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Werner Park - Sarpy County/Royals Stadium

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:05 am
by Uffda
Sarpy County courting Omaha Royals to the suburbs

Sarpy County is preparing to take a home-run swing at landing the Omaha Royals in the suburbs.

The Sarpy County Board will vote Tuesday on a resolution to hire a consultant to analyze the feasibility of building a minor league stadium in the county and to suggest locations.

Alan Stein, president of the Omaha Royals, said he has meetings set with Sarpy County officials over the weekend.
http://omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10368222

Re: Sarpy County courting Omaha Royals to the suburbs

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:22 am
by Erik
Uffda wrote:
Sarpy County courting Omaha Royals to the suburbs

Sarpy County is preparing to take a home-run swing at landing the Omaha Royals in the suburbs.

The Sarpy County Board will vote Tuesday on a resolution to hire a consultant to analyze the feasibility of building a minor league stadium in the county and to suggest locations.

Alan Stein, president of the Omaