The 2026 College World Series is underway in Omaha, bringing together fans, teams, traditions, and unique experiences from across the city. To help visitors, fans, and local residents make the most of the tournament, we’ve published interviews, event coverage, food features, and a visitor guide.
Whether you’re attending games, visiting Omaha for the first time, or following the tournament from home, we hope this collection of articles helps you learn more about the 2026 College World Series and the people, places, and experiences that surround it.
OmahaNebraska.com’s Interview with Katie Cochran, Executive Chef for Levy Restaurants
Katie Cochran with background of scoreboards and stadium seating at Charles Schwab Field Park
OmahaNebraska.com here with…
Katie Cochran
That’s quite an amazing number and a variety of ideas you have.
Yeah.
I know your team starts on it [CWS menu offerings] right away because we’ve talked about it before, but what is a brainstorming session like?
It takes all of us. It’s great because we have seven chefs, so all of us kind of come up with little things. We look for trends. I think the tortellini was just kind of a toss in the hat. To be very honest, we started with tortilla chips and we’re like, “I don’t like that.” I didn’t like the marinara on the tortilla chips, and I sat there and I was like, “What if we fry cheese tortellinis?” and everyone was like, “Oh my God, let’s try it.” So we kind of feed off of each other too. We try out a lot of things and alter a lot of these recipes as we’re trying it. Everybody helps. It’s not just culinary too, because all of our front of the house and concessions people come to the tastings. They give us feedback, they let us know what they think, too. So we’re not just getting chefs’ opinions; we’re getting our whole team’s opinions.
In order, how much notice did you get on Omaha Steaks?
None, to be very honest. Ironically, I was at the ballpark and we were in the middle of a tasting with Adam. My Omaha Steaks rep was calling me, but I was in the middle of a conversation, so I did not pick up the phone. After that tasting was done, I talked with my director of operations and he asked me if I had talked with my rep, and I said, “Oh, I missed her call.” He then told me that she was let go on that day, and we received our last order the day prior. So we got zero notice, when we’d used them for… I’m pretty sure since the building was open.
So having to pivot suddenly and all of that, what was your thought process, and how did that work? Because this kind of thing happens to everybody in every kind of business.
Oh, 100%. I grew up in this industry, so the first thing I did was call my brother, who is a center-of-the-plate buyer for Cisco in the East Coast. And I was like, “What do I do? Who can I call?” And he kind of just walked some things through with me, and he kind of calmed me down a little bit. And then we just really started talking to US Foods, who our current rep is. I had a lot of brokers come and talk to me, which obviously are Smash Burgers, that’s how we got that in. Different brokers come and try to sell me their product. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t, right? But this was amazing, like they had that Smash Burger patty, and we had just lost Omaha Steaks, and it was just perfect timing at that point, and I was like “This is meant to be.” We were supposed to move on, I feel like, and we were supposed to find something new, and that can help us move forward, and I think that’s what we did.
There are new vendors that are going to be throughout all the other products, the hot dogs and everything else.
Yes, so before Omaha Steaks did hot dogs, we had Nathan’s. So we’re back to selling Nathan’s hot dogs.
Oh, that’s nice.
Yes, it’s a great hot dog. Personally, I feel like I like Nathan’s better than I liked the Omaha Steaks’. So we’re using that now, and we’re just finding different products.
What are one of your most favorite or couple of things this time around?
This time around… I love the Curve Ball. I was telling the other reporter that it was here last year. So that’s kind of the crazy thing: nobody knew about it. I didn’t want to put it out for media. I didn’t want to tell anybody unless I knew we could execute it as a team. And they did. They sold over 1,000 last year. Surprisingly, we really didn’t feel like we were going to sell that. But bringing that burger into the stands , it was a huge thing. There has never been a cheeseburger upstairs in the seats, so that was huge: bringing something that they’ve never been able to order in those seats. I think that’s why it sold really well last year. But it’s like a juicy lucy. It’s a beautiful patty in there. It’s got two pieces of American cheese, and it just oozes out. I think I had one every year last year. So I think that’s my favorite for this year, but that ties up with tortellini. They’re so good.
