Tag: College World Series of Omaha

Omaha Interview: Amy Hornocker, Executive Director at College World Series of Omaha, Inc.

OmahaNebraska.com Interview with Amy Hornocker at the College World Series of Omaha, Inc.

Thank you to Amy for the interview for this Omaha event.

Amy Hornocker, CWS Inc, Executive Director

Please tell me how you came to be here.

I grew up over in Des Moines. I went to school at Iowa State in Ames. I played sports in high school. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I had an advisor that was kind of like we have a sports management program. So I worked in the football office there, and then, I actually came over here in 2005 and did my internship under Katherine and Carol here and then, stayed in touch when I graduated. And then, Katherine’s husband, Dan, started the Omaha Sports Commission. So, I came over and worked for him and was with the Sports Commission for 10 years. Had the chance to do three Swim Trials and about 30 other really cool sporting events, so and then, in 2017, they had a staff vacancy here, and they called me and I was just like at a point where I was ready to try basically what we always say “coming back home.” I came you back here and did the Marketing Committee outreach and then, had the opportunity to interview for this, the executive director position when Kathryn announced she was retiring.

What are some of your favorite things about the College World Series and about Omaha?

Okay, so basically, Omaha feels like home to me now, even though it was you know, it’s not where I’m from. It’s so similar, but everybody’s just .. the amount of support that we get for this event and the amount of people that come out and it’s kind of like what it means to the city and what the city aims to. It’s like it’s so cool to see and so some of my favorite parts about what I get to do here is like less about baseball and more about our what we do in the community with our grant program. We’ve given over $5 million to local baseball and softball fields and projects in the Greater Omaha community.

And then we have this Readers Become Leaders initiative with the NCAA that we work with Omaha Public Schools for third grade reading, once you can’t read a third grade, by the time you’re in fourth grade, you’re behind.

Is that a pivotal age group then?

Yeah, so that’s what the studies show is that if they are lacking by fourth grade, then they never catch up again. And so we do kick offs in the schools. We contribute a bunch of books to each kid and then incentives to read … and then they submit book reports. We had one girl I think she I think I’d have to the look 55 reports she did. She’s the winner. She’s the winner. So 15 of them with their parents will come to the one of the games. We have like five teachers that are from the winning classrooms. So that one’s fun. It’s so fun to go to the kickoffs and see them get excited about like their books and reading and it’s just a little way we can help there.

That’s something with a really great ripple effect.

Yeah, because you know, this one, we want to leave a legacy here. It’s great because the community pours their heart into it.

We put a donation program together this year for the first time with tickets that we’re we’re kind of testing this year. So when you go in to your mobile ticket account, you can transfer, sell, or donate. Like, if you can’t use your tickets or if you just want to donate, and we’re working with three organizations this year to see how it goes.

Vet Tix [https://www.vettix.org], which is a nationwide organization, so you can sign up. I think it’s first responders and military members and then you can sign up for access to these tickets. Then they go into the communities these events and find these people and it’s really turnkey. So we don’t really have to do much with that. And then we’re working with Boys Town and Boys and Girls Club of the Midlands. So because I feel like everybody from every corner of the city should get to enjoy it. So we’re going to try and build on that donation as we move forward. So that is really cool.

I think we already have seen some come through for Vet Tix and with Boys Town. It’s hard to find groups that can take a large quantity that like the last minute and be able to provide transportation, that kind of stuff. Those are some things we’ve got to kind of figure out but those are like some of my favorite things about the events and event and then obviously this time here when I look at the teams here.

We have our intern starting there’s some of my favorites because they change the dynamic of the office and we will have eight more getting here Monday. That will just work the two weeks and they come from all over the country. And so they apply and go through interviews and they they all become friends kind of it’s kind of fun to see them and help navigate this career path.

Did you ever think you’d be executive director..

No. [laughter] No, I’ve always been a behind the scenes person, like operations, and so I never thought that I would be here back here. Because I, you know, my first series, it was 1998 when I came with my high school baseball team. I was a manager.

I did not know that.

