Tag: College World Series of Omaha Inc.

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

Omaha Event: College World Series Interview with Jack Diesing, President, College World Series of Omaha Inc.

 

 

How did you first get interested in baseball and do you remember your first game either playing or watching?

Well, I got first involved in baseball probably going back in to the seventies going down with my father at the College World Series and down at Rosenblatt before they even had the bleachers down the left and right fields and you know the whole experience has just been a labor of love for me. So the experience is to me is all about the kids that are here and the kids who are playing for the love of the game for these universities because most of them won’t make it to the majors. Because when the kids go down today to the field play a little baseball on the field … this is … want to give something back to the kids and get them excited about baseball.

So, it’s really a lot about the kids and the community.

You probably have quite a few but your favorite baseball memories?

Well, my memories are sort of wholistic. I enjoy getting out to meet the coaches for teams and developing relationships with them.

I have relationships with some of the coaches and teams like Mike Martin who is coming back from Florida State  this year. He is retiring.  I have known him for thirty years.

Certainly there is a lot of remembrances Warren Morris home run  at the bottom of the ninth when LSU won back twenty years ago with a walk off home run.

And  I remember things like changes from Rosenblatt to TD Ameritrade Omaha  and what we went through  to get that done and take this event to the next level.

So I just remember how wonderful this has been for everybody who has played baseball and for the community.

Thank you

You are welcome. Thank you.

 

 

 

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.