But as soon as you said that, was it cheese fried? Yeah, I was like, oh, that’s got to be amazing.
Oh God, it is. And with the marinara and the crispy pepperoni and the Italian sausage, it just really brings it all together.
Is there something you want to showcase or say?
Just make sure that everybody looks at the MECA website before they come out. They have all of the new items listed in all of their locations.
Are they listed now or soon?
I think that they’re going to be listed soon. Before tomorrow they’ll be listed. They have all of their stuff today and then they’re going to input all of that.
OmahaNebraska.com’s Interview with Adam Straight, President and CEO of the Metropolitan Entertainment & Convention Authority (MECA)
Adam Straight with CWS Media Food Tasting Offerings in background at Charles Schwab Field Park
OmahaNebraska.com here with…
Adam Straight, President and CEO of MECA.
Please tell me a little bit about yourself and what brought you here. I loved hearing all the wonderful things you said about Omaha earlier.
Oh yeah, great. Well, first and foremost, I love it. My last five and a half months have been some of the best of my career. And that’s from the genuine nature of the community and their welcoming of me, an outsider of sorts, into the community. So it’s been great.
I’ve been in the business for 25 years. I started actually as an electrician at the University of Maryland, working in the shop and providing support around campus. I was asked a couple of questions one evening, and one of those was “Do you like sports?” And I said “Yes.” And the next one was “Do you like overtime?” And I said “Absolutely. I’m your guy.” So that kind of really spawned into just me supporting the athletic department throughout all of their events and all of their sports… 27 sports. I got to be able to do a number of different things to learn the business, not just being a commercial electrician, but understanding audiovisual and scoreboard maintenance and scoreboard controls and electronics and everything it takes to put on an event just like this one. So that got me into the business, and I quickly moved up the ladder.
I spent 11 years at the University of Maryland. I started as an electrician and left as the director of all their athletic facilities. That took me to an opportunity in Georgia to run the Georgia Dome, the day-to-day operations. I did that for a few years. We realized that we wanted to decommission that building and build a new stadium, so my president at the time put me in charge of that project. I was the executive in charge of Mercedes-Benz Stadium literally from day one to day zero when we opened it in three and a half years. Again, I learned so much about the business: the different sides of the business that I wasn’t familiar with, like the project management side and the financial side, the stewardship to the community side—to engage them and to understand how it affects all the stakeholders. I spent eight years in Atlanta in various other roles.
After the stadium opened, I declined the offer to run that. I knew what it took, and I wanted to start a family, and it just wasn’t the right time. So my president then put me in another broader role in charge of the entire campus. I still had oversight of the stadium but not direct day-to-day operation oversight. I did that for eight years.
I got a call one day from a recruiter about a job in New Orleans, and it kind of checked all the boxes. It was a big risk. We had just started a family, had a one-year-old, so there was another opinion in the room. Maybe they couldn’t voice their opinion yet, but still, they were another opinion. So we respectfully declined that position several times, and then one day they flew my wife and I down, and I don’t know, it must have been something in the air, and we said, “Let’s go ahead and do this.” It turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. The best decision of my life was to join the military right out of high school, and that’s what kind of put all this together and got me to Maryland. But this was probably the next best decision because it put me in a position of leadership to really prepare for what none of us knew was going to happen, and that was COVID.
I had reported to the COO in Atlanta, but then I was the COO in New Orleans. So I was able to take our organization and lead us through that pandemic effort and all of the things and all the nuances that changed daily, hourly, however you want to remember it, but it gave us a really good opportunity. And then on the development side, we had a lot of work to do in New Orleans to get back up to par level with our competitors. We saved a lot of money. The previous administration had saved a lot of money, but it was time for us to start spending that and start doing projects that made sense. So it allowed me to do that.
