Tag: Rosenblatt

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 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.

 

 

 

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.