 College World Series Pregame Press Conference
JOEY = Joey Gardner, Marketing and Creative Manager at College World Series of Omaha, Inc.
GOV = Jim Pillen, Governor of Nebraska
MAYOR = Mayor John Ewing, Jr., Mayor of Omaha
JACK = Jack Diesing, Jr., College World Series of Omaha
ROGER = Roger Dixon, MECA
ANTHONY = Anthony Holman, NCAA
FATHER = Father Hendrickson (Rev. Daniel S. Henderson), president of Creighton University
MT: Michel Thornhill, OmahaNebraska.com
MP: Mike Patterson, Omaha World Herald
Transcript
JOEY: Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. I’d like to welcome our distinguished guests. We have Governor Jim Pillen, Mayor John Ewing, Jack Diesing Jr. from the College World Series of Omaha, Roger Dixon from MECA, Anthony Holman from the NCAA, and Father Hendrickson from Creighton University. I would like to start by welcoming up Governor Pillen for some remarks and questions.
GOV: Well, good morning, everybody. I think the most important thing to say is “Welcome to Omaha,” and “Welcome to Nebraska.” As I was meeting some young ladies who are working with the College World Series, I said, “Do you know what’s going to happen to you in the next two weeks?” And they said, “We’re not sure.” I said, “You are falling in love with the people in Nebraska, and you’re going to stay here. You’re not going to go back home. So you’ll be welcome.” You know, let me say, on a very, very serious note, this is an extraordinary celebration. Seeing people here like Jack that have been working their whole lifetimes for the College World Series, in the 75th year. And from my viewpoint, as I said earlier, you know, I’m fighting this aging stuff. I’m working out and lifting weights and doing all this stuff because I want to be here 25 years from now when we hit 100 years and have an incredible celebration. And maybe lastly, I think the thing that’s so extraordinary that we in Nebraska gotta brag about a lot… Just think about it: Any little boy in the United States of America that grows up swinging a bat… his dream isn’t talking about Major League Baseball. The dream is Omaha: “How do I get to Omaha?” And every kid that’s playing college baseball…my guess would be if I was a coach, I’d be breaking… from the time we start to the end of every day: “Omaha, Omaha, Omaha.” It’s really, really a big deal, and we’re incredibly proud of all the work that everybody’s doing. It’s gigantic for Omaha, it’s gigantic for the State of Nebraska, and it’s extraordinary for the youth across the country that we have an event that is unrivaled to anything any of these kids are gonna experience in the coming weeks, to compete and play here. And then think about Murray State. Holy cow, I can’t wait to meet the coach of Murray State because he cuts the grass on his field. And I’m gonna get him over, and we’re going to cut the grass in the county. By the way, I love to cut grass. Any questions? I’m happy to take…
JOEY: Governor, can you start by talking about the economic impact in the state of Nebraska and what it means?
GOV: Well, the economic impact’s gigantic. What’s really incredible is people that come here, right? I have friends in a number of states, and they say, “You know, once we came, we got hooked.” So people come here more than we even know besides the World Series. The hotels are filled up, and it ends up being millions and millions of dollars, several hundred million dollars of economic activity. But it’s even far greater than that, because there’s lots of people that come here whether their team makes it or not, and then they find out how extraordinary this city is. Think about this city. We are the safest place of any city over 500,000 people in the United States of America. And we have the best people. Who doesn’t want to come here? We have people coming here all the time, so it’s kind of immeasurable.
JOEY: Now we can open it up for questions.
PRESS: Will you come cut my grass? Just asking.
GOV: I wish. I tell this talk all the time. When we’re young people… and if we all ask ourselves who are the three most important people in our life, 100% of the time—I’ll bet the farm on it—one of the three is a teacher or acoach. So I’ll come and coach you how to cut your grass. I wish I’d been a coach. I’ll coach you how to cut your grass.
JOEY: Any other questions for the governor?
PRESS: Governor Pillen, I know we’re here for the CWS, but I also feel like you can’t ignore what happened yesterday. Would you be able to comment on what the state controlled involvement is in what happened yesterday in Omaha?
GOV: We’re here to celebrate the College World Series, so I think we ought to keep it focused on that. I’ll be happy to talk to you offline. Anything else? Yes, dear.
MT: Michel Thornhill with OmahaNebraska.com. What’s your favorite baseball or sport or team memory?
GOV: I didn’t get the chance to play baseball when I was a kid in Platte Center in the summer. A couple little times, but I didn’t really get to play baseball, so I got extraordinary team memories from my high school days. And then I had the privilege to play for Coach Osborne, and a cool memory. Because when I was a kid growing up, we would play Alabama and there was this guy named Bear Bryant. And I’ll never forget…in my junior year we’re playing Alabama in Lincoln and before the game we’re going through calisthenics and doing stuff and I look over and the Bear is leaning against the uprights, leaning against the pole with his fedora hat on, smoking a cigarette. And I’m saying, “Holy cow, I’m playing against the Bear today.” It’s something I’ll never forget. It was really cool.