I oversaw basically a $2 billion capital strategy through my time in New Orleans, and that included $760 million renovations inside and some development outside. But again, at every stop, I just got to learn more and more and more. And when I got the call for this job last summer, I was literally sitting on a beach and I looked at it and said, “Omaha, Nebraska… I don’t know anything about Omaha, Nebraska.” I kind of put it down and picked it up later that night. And as I read through the job description, I knew it was fate. I gave it to my wife and said, “You got to tell me this job wasn’t written for me,” because it was college athletics again with our partnership with Creighton. It was stadium management, it was arena management, it was development, it was park management. It was all of these things that I’ve done in the last 25 years. The culmination of all, that to be able to lead such an effort, was just a no-brainer for me.
It must be so hard overseeing all of this. Are there things that were different maybe than other places? I’m sure with your background you were really ready to adapt and pivot.
Sure, yeah. I mean, as an operator, we don’t like to use the word hard. It may be a challenge sometimes, but that’s what we prepare for, right? It’s your separations and preparations is what I always like to say. It’s how you prepare for events like this. You know, this just doesn’t happen. We don’t start preparing for this yesterday. It’s an annual preparation to put on a show like this, but it’s chunks of everything that I’ve ever done that’s kind of set me up to be successful, and the team here is amazing. It’s not just me; it’s about all of us. We have a bunch of amazing people that are really dedicated to their job and dedicated to the brand and the reputation of MECA. And I’m just here to up that standard a little bit, maybe a lot bit. But again, it’s helping people understand what MECA does for not only our campus, but for the extended community.
What are you looking forward to for your first game?
Just the excitement around the event. Again, I’ve been part of multiple Super Bowls, Final Fours, college football, national championship, WrestleMania. It’s like all of these different events. Sitting back and capturing and just embracing the moment is what makes it all worth it. It’s the fan experience and the fan engagement. It’s seeing the little kids. play with their dads or their moms or whatever the case may be, but everyone really enjoying themselves. That’s what I’m built for. That’s what brought me to this hospitality profession and community. It’s just creating those compelling experiences and knowing that they’re going to last for decades.
MECA is more than a College World Series. Tell me a little bit about what you see going forward with MECA and Omaha in the area.
Yeah, absolutely. You hit it right on the head. It’s more than just two weeks in June. It’s an organization that encompasses so many things throughout the year, and it’s multiple layers of things, right? We have the arena asset, we have the convention center, we have the park, we have this facility.
And your staff at the park is amazing.
Oh, thank you. Yeah, it’s a great park. I couldn’t get my kids away from the park when we visited when they first got here, but it’s understanding how we need to program those assets to benefit the larger community, right? It’s not just about what MECA does to help MECA. It’s what MECA does to help Omaha. And that’s the importance of everything that we do: to bring people here, to have them sleep in our hotels and eat at our restaurants and drink at our pubs and just patronize everywhere they can around the city so they can go back to their communities where they’re from and tell them what a great experience Omaha was. Because nine out of 10 times, anyone I ask, have they been to Omaha, the response is, “It’s phenomenal, the best experience of my life.” You ask those that haven’t been, they just don’t know anything about it. I wouldn’t say it’s a negative reaction; it’s just not really a reaction at all. So the goal is to get more people, more eyes on it, so then that can organically grow a subset of fans, right? Raving fans that’ll come to our city just to visit. Not necessarily for an event or a convention, just to come visit for leisure.
One more question. Is there something you would have liked me to ask that I didn’t ask, or something you want to tell people?
I want people to know what MECA is and to understand our mission and our vision. It’s a newly created mission and vision. It’s not necessarily an adaptation of a mission and vision. We never really had one moving forward in written words, so my leadership team created that mission from a bunch of responses that we got from the entire team. And a lot of those adjectives that you see used in the mission and vision and the strategic goals and values, those all came from the staff by just having conversations. And you’ll see that those are very meaningful not only for what we do as an organization, but how we enhance everyone in the community. A rising tide floats all boats, right? What we’re doing here has a genuine impact and an elevated impact on what the city can be in total. If we have decided to expand the facility, that’s going to generate more business, which is going to, again, float all boats. If we decide to build a headquarter hotel in the future, that’s going to generate more opportunities to get more events of a higher scale, and again, float all boats. It’s what’s happening with the Union Omaha Stadium. It’s what’s happening with the growth of Creighton. It’s everything. This is going to turn into a thriving district. And one of the things I’ve said in the past is we have the Old Market, and everyone loves the Old Market. Why don’t we create a New Market and have this over here in northeast Omaha?