I was the manager of my high school team. In Iowa, we play summer baseball. So we were playing in a tournament in Sioux City. We came down here, well to Rosenblatt and did that the GA [General Admission] sat in the grass waiting to get in, and then, it just stuck with me. So, then, I did the internship so I never thought.. no…[laughter] .. I would be here.

Our leadership was and is phenomenal that the our board of directors that had the vision to bring this where it is today. There’s not another national championship that … They have some semi-permanent sites Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma, FCS football in Frisco, but nobody has an organization like this. The NCAA still runs those. They just have like kind of a semi-permanent city.

So they’ve really been smart and how they put this forward and then and how they’ve… during the COVID year, were able to keep us on staff, and then to see the vision of you know of moving it forward and letting me run with a creative and marketing person that we badly needed. There’s a hole that we didn’t have here. So, he’s got two social media interns that are doing cool things.

Is that something different or new you’ve been working on?

Yes, so we did not. So I was in a marketing role. And then we had another staff member and that wasn’t really our background and so we really were intentional about when Kathryn left to kind of restructured that that’s really the hole that was missing-was to promote this event year round and do it in these cool ways. I’m amazed all like, watch over these guys shoulders, because watching them put videos together and the hard work. They are crawling all over. They had the [National Champion] trophy at the zoo. So it’s really fun to watch it.
They took it to the zoo and it got to go in with the penguins and giraffes. Then they took it to the Gene Leahy Mall. And like Ryan was crawling around and so yeah, they took that roll. They’ve been taking around the city. Taking pictures everywhere. I think they went to Blackstone yesterday.

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

You can find the schedule here for #CWS2023 :
2023 Baseball Schedule – College World Series (cwsomaha.com)

Omaha Interview: Kathryn Morrissey, Executive Director, College World Series of Omaha, Inc.-Part One

OmahaNebraska.com with Kathyrn Morrissey here at the College World Series of Omaha, Inc. and we are discussing the upcoming College World Series and all the new changes and go back in time with some reflections.

So you’ve been here the whole time since this particular office opened and then involved with the College World Series before.

We opened our office here across from the ballpark. It’s been five years. So yes, been here during that time. Before that, I actually started on the College World Series 35 years ago. It was with Mutual of Omaha and College World Series. Managing the general admission ticket function was one of my community relations project, so that that was my introduction 35 years ago.

And then my husband actually pitched to Jack Diesing Sr. and Jack Diesing Jr. that perhaps he could provide outsourced management assistance. He said he would do the first College World Series event for free, because Jack Sr. said, “Oh, we don’t have any money in the budget for somebody like that”. And Dan said, “If you see value in what I do, then we’ll talk after the series.” And we’ve been involved ever since.

And in fact, when the NCAA and College World Series of Omaha signed the agreement to keep the College World Series in Omaha through 2036. At that point, the NCAA said we love Omaha, we love your organization, but you’re an all-volunteer organization and board. So you might want to give some thought to full time employees because we see the event just getting bigger and bigger. And so in May of 2010 College World Series became our employer and I was the first executive director.

How many people did you have when you started?

Virtually the same staff size we have now which is four full time and one part time, but I always say we’re like an accordion. As we get closer to the event we expand with the help of wonderful interns. It’s a very much in demand internship. We draw students from all over the country. And then after the College World Series ends, we kind of contract and become our 4.5 staff that we have year round.

When does the prep for the series start?

The prep for next year’s series will begin probably before we end this current year’s series. The reason being we take advantage of the NCAA being in town, their staff being here, to do some early planning for next year. And we literally will get together every year before October 31. That’s a requirement of our contract to talk about what happened in the previous College World Series, what we think are areas of improvement and start the planning process in earnest at that point. But budgeting starts even in September.

So you do the debriefing and any future pivoting planned out almost immediately.

While it’s all fresh in our heads knowing that things will change along the way. But that’s the beauty of a multi-year event. We get to fine tune it. Make it better every year because none of us want to take it for granted. We always want it to be better. So, that’s been our standard practice for as long as I’ve been involved.

I’ve enjoyed it each and every year I’ve been coming and it’s wonderful and I see the fans so happy. There is so much more to the experience, as you know, than just baseball.