MT: Thank you.
JOEY: All right. Thank you, governor. So, next up will be Mayor John Ewing.
MAYOR: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Omaha. And as the governor said, you will fall in love with Omaha, and you will want to stay. If you would like to know more information about staying in Omaha, I have some cards that I can share. But this is the road to Omaha, the greatest show on dirt, and we’re always excited about being able to celebrate the College World Series here in Omaha 75 years… and I know the governor talked about 25 more years, but what I’ve been talking about is laying the foundation so we can be here another 75 years. This is where the College World Series belongs. We’re excited that you’re here. We’re excited for the eight teams that will be here, and this will be an amazing two weeks of baseball and also great activities for the people that come to Omaha and get to experience Omaha. So thank you all for being here.
JOEY: Mayor Ewing, can you start by talking about the economic impact on the city of Omaha and what it means?
MAYOR: Absolutely. We know last year just from the College World Series—and we can’t talk about second visits or anything like that because we don’t know—but we know this was $115 million of economic impact, 75,000 hotel rooms filled, and $3.5 million of sales tax revenue. And as a former county treasurer, I pay attention to things like that, because that tells us how well we’re doing as a city when it comes to bringing people here and sharing the good life with you.
JOEY: Any questions for Mayor Ewing?
PRESS: Mayor?
MAYOR: Yes.
MP: Mike Patterson, World Herald. Do you love baseball? Have you gone to the College World Series very often in the past?
MAYOR: I’ve come to the College World Series almost every year since I was a 21-year-old rookie police officer, and so I’d usually come down two or three times a year. This year I’ll probably be down every day, but I get this new, exciting opportunity to be the ambassador for the city of Omaha, and I am absolutely thrilled.
PRESS: You mentioned, Mayor Ewing, that you wanted this to stay here over the next 75 years. I know it’s a little early in your tenure. What plans do you kind of have in place to ensure that that happens and that contract does get renewed in 2026?
MAYOR: Sure. Well, one of the things I think we have to do is we have to be great hosts as I said. We have to build the right partnerships and continue those partnerships with the College World Series, with Creighton University, with the NCAA and other people who come here to this city, just letting them experience the greatness of this opportunity and the greatness of this event.
JOEY: Yes.
MT: I enjoy learning about economic development and how things change over time. With the College World Series right here and Hot Shops spurring a lot of growth in the area, what other types of things do you see are going forward? And I also know that’s a little early.
MAYOR: Well, one of the things I want to see is more venues for people when they come to Omaha to be able to enjoy it, but also for the people of this community…as well as looking at expanding, as I’ve talked about quite a bit, the urban core further north and south to increase opportunities for businesses there, shopping, retail, those type of things so that people can have a fuller experience when they’re here in Omaha.
MT: Thank you.
JOEY: Any other questions for Mayor Ewing? All right. Thank you, Mayor.
MAYOR: Thank you.
JACK: Well, good morning, everybody. Welcome to the diamond anniversary of the College World Series being hosted here in Omaha, Nebraska. We were just at an investment being made by Creighton University and others in some new baseball facilities, and it’s a testament to what this event has meant and continues to mean and all of its participants in this community and of course, institutions to the success of this event. I’ll just say that Anthony Holman mentioned this morning something that was great. He called this a jewel. So it’s definitely a jewel to be here. It’s nice to be part of it. We’ve had such a great partnership with the NCAA and various individuals who’ve been responsible, working with us to make this event the best it could possibly be for the kids who get to play this game and for the fans. We all seem to be rowing the boat in the same direction, which is a very important thing to be doing for the future. And it was alluded to this morning…it’s been talked about…we all want to have this here for another 25, if not 75 years. But think about it: 75 years ago nobody wanted to host the College World Series. Now everybody…it’s on national TV, and we…together with the NCAA and our partners here in Omaha, we’ve made this a bucket list item for fans. And as people have alluded to, they talk about the road to Omaha; they talk about getting to Omaha. One of my favorite phrases is from Mike Martin, who unfortunately passed away within the last year or so…a famous coach at Florida State…the last time his team qualified here, he said, “My favorite four words are ‘See you in Omaha’.” So there you go. Thanks, all, for being here.
JOEY: Jack, you and your father are the fifth and sixth recipients of the All Star Award. With this being 75 years, can you talk about the legacy of your father as well as the foundation you’ve helped lay for this event?