OmahaNebraska.com’s Interview withAmy Hornocker, Executive Director at College World Series of Omaha, Inc.
Amy Hornocker with statue
Amy, 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? 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 hosts. 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 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.
People don’t even realize that we have all throughout, sprinkled through Omaha, in the different areas, award winners.
Oh, yeah, great coffee.
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.
CWS Omaha, Inc., Building Exterior with Signage
College World Series of Omaha, Inc.
808 N 13th St.
Omaha, NE 68102
(402) 554-4422 https://cwsomaha.com
Katie Bassett holds the Rising Star Award from NEBRASKAland Foundation for the Riverfront
This is OmahaNebraska.com with…
Katie Bassett. I’m the Vice President of Parks for MECA.
Please tell me a little bit about what you do at MECA and then about the Riverfront and the award.
Absolutely. I help support the teams that maintain the space, secure it, activate it, and really make the Riverfront the vibrant place that it is. I also oversaw the design and construction of the Riverfront from MECA. So really, I’m a facilitator and supporter of everyone who’s worked here.
That’s quite a job.
No, it’s been fun. We’re really honored to be curators of such a destination place in Omaha and a place where everyone feels welcome and everyone feels like they can come here and find something for them here, whether that is a playground or the performance space or an event that we’re putting on.
So many wonderful things to do down here and then across the city.
Yeah, definitely, definitely.
Is there a question you would have liked me to ask that I didn’t?
I would say we’re honored to get this award here. Just being kind of that place that people recognize for the state of Nebraska, a place that visitors come here and probably didn’t know that it was here but are surprised and impressed once they get here, and it’s something that they remember for the state of Nebraska and for the city of Omaha. We’re a beautiful park space with also a highly activated park space. We’re working on our end-of-year wrap up, and our events team put on over 700 free events this year. We’re seeing millions of visitors on an annual basis. So we’re happy to activate in the heart of downtown Omaha and are honored to receive this award.
Roger Dixon announced his retirement from MECA last week after 25 years. We interviewed him on Friday.
Omaha.Nebraska.com here with…
Roger Dixon
You’ve led MECA since the beginning. What was your original vision for the organization, and how has it evolved?
I came in September of 2000. And we were at the Twin Towers [also called The Duo], which are now being converted into an apartment complex. Basically it was me and my executive assistant, and basically our first mission was to bring on some staff. I brought on a contract administrator for construction, a director of operations, and a finance person, and the process at that point was to validate the GMP, which is the gross maximum price of what this facility did working with DLR, the architect, and Kiewit, our construction management company. We went through the process, and then we got through that, and then construction started in March 1 of 2001. We kept bringing on staff. The vision was to operate this facility at the most optimum level that we could. David Sokol, the chair at the time, said he wanted the staff to be as Disney-like as possible in how we treated our customers, and fortunately in my career I had participated at Disney University in Orlando. And so I had a little background in how they did it, and it’s basically that you treat your front-of-house customers the same as you do your back-of-house customers, so it’s making sure everybody was as happy as they could be… they got what they needed and either enjoyed the event or enjoyed working here. So we just progressed through that and went through the construction aspect. We opened in September of 2003, and then it was just “Katie bar the doors” because it all started coming out so quickly.
Wow. So the successes here helped other things be attracted to it?
So this area, as everybody knows, was the Union Pacific Railroad yard. They were starting to close it down, move it over to, I think Council Bluffs is where it ended up. And to see it today and to see it back then, I tell the story and most people have heard it from me before. My first interview was in June of 2000. I landed at the airport, got in a cab, came down. Back then there was a viaduct that went…which was actually part of Abbott Drive, and it came up, and I looked to the left as I was coming into town. At that time it loaded into Dodge Street, I believe, and to the left was what was left of the smelt plant, not much… dilapidated oil tanks, the Port of Omaha, and to the right was the beginning of the shutdown for the railroad yard. And I asked the cab driver, “Where is the new arena convention center going in?” and he pointed to the right. I thought to myself, “This community has vision.” And that night I was at the DoubleTree. That’s where I spent the night, and I had all the material, and I was reading everything. One of the most fantastic thunderstorms I’ve ever seen. So a nice little welcome to Nebraska.