It is the one time of year, I should say one of the times a year, that Omaha is a destination. And it’s so much fun for everybody. Whether you’re working in a hotel or a restaurant or you’re just a citizen of the metro area. All those folks do such a great job of making our visitors feel welcome, and making sure that baseball players, the student athletes, feel like rockstars when they’re here. They really love that.

There have been, I’m sure, during the 35 years, huge changes not just Rosenblatt to here. So can you tell us about a few of the big changes? And then maybe one of your favorite changes?

Sure. One of the big changes is just the number of people that put on the event. When I first started working on this, the NCAA said two people, Denis Pope and Jim Wright, and Jim Wright used to spread out credentials, primarily for the media on his hotel room bed. And between the two of them and the city of Omaha staff who managed Rosenblatt and a core group that worked with College World Series of Omaha. That was it. We were kind of a small, but mighty group.
And obviously that has changed over the years. The NCAA sends a lot more people now. A lot more people are involved year round. And I think that’s been a really good development.

Now in terms of things that have happened. Gosh.

I know you can’t tell them all.

I know. Actually just building the North Downtown stadium, that obviously a lot of people had some misgivings about whether or not that would be a good thing because Rosenblatt was such an amazing home from 1950 to 2010. That’s a lot of history. And that was a beautiful place to make memories. But it was not unlike a family home that just got too small for the family. So we needed a bigger space. And the wonderful thing about the stadium helped with the North Downtown development. It’s not been the sole catalyst for that there were early pioneers who were here before us, but I think we’ve done something to help area people become more familiar with the area and certainly the people from out of town.

I love watching economic development. You know-how does a particular business or industry help an area? When is its time maybe up on other factors. People move in with certain jobs and children with leave the areas different jobs. It’s really fascinating. So we’ve [OmahaNebraska.com] been concentrating different neighborhoods like that. I think you’re technically North Downtown?

Yes. North Downtown, we are kind of in the midst of what they call the Makerhood. And you know, it’s just a real creative area, whether it’s some of the lost arts like upholstery and furniture making and such or if it’s the super almost the techie side opposite you know startups and such that are very technology driven. We’re surrounded by all of that in addition to music, and food and beverages and and, it’s really an exciting place to be.

Hot Shops [Hot Shops Art Center, https://www.hotshopsartcenter.org] was also very important to the economics of this area too.

They were one of the early pioneers I mentioned. I mean, they have done amazing things there. And what I’m really excited to see is that the fans have gotten more comfortable venturing out from the stadium and I think they go over to Hot Shops and they visit. And now we hope that they extend their reach maybe a little bit further into Millworks Commons and you know they go a little bit north, a little bit west.

And certainly they haven’t forgotten some of their favorite haunts in the Old Market. They’ve watched as the Capital District grew up and found some great places there that are intriguing to them. So we’re hoping to spread that economic impact over a wider area because all parts of the metro get that even if there aren’t they aren’t adjacent or near to the stadium.

There’s several things in Nebraska that bring a huge amount of revenue How much does the CWS bring in to the state?

We had Dr. Ernie Goss do an economic impact survey using 2019 figures because we didn’t foresee COVID But we did think that 10 years into “the great experiment” and that’s in air quotes. That was the downtown stadium that maybe people would want to know. Did that experiment turnout was that a good move? 88.3 million was the very conservative economic impact estimate he came up with at that time. Last year, we had attendance records. So I think we at least reached that milestone.

And I really think that we that the reach extends beyond there because I know our friends at Bozell estimated the media impact, 464 million. Now that includes social media too, of course now. So that’s why the figure is partially bigger than what people may expect. But when you think about what the Chamber of Commerce and the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau would have to pay for the kind of exposure, really positive exposure, we get for almost two weeks ,it’s pretty amazing.

What have you seen for the fan experience these many years?

Well, you know what’s great about this year is that we’ve got a new format. So we have two full weekends to offer. That’s especially important, I think to out-of-town visitors. Always before when we answer questions on the phone or live chat on the internet, people would say “w\Well, you know, I’m still working or my kids have activities, and so the only time we can get away is a weekend” and now we have two full weekends to offer. The opening ceremonies will be on Thursday. First day of games will be on Friday. And then we end the events either on a Sunday or a Monday. So that we think is going to be really good for the event.