JACK: Well, it’s really an honor—I’m humbled, and I know my father would be, too—being recognized in the same breath as people like Rod Dedeaux and Skip Bertman and Augie Garrido and Dennis Poppe who is on that plaque also. So what it means is you’ve done something right and you’re working with our partners at the NCAA and the American Baseball Coaches Association. And we’ve formed good partnerships, we’ve listened to them, we’ve shown them that we care. We’ve pulled together, collaborated with partnerships and their relationships here in Omaha that’s made this all work. There’s no “I” in “team,” so one or two people can get recognition, but there’s usually a lot of people behind them that deserve the credit. And I guess I would say that in summary, to me, what it mostly means to me is we’ve been successful in forming collaborative relationships and partnerships in Omaha with the city, MECA, the business community, Creighton, and another host institution, the University of Nebraska at Omaha to pull everybody together so that we can realize how important this is Omaha. And then secondly, we’ve been fortunate enough to work closely with the NCAA to develop a level of trust between the two organizations. And nobody has an ulterior motive. Our motive is basically to do what’s in the best interest of college baseball. So it’s a great honor, and we’re very humbled.
JOEY: Any questions for Jack?
JOEY: Next up is Roger Dixon from MECA.
ROGER: Well, it’s always an honor for MECA to host this great event, working with the NCAA, CWS Inc, the City, and all the people that make this happen. We couldn’t do it without a great team, the MECA employees, and the support from the community. And also the support of our board—Diane Durren is with us here today. So let’s play ball.
JOEY: Can you talk about the importance of this facility and how long… having hosted it for a number of years, what it means to have this come back to your facility each and every year?
ROGER: Well, this facility was built for this event, and—most people don’t realize it—so it generates enough to pay it off, so it’s never been a drag on the taxpayers by any sense. It’s also been a great venue for this community to showcase Creighton baseball, Big Ten baseball. And we’re too big for some things, we’re too small for others, but we make it work with the help of the community. We like to keep our facilities as if they look brand new, whether it be CHI Health Center, Charles Schwab Field, or the RiverFront, and we do that by whatever we make at these facilities we pour back into these facilities. I will say one thing: there will be a change next year. Next year you will see a video scoreboard in the left field.
JOEY: Any questions for Roger?
[None]
ROGER: Easy.
JOEY: Finally, we have Anthony Holman from the NCAA.
ANTHONY: Well, it’s a tough act to follow, but I am excited to be here for our 75th anniversary of the College World Series being in Omaha. We’re excited to be back here, obviously. Roger just said something that’s really important. Oftentimes in my role with the association, I oversee site selections and bids and our business strategy for hosting of other championships in other locales and venues and things like that. And oftentimes we’ll hear from cities or things that say, “Hey, we want to be the Omaha of this sport” or “We want to be the Omaha of that thing.” Right? They coined that together to say that when people think about baseball they think about Omaha, right? For other folks, this has become the blueprint of a long-term partnership. And what I share with them is they’re not just the hosts, right? These are true partnerships that we have in Omaha. This is a marriage, right, that we have to nurture, we have to water. It doesn’t just happen overnight, and that comes from commitment from the city, from the state, from the leadership of MECA, the leadership of CWS Inc, and all of the community partners that were so influential in both bringing the championship here and then keeping it here. So with that kind of spirit and that kind of partnership and collaboration, I expect that not only will it be, I think it won’t be 25 years. I think we’re safe to say 75 years and beyond. I think the foundation has been laid for us to have to have that going forward. So we really appreciate you all coming out and supporting the championship, not only today for the announcements, but also throughout the next two weeks of baseball. So I’ll take a couple questions.
PRESS: I was going to ask you about the partnership. There’s a rumor that the CWS is gonna move or somebody’s gonna…
ANTHONY: I love it. Competition is excellent, right? It’s a good thing. It’s a great thing, but it’s the champ, right? Think about a price point. Nobody’s even been able to get the ring. So I think it’d be hard pressed for another city to make this type of commitment: to build a facility. Right? We’re the primary tenants. I’ve got an office here, right? So that’s a pretty cool thing. The College World Series is our second-highest grossing in terms of revenue and attendance of all our championships. And that doesn’t happen without it being in Omaha, so we’re really appreciative of that.
JOEY: Any other questions for any of them?
[None]
ANTHONY: You guys just want to eat. All right, no problem. Thank you.
JOEY: And finally, before doing that, Father Henderson from Creighton University. If anybody has any questions for Father…
FATHER: You’ve said it and the governor and others made reference to it, that Creighton’s been a host for 75 years of the College World Series. Here in Omaha, the partnership with CWS has been terrific. It’s an exciting year, because as we step into a new chapter, another 25 or 75 and another life of CWS… UNO is also a host institution with us. Doctor Lee and I were here in this room at the press conference with Jack and others and the governor and the mayor. We’re excited to share those responsibilities and privileges of working with CWS. So, thank you to Doctor Lee and to the University of Nebraska at Omaha and to my team at Creighton and Marcus Blossom and his leadership as we continue to move forward in this great event. Happy to take any questions. (Silence) That’s the way I like it.
JOEY: Thank you all for coming today. We have the media tasting, which is behind us here. If you also would like to meet with the individuals for individual comments, please let us know. Thank you all.