So there was no Convention Center, just the idea of it and blueprints?
So they had done a design, they had basically priced it out, and there were some glitches in that, and we figured it out. Found out we were… in the pricing out of it, they had forgot to put in a lot of the pilings that needed to go in, so there was a big gap in what was there. So…went back to DLR, went back to Kiewit, went back to the City, and we had to increase the price of the facility by about 20 million.
Which…it all worked out. There were some design changes. The initial renderings showed more of a spaceship-type roof on the facilities. In the pricing out of the project, that didn’t fit the budget, so that had to go. There was a walkway up on the upper level. You walked, and it went to the back end of the property, and there was kind of a room up there. It could have been an observation room, it could have been a restaurant, but it looked into the arena, looked into the exhibit hall. That didn’t work in pricing either. So we ended up with what we have now.
Wow. So you had to make a lot of changes and pivot because of the extra 20 million in one location?
Well, you design it, they price it out, and then you come back in. They call it value engineering. You start cutting things out that just doesn’t work or can’t afford to do it.
You had the previous experience. You just told me about Disney and prior roles in other cities. How did that influence your approach for Omaha?
So I’ve been in the business 49 years. Been here 25, so 24 prior to that. I started out in Louisville, KY, as an event coordinator, got promoted to assistant director of the new convention center downtown. It was open, but we hadn’t done all the furniture and equipment: F and E. I got to finish that off, so that was experience I got.
I was in Louisville for approximately 9 years and then went to Miami, FL, and that was more of a large theater, 5,000, but you could play basketball there, so we did a lot of concerts there—we would do 70, 80 concerts a year. That’s about all we did. And then they took out the retail space in that building and put in meeting rooms and exhibit space. Not a lot. So I had some experience in the construction aspect of that. Again, fitting the furniture and equipment.
Left there, went to Saint Louis. If you’re familiar with Saint Louis, you may remember what was called the Checker Dome. That’s where the Saint Louis Blues Hockey Club played. And that was just keeping up an old, old facility. Not really any… other than just maintaining a facility at the time that was probably 70, 75 years old.
Left there and went to Philadelphia and worked at the Spectrum and was there three years, and during that time they were negotiating with the city to build what is now Wells Fargo Center, which is the new facility, and had a little experience in that…not much.
Came back to Saint Louis and then helped build, then manage, what is now Enterprise Center. It was the Kiel Center back in those days. Again, that’s where the hockey team moved to. So I got a little bit more experience in the construction aspect of it and more of the F and E aspect of fitting out a new facility. I was in Saint Louis another 8 years and then came up here, been here ever since.
There was a little interplay. I went to Cincinnati for about 3 or 4 months in the summer of 2000. And that was just babysitting an old facility. Then came up here, been here ever since.
I’ve fallen in love with Nebraska and the Omaha area since I’ve been here. You must have so many favorite things and stories of your time here.
Too many that…most of them I can tell; some of them I can’t.
Well, it’s always interesting to be involved in the construction and then the opening and the management of a facility. Just the number of people that you encounter, and even on the aspect of when it was under construction, the number of people that weren’t in favor of this facility.
I’ve always found that interesting.
I’ve always said it was the vocal minority, because the vote to get this place was well over 60%. So the overall community supported it, but it’s just the vocal minority as I say, the few people that were in the newspaper and on radio talk shows. But I think we proved everybody wrong, because this place would never work. Actually, I was told from a lot of the concert promoters that I dealt with prior to coming up here that Omaha was never a city you could make money in, and all they had was the Civic Auditorium. And I got that, because it wasn’t big enough. And so I thought once this happens…we started out with 16,000 seats. We upped that number in 2006 up to 18,300. And even with 16, we made things work. We have been profitable from day one. Even through the COVID period we were profitable.