We also have a lot of things that after kind of that semi-normal year last. We’ve got the Stadium Circulator [https://www.ncaa.com/championships/baseball/d1/transportation] coming back, which is wonderful. It kind of runs a grid pattern from the North Downtown stadium to the Old Market and it passes several City of Omaha parking garages, where you can make advance reservations for parking and it only costs a quarter to jump on.

Wow.

It’s ADA accessible. It’s air conditioned and should stop at about every 15 minutes at the various locations that are on the map. And the map is on our website https://cwsomaha.com under parking and transportations. [https://cwsomaha.com/parking-and-transportation-information]

I’m trying to think other things that are different new about this year. Well actually not even. It was the case last year. The outfield is our lowest price reserve status, no longer general admission. We had really thought we would be coming to GA this year because, of course, during COVID nobody was excited about standing shoulder to shoulder for several hours with people they didn’t make perfect sense to have that transition last year.

We, meaning the NCAA, surveyed fans after every game last year, throughout the stadium, but with the feedback that we got from the general admission, now the lowest price reserved area was “We love this. Do not go back to GA. We think it’s great that we know for sure we’ll be able if we have a ticket for a specific game that will get into that game. And if we want to come early, it’s wonderful that we can spend the time in the fan fest or frequenting restaurants or other establishments in the area. So don’t go back”. So that’s where we’re at today. That’s our lowest price reserved seat. And there’s still tickets available our single game tickets went on sale in mid-April. And there are still weekday afternoon games that are still available. Those are $10 plus Ticketmaster fees, and so very affordable.

But even if the other game tickets have sold out, which they did really quickly, like the first weekend and the finals, especially those are available on sale, through the NCAA website and https://www.ncaa.com or you can get there through our website, https://cwsomaha.com.

It’s interesting that over time the resale market being verified and legitimized has occurred. Seems natural now that we have it, but it hadn’t been.

Exactly. Well, Ticketmaster is the NCAA’s corporate ticketing partner. So if people buy through that outlet, then if they have any concerns when they get to the ballpark any issues at all, which we don’t anticipate that they do, but if they do, they can go to the ticket office and get customer service there. If they use another outlet to get their tickets, and I’m sure some fans do, unfortunately, we can’t help them in the same way.

The tickets now are electronic.

They are. They’re all mobile, digital, electronic… I’ve heard a lot of different ways to describe them. But yes, and our concessions are also credit card related. There are some reverse ATMs in the ballpark. So if you don’t have a credit card or you don’t want to send the kids with your credit card, you can send them with some cash. They can use the machines inside the stadium and access the concessions that way.

Where the reverse ATMs are located? Are there maps available?

There should be a map available, and I believe that one is certainly on the ballpark website which is this is a long one: http://www.charlesschwabfieldomaha.com.

[End of Part One]

Omaha Event: College World Series Pre-Game Press Conference, 16 June

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
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.

 

Get the app here: http://on.ncaa.com/MCWSApp

 

Card above is 4×6 inches.

This page is in progress with more to come including an interview with Jack Diesing and more on food.

Please visit our next Omaha blog post for maps.

CWS Interview with Kathryn Morrissey, Executive Director, College World Series of Omaha, Inc.

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.

College World Series TD AmeritradePark Entrance and Statue

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.

[To read OmahaNebraska.com’s interview with MLB Tiger’s GM Al Avila’s 2019 visit for that game, go to www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omahanebraska-com-interview-with-al-avila-vp-and-gm-of-the-detroit-tigers]

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.

Field of College World Series

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.

College World Series TD Ameritrade Park Game in Progress

Our Omaha blog stories on the College World Series by Year

CWS 2020

No CWS.