Wow.
And all the monies that we have generated came back in to make this facility what it is and it remains to be, because most people that come in here, they will look around and say, “This facility is 20, 22 years old,” and it is, because we maintain everything.
With COVID, a lot of businesses and organizations had to pivot or at least do some things a little differently. What did you do here?
So we were a little bit different than what most of my contemporaries did in the business. Most people just shut their facilities down. We had a little bit more progressive governor, as far as business-wise, and Governor Ricketts allowed us to stay open and set percentages that we could do. So we turned in, as far as the number of people in attendance, and more so the numbers of people watching, not really participants…and so we kind of turned into volleyball central, basketball central. I didn’t lay off much staff because we let the part-time people go, but we started bringing them back because we became so busy. And I think the fact that we stayed quasi open… I think it saved several of the hotels in the downtown area. And I’m not taking credit for that. That goes to the governor. But we made it through it.
I know there are so many businesses here and then related businesses that really depend on Omaha being alive and active and attractive for a variety of things, including the College World Series being open. It’s amazing the amount of economic impact that MECA has had.
I think the number is, we generate probably about 90 to 100 million a year, just on a normal year, as far as economic impact. So it’s been several billion dollars that we’ve generated for this community. It’s been more than enough to offset the cost of the city’s expense to build this place.
Yeah. I didn’t do the math, but it’s pretty impressive.
Yeah. And it’s the same with Charles Schwab Field, where we have… Creighton baseball plays there, and NCAA with the Men’s College World Series. Most people are like, you know, “It just sits empty.” And it does, a lot, but it was built primarily for the College World Series. It’s not a drain on the taxpayers; it pays for itself, both to retire the debt and to operate it. So it’s kind of a hybrid stadium. It’s too big for Minor League Baseball. It’s too small for a lot of the touring shows that go out in stadiums over the summer, so we kind of deal with that as much as we can. We’ve done some concerts there, but it’s not like what some of the other stadiums do in the country that have 60, 70, 80 thousand seats.
The College World Series is coming up on 75 years. Hard to imagine.
Well, I’ve not been around for that long…at least I’ve not been in Omaha that long. I’ve been around…I’m almost 75. But it’s an exciting time of year. People look forward to it. We’re gearing up. Everybody’s gearing up. We’ll find out the teams that are going to play Sunday, maybe Monday if there’s playoff games that have to have them. But there’s a 16 field out there now. It’s going to pare down to 8. We’ll see who shows up.
One thing that’s going to be a lot of fun, and having covered this for several years now, it’s always an amazing experience and always a positive experience.
Yeah, we do thousands of people that come in…and most of them, they’ll start out in the parking lot or some of the area bars and restaurants, and then they all come in. We’ll put 24, 25 thousand people in the facility, and it’s baseball, and it’s good baseball.
What legacy do you hope to leave behind in Omaha? And what’s up next for you?
I’ve always operated as a—this is a for-profit business and whoever replaces me after I move on at the end of the year, hopefully they’ll continue that process. And I’ve always kept in the back of my mind this facility was built for the city, so it has to benefit the city, either in putting people in hotel rooms, restaurants, or utilizing, where we can, vendors that provide service to it that are from local business. So whoever replaces me, I hope they’re as successful at running this facility as this team has been.
Thank you. What qualities are you hoping that the new person will have and bring to here?
My hope is it’s someone from the industry that understands…but we’re unique. Not many facilities that have an arena have a convention center attached. A baseball stadium sits right off and then a 70-some-acre park that they have to do. That was a little stretch, but I think we’ve done a nice job of running all of them.
My office is right across from the Leahy Mall, and it’s been real interesting to watch all the development here…going on.
Yeah, downtown…I think, from what they did at the riverfront, which is the Gene Leahy, Heartland of America Park, Lewis and Clark…especially at Gene Leahy, filling that lagoon in or whatever you want to call it, really brought the south downtown area and connected with the north downtown area. I thought that was a great idea.
I love watching the economic development, and when I do different stories…you know, what was it like before or how did it thrive or fall into decline… and your story earlier, too, about what this earlier area was and all of that is really a great testament to the work you’ve done and how people have thought about things in the city. And thank you.
Well, I can’t take credit for much other than operating this facility to the point where people want to develop around it. But that’s a driver by the business community and the city administration, so they’ve done a great job. Just had 12 years with Mayor Stothert, and she was an excellent shepherd in getting projects through and getting them done. The streetcar is going to be here. I know there’s a lot of naysayers out there about it, but there’s also a lot of businesses that are…and facilities being built that wouldn’t happen without the streetcar. So I think it’s all good.
The College World Series Pre-Game Press Conference was held this morning, virtually, on 16 June on Zoom.
Speakers included:
Jack Diesing, President of College World Series of Omaha, Inc.
Anthony Holman, NCAA Managing Director, Championships and Alliances, Operations and Playing Rules
Mayor Jean Stothert, City of Omaha
Diane Duren, Chairwoman of MECA Board of Directors
Jack Diesing, President of College World Series of Omaha, Inc.
Anthony Holman, NCAA Managing Director, Championships and Alliances, Operations and Playing Rules
Mayor Jean Stothert
Diane Duren, Chairwoman of MECA Board of Directors
Topics included:
New App-New app is available for the CWS. Please see the below for more details.
Cashless Concessions- No cash will be accepted at concessions.
Reverse ATMS- For people needing to turn cash into a card, reverse ATMS will be available.
Paperless Tickets- Tickets will be digital. If you do not have a cell phone or computer, you will still be able to attend. Admissions will be open and you can buy your ticket there.
Food- Favorites will be returning from years past.
Fans and Players-No interactions between the fans and players this year.
Hurray! The College World Series is back and it’s time for another interview with the Executive Director for College World Series of Omaha, Inc. This is one of my favorite Omaha events and Omaha interviews.
Thank you to Kathryn Morrissey, Executive Director, College World Series of Omaha, Inc. for the interview for CWS 2021 update on 11 June 2021.
Please tell us a little about yourself.
Kathryn Morrissey, Executive Director of College World Series of Omaha. This is my 33rd year working on the College World Series and we are thrilled that we are actually playing baseball this year.
I am so looking forward to it as well.
What new changes have there been with either equipment or the facility?
You know in terms of the facility, one of the biggest changes is that we through the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority-They have gone campus-wide to digital tickets-in other words, anyone attending the Swim Trials or were attending the basketball Creighton games this last winter. All the tickets are digital as they are TD Ameritrade Park.
That is a change but it just reflects what is happening nationally. Everybody whether it is an airline ticket or a ticket to a play or something along those lines. It seem like everything is going digital. So, we are joining that group too.
How will that work?
You know at this point, all of our season tickets have been offered to season ticket holders in a digital format. We had our advanced sale that started this last Monday, June 7th, and those were also offered online on https://www.ncaatickets.com/championship/college-world-series . So far we’ve even had one event sold out that would be Saturday night. So, apparently people figured out how to make that work.
That’s good.
Yes.
Are there any new security or safety measures or changes that the fans might need to be aware of ahead of time?
Well, MECA is certainly the experts in terms of commenting on which changes have been made during the age of COVID. Certainly, one of the ones that I am aware of that fans will want to know about is that the concessions are cashless now. That means that obviously you’ll want to bring your credit card to the ballpark but also and if you are a fan that likes to use cash, there will be a revers ATM available. So, you can bring in cash and convert it into a debit type card that can be used at the ballpark and used else where after the College World Series.
Wow. That’s the first time I have heard of that. How does the reverse ATM work?
Basically for example, you will take, for example, a $20 dollar bill and feed it into the machine and then out pops something that looks and functions like a credit card but it is obviously limited to the amount of money that you load it on.
Thank you.
Any other changes for the fans?
You know there will be some other changes. For the first time and only for this year, the general admission-the outfield spaces will not be sold in the traditional general admission format. There are a lot of good reasons for that relating to the health and safety of the fans attending still in the age of COVID; recommendations that have been put in place from the NCAA’s advisory team.