CWS 2019

College World Series Fans-Have You Seen the Scooters? (13 June 2019)
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/college-world-series-fans-have-you-seen-the-scooters

Omaha Event: College World Series Interview with Chris Myers, Executive Sous Chef, Levy Restaurants (12 June 2019)
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-event-college-world-series-interview-with-chris-myers-executive-sous-chef-levy-restaurants

College World Series Food Tasting, 12 June 2019
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/college-world-series-food-tasting-12-june-2019

Omaha Event: College World Series Interview with Jack Diesing, President, College World Series of Omaha Inc.
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-event-college-world-series-interview-with-jack-diesing-president-college-world-series-of-omaha-inc

Omaha Event: College World Series Press Conference, 12 June
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-event-college-world-series-press-conference-12-june

CWS Interview with Kathryn Morrissey, Executive Director, College World Series of Omaha, Inc. (5 June 2019)
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/cws-interview-with-kathryn-morrissey-executive-director-college-world-series-of-omaha-inc

CWS 2018

2018 Interview with Kathryn Morrissey, Executive Director of CWS Omaha Inc.
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/cws-interview

What’s new in CWS food for 2018
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/cws-media-tasting-2018-great-food-meets-the-greatest-show-on-dirt

2018 Interview with Chef Chris Myers
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-interview-chris-myers-with-levy-restaurants-at-td-ameritrade-park-for-college-world-series

Tigers to Play Royals in Omaha! MLB Comes to Omaha!
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/tigers-to-play-royals-in-omaha-mlb-comes-to-omaha

OmahaNebraska.com Interview with Al Avila, VP and GM of the Detroit Tigers
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omahanebraska-com-interview-with-al-avila-vp-and-gm-of-the-detroit-tigers

CWS 2017

Al Martinez Hits First Home Run for College World Series- Before the First Game is Played!
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/al-martinez-hits-first-home-run-for-college-world-series-before-the-first-game-is-played

Omaha Interview with Kristi Andersen, Director of Communications at MECA
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-interview-with-kristi-andersen-director-of-communications-at-meca

Omaha Interview with Marty Bilek at the College World Series Press Conference
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-interview-with-marty-bilek-at-the-college-world-series-press-conference

Omaha Interview: College World Series of Omaha, Inc. (9 June 2017)
http://omahanebraska.com/omahainterviewcollegeworldseries

CWS Interview with Kathryn Morrissey, Executive Director, College World Series of Omaha, Inc.

Hurray! It is here. It is time for the 2018 College World Series and another interview with College World Series of Omaha, Inc.

Thank you to Kathryn Morrissey, Executive Director, College World Series of Omaha, Inc. for the interview for CWS 2018 update.

Please tell us a little about the teams who are “on the road to Omaha.”

Well, right now we don’t know what teams will be here.

We are just getting ready to start the regional competition and the super-regional competition will follow that.

It’s an interesting field. There are some of the teams that we expect to see year after year that will be coming and then there are some new ones.

There’s some really good teams on the horizon that we haven’t heard so much before in the past like the Hatters. Those and other groups, we have heard from before and eager to see them if they make it that long.

How do upset teams happen?

I think there is a lot of parity in college baseball.

It used to be that especially some of the southern states almost had a collar around all of those big championship teams.

And any more some of the northern seats, Northern teams from northwest coast have made some in roads as well.

Just recently we saw in Omaha Minnesota do a really good job.

That would be a great fan base to bring to Omaha again.

I know the fans are really supportive. Do you have any fun stories?

We have fun stories from the past. It is always interesting to see who comes and what is on their bucket list. So toward that cause I am hoping that we will have some really good ones.

For example, now this goes back a ways…Mississippi, the state of Mississippi when we had Southern Mississippi participate a few years back, it felt like the entire state closed up shop and moved to Omaha for few days because they were so excited to be included in our activities.

So it’s hard to know what stories will come out this year.

Coastal Carolina is doing very well this year.

They were kind of a sweetheart, a Cinderella team from a few years back that went all the way.

Every year has its special story.

What is a good one from last year?

I am trying to think of one. The fact that we had the Florida team win after so many appearances was something that was a lot of the fans from the SEC were very pleased to see that activity.

There is always going to be those good stories. I’ll be eager to see if we have some new Cinderella teams coming in  this year.

Or if we have a team like Florida State. Mike Martin has been to the College World Series so many times. He is the current number one winning- has more wins under his belt as a Division One baseball coach than anyone in  history, but yet he has never won the College World Series.