So this year, those will be our lowest price reserve seats and the prices will vary depending on popularity of the game. But for example, the first weekend and the finals are the most popular. Those are $30 dollars this year plus ticket master fees. During the week nights, they will be $25 and then during the weekday afternoons they will be $20. The advantage, of course, is to have a reserve seat that we will actually be assigning people to specific section, row and seat number and the bench-style seats do have seat numbers. We actually utilized those as recently as the Major League Baseball game in 2019.
Thank you. What changes are there for the players?
Student athletes will be in a COVID tested zone. They’ll try to restrict their movements so that they are protected as much as possible to protect them from any environment in which they might be exposed to COVID. So, their movements will be more restricted this year. So as a consequence, we won’t be hosting an opening ceremony-type celebration for them this year. That’s another thing that we expect to have coming back in 2022.
Tell me more what will be different for celebrations or events at the College World Series.
I think this year the focus is on, “Isn’t it great that we are just back playing baseball again!”
[Interrupts] Yes! Yes!
It’s a kind of back-to-basics year. There will be a handful of other activities that will be occurring to enhance the fan experience. Of course we will have the opportunity for fans to bring their kids on a particular day, that’s Monday afternoon and where some kid’s music and concessions will be featured. We’ll have a throw-back day on Thursday where we hope to have basically fans wearing their most vintage College World Series apparel. And then Friday is a country night. Probably boots and cowboy hats or whatever attire- if you want to participate in that.
What does the College World Series mean to you and to Omaha?
I think this will be a huge emotional boost for Omaha that we have the College World Series back. In a way, it was a little bit last year like trying to image a Christmas without Santa Claus to image summer without the College World Series. I think we were all a little bit let down by the fact that we could not gather together and celebrate college baseball and celebrate the beginning of our Summer. And this year with that coming back, I think it is going to be a huge morale boost for the community.
I am so excited to have it come back and to be able to go and or course to be able to visit with you for the interview.
The last question is why is this “The Greatest Show on Dirt”?
“The Greatest Show on Dirt” is one of those iconic phrases that is associated with the College World Series and I think just reflects not only the fan experience but just the way the student athletes feel when they enter that field and play what could be the last games of their baseball careers and certainly their college baseball careers. They give it their complete 100 percent effort. They play with a lot of heart and I can’t imagine anything better to watch in the summer.
The one other thing that I didn’t mention that I think might be really helpful for people this year is there is a College World Series app that is put out by the NCAA. So, “NCAA Men’s College World Series” is how I believe how it is listed in the app stores. [Here is the link http://on.ncaa.com/MCWSApp] It’s probably the easiest way for fans to follow their favorite team, check the weather, get bracket and scoring information. It’s going to be a real asset for fans who kind of want to be kept up to date to the minute.
Thank you very much.
Would you like to read more stories and interviews about the College World Series? Visit later for new posts and check out the CWS posts below.
Our Omaha blog stories on the College World Series by Year
Al Martinez is Executive Sous Chef for Levy Restaurants, the CWS caterer via MECA. He created many wonderful dishes for us to sample-each one a home run.
My favorites were the 18 inch “Strike Zone” calzone and the porkbelly slider. Some items were named after parts of Omaha like the South O 7 Layer Dip and the 10th Street Tostada.
Other tasty offerings include: Grilled Street Dawg, Cuban Dawg, Double Play Burger, Southwest Turkey Burger, First Base Fried Pork Fritter Sandwich, Hand Carved Reuben Sandwich, Smothered Country Fries, and Batter’s Box Nachos.
On the lighter side, the Mediterranean Chicken Wrap was light, satisfying and refreshing on a hot summer’s day.
On the sweet side you can enjoy Berrie Kabobs, cheesecake on a stick and a slice of giant rainbow cake
Whatever the dish, College World Series fans will not just be cheering the teams but Al Martinez and his creations as well.
Kathryn Morrissey, Executive Director, College World Series of Omaha, Inc.