He is a quite a gentleman. He has wonderful teams, but to use an old phrase, he’s kind of always been a bridesmaid and not the bride. So we are waiting to see if his team makes it this year.

Any new stories about  the fan or vendor side last year or ahead for this year?

We are always eager to here from Levy,  the restaurateurs that manage the food preparation at TD Ameritrade Park always come up with some really great offerings for fans during the College World Series. Things like the “South Omaha Taquito”  in the past and they have had some that probably can feed families let alone an individual. So we are really eager to see what they will come up with across the street.

I remember last year there were quite a few members of your family that could eat after some of those.

Last year, I think we had our first fruit kebab, a new offering. I don’t know if those will be back this year.

What was the attendance last year?

Last year’s attendance was a record. It was 357,646 which was really great.

Our average attendance per game was 22,352.

Has there been any equipment or facility or rule changes this year?

We have extended the netting.  We follow major league baseball’s lead in that respect and have extended it beyond where it has ended in the past.

Anything new with the facility or equipment? I remember one year the bats were changed.

No. It’s been a while since any of the equipment or facilities have been changed in terms of the balls and bats.

It was amazing there for a while when the stadium was new that-the first year we had issues at that time – we thought with a lack of home runs that happened to coincide with the first year of TD Ameritrade Park which was 2011 coincided with the first year that the bat had been deadened.

What transpired after that was that the baseball itself was made a little bit more lively and now we regularly see home runs. So I think there have been the appropriate adjustments and we should be all good now.

Are there any new security measures or changes that the fans might need to be aware of ahead of time?

I am really glad that you about asked that. This will be the first year that we will have had the clear bag policy in effect. Now that has been in effect at the Century Link Center starting this winter with Creighton basketball season. It has been ineffect Creighton baseball season at TD Ameritrade. And it was in effect last weekend with the Big Ten baseball tournament. It will be the first time we require clear bags for the College World Series.

We’ve  ordered 25,000 of them to be distributed for free in the area. They have already been delivered to our  season ticket holders to our club seat holders our suite holders as part of an advanced mailing. We are in the process right now of distributing them to various hotels, convention and visitors bureaus in the area.

For example, Council Bluffs and Sarpy County are  involved in that in addition to the greater Omaha area. So we think we are going to be doing a good job in making them available. Now that  enough clearly for everybody who is attending the College World Series. And, I want to make the point that you do not have to have the special clear bag that is branded with the College World Series. If you went to the grocery store and bought a Ziploc type bag- those gallon sized bags-those are equally as acceptable those with the College World Series logo on it. And similarly for a clutch size. 4 1/2 by 6 [inches] does not need to be clear.

Water bottles will need to be empty and clear as well. We have had that in effect. It’s kind of a nice fan amenity we have a great number of water stations  in addition to water bottle filling stations and drinking fountains.

They do need to be 20 ounces or smaller and clear and empty when you go into the  ballpark.

There are lots of free places to fill it up, before, during and after the games.

What about camera equipment?

We do have a media entrance, if you have media credentials but for the casual fan. They can bring in a small camera, a shorter lens. They can bring in their smart phones. Any larger equipment that might interfere with another fan’s enjoyment will not be allowed in. That is not a new rule.

So purses would have to be clutch size?

Purses would have to be 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 inch size or we have these larger clear bags, kind of a standard size now.

Any other changes this year?

We will be celebrating a great attendance milestone this year. Since 1950 we will now have a cumulative attendance of 10,000,000 fans. Which is quite an accomplishment. We should be reaching that on game number 3 on Sunday at 1 o’clock.

That is also  Father’s Day.  So bring your dad and be part of that 10 million day fan crowd.

How many games are scheduled?

The maximum number that we always  have available are 17,  but that includes several games that are tie breakers.

So this year, our tie breaker days would be Saturday June 23rd.

Those are days we may be playing no game, one game or two games depending on how the brackets play out and similarly  finals number 3 which would be if necessary  played on June 27.

Otherwise we got 14 games that we know will be played.

We are eager to get fans in there to enjoy themselves.

What are the nearest gifts shops or restaurants that might have promotions or items?

That’s a really good question. I think that North Downtown, here we got a lot of vendors who during this time of year kind of change up maybe their business plan a lot bit to to capture the excitement and activities that the fans bring to the area. I know there are lots  that open their doors in creative ways…trying to capture  some of that economic impact that comes every year through the College World Series.

Thank you very much.

Click here to read–Omaha Interview: College World Series of Omaha, Inc from 2017

What’s new in food for 2018
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/cws-media-tasting-2018-great-food-meets-the-greatest-show-on-dirt

2018 Interview with Kathryn Morrissey, Executive Director of CWS Omaha Inc.
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/cws-interview

2018 Interview with Chef Chris Myers
https://www.omahanebraska.com/blog/omaha-interview-chris-myers-with-levy-restaurants-at-td-ameritrade-park-for-college-world-series

College World Series: Press Conference Omaha

Thanks to these great Omaha people that helped and/or granted inteviews:

Kathryn Morrissey, Executive Director, College World Series of Omaha, Inc.
Click here to read–Omaha Interview: College World Series of Omaha, Inc

 

Kristi Andersen, Director of Communications at MECA, CenturyLink Center Omaha and TD Ameritrade Park Omaha
Click here to read—Omaha Interview with Kristi Andersen, Director of Communications at MECA

 

Marty Bilek, Chief of Staff, City of Omaha, Mayor’s Office
Click here to read—Omaha Interview with Marty Bilek, Chief of Staff, City of Omaha, Mayor’s Office

 

 


Al Martinez, Executive Sous Chef, Levy Restaurants
Click here to read–Al Martinez Hits First Home Run for College World Series

 

The speakers at the press conference were:


Jack Diesing Jr.,
President,College World Series of Omaha, Inc.

 

 

 


Ron Prettyman
Managing Director, Championships and Alliances, NCAA

 

 

 


Fr. Daniel Hendrickson
President, Creighton University

 

 

 

 


Diane Duren
Chairman, Board of Directors, MECA

 

 

 

 

Omaha Interview: College World Series of Omaha, Inc

A special thank you goes out to  Kathryn Morrissey of the College World Series of Omaha, Inc. for this Omaha interview. She is executive director of this important Omaha nonprofit.

OmahaNebraska.com met with her in her new office across from the stadium in the old Roja’s location.

 

How did you become executive director of the CWS?

I was with Mutual of Omaha for about a dozen years, and one of the things that I did near the end of my career there was work in community relations and public affairs — and one of the projects was the College World Series. That was my first exposure to working on the College World Series.

My grandfather, who was a western Iowa farmer, loved the College World Series and used to listen to it in the cab of his tractors and couldn’t wait until he retired to come down and watch the games in person.

We’ve got from him a framed one million fan pennant, which is one of my favorite things.

So there is a little bit of family history there, but actually I didn’t start until 1988.

Did he have a favorite team?

He didn’t. He loved baseball and it’s perfect for when you are a farmer when you are about your daily chores.

I am a member of the Optimist Club, and we are helping sell tickets.

One of the best [groups]. The Optimist Club is fantastic.

What is special about the Optimist clubs and other service groups is that they host teams. They become almost like the family away from home to all the teams that are here.

Great community resources and they are on call 24 hours a day.

Teams rely on them. They [groups like this] are our first-line ambassador for the College World Series.

It’s part of the fabric of Omaha. These service clubs take so much pride in it. Some of them are non-traditional, like Offutt [AFB] is one of our service clubs.

A booklet of 10 GA [General Admission] tickets [sells for] for $90. If you buy them individually, they are still very reasonable, but they are $15 at the box office. So you can see that a $9 ticket to a Division I Men’s Championship is amazing.

How did you become executive director here?

What happened is, when I was working at Mutual of Omaha, our company was responsible for many things, and it felt like a lot of responsibility for a company or a group not attached to the College World Series in some way.

At that time, [it] had an all-volunteer board of directors.

Bozell and Jacobs was the name of the advertising group at the time. Now, it is just known as Bozell. Their founder, Morrie Jacobs, was kind of one of our founders, too. They may have had a professional role earlier on, but everyone else was a volunteer.

The event had expanded over the years, and what they were asking volunteer groups to do expanded, and it just felt like the College World Series maybe needed to kind of evolutionarily go to the next step.

So my husband, Dan, who you met, Dan started his own company in event management and convention planning service and at that point what he was doing, basically starting his business up and looking for new clients.

And I said, I think the College World Series can use those services and he went to Jack Diesing Sr., who was chairmen of the board at the time, and said, “I think you need an outsourced management company to help you with some aspects of the College World Series.”

He talked about creating a local contributor program, doing other administrative work and other onsite work for them.

Jack Sr. said, “We don’t have a budget for it, and why would you want a job that’s only a few weeks of the year?”

And my husband said, “You know, I have a feeling that the event is going to grow and might go beyond a few weeks a year. And I am just starting, too, so if you like what I do, I am not going to charge for what I do for the first series, and if you see benefit to it, we’ll talk afterwards.” That was 1989.

The College World series the next year hired Meeting and Event Design, Inc., his company, to be the outsourced event management company.

Then we started building the new stadium.

We signed a long-term agreement with the NCAA to keep the College World Series in Omaha through 2036.

The NCAA said, at that point, you might want to consider adding full-time staff because you know the event is probably going to continue to get bigger, and with the long-term agreement there is certainly a lot of structure here.

At that point, our board of directors spent more than a year examining how that should happen and what should be in place.

And we became the first full-time staff of the College World Series, and I was fortunate enough to be named executive director.

How many years for you as executive director?

That was 2010, and my first year at the new stadium was 2011.

So I am coming up on involvement with the College World Series of almost 30 years next year.

What did you do before becoming executive director?

I am a journalism major who started life wanting to be in public relations field.

At one point I worked for the Attorney General of Iowa, which was a very interesting job.

I’ve worked twice at Mutual of Omaha.

Then I went to work for Dan’s company, and we did event management work for companies locally and elsewhere in the United States and did convention work. And that was all very helpful.

It equipped us well to work with our other partners here: MECA, the City of Omaha and the NCAA.

What type of entity is the College World Series of Omaha?

It’s a nonprofit organization, coming up on its 50th year of incorporation. It was incorporated in 1967.

We may be one of the earliest sports commissions. Now our focus is singular, just on the College World Series.
But in 1967, there were not a whole lot of organizations like that.

When you think about it, incorporation just formalized a group that had been around in one way or another since 1950.

There was this group in ‘49 and ‘50 saw the College World Series as not having a not really solid permanent home. It had gone from Kalamazoo, MI to Wichita.

George Bush, the 41st president, played in the very first College World Series. He was a very handsome player. His nickname was Poppy and he was with Yale.

Then the Series went from Kalamazoo to Wichita. Both places, it lost money.

There was no economic reason why anybody would necessarily want that tournament.

[Our] early leaders must have had tremendous foresight. They went down to Wichita and said, “We just built a new municipal stadium in Omaha and we would really like the College World Series to be played there.”

And we played our first game there in 1950.

As I said, that same volunteer core evolved to College World Series of Omaha Inc. and was incorporated in 1967. And now you are seeing the full-time staff that is way down the road that is the result of that.

Groups like Bozell, their founder (Morrie) was part of that.

Well, Johnny Rosenblatt was another one.

There were early leaders like that who just had great vision.

What do you feel the College World Series means to Omaha?

The College World Series means so much to Omaha depending on who you talk to.

I like to think it’s a memory maker for generations of families. So that’s on the one hand.

On the other hand, it also gives us a national identity.

When I used to travel with Mutual of Omaha, people would ask, “Oh, do you know Marlin Perkins?” and say things like that.

You know for many years now I’ve heard not just that, I’ve heard people say things like, “Have you gone to a College World Series game?”

I’ll often wear apparel and they will say, “You must have gone to the College World Series,” and I’ll say, “I actually work there.”

They will reply, “Oh, my gosh, that’s on my bucket list. I have friends who have gone.”

Everyone seems to know about the College World Series and its connection to Omaha.

And the teams themselves will have above in their locker rooms as they go out the door as they go onto the field the word “Omaha” and then slap it for good luck.

Thank you again, Kathyn, for the interview for our Omaha blog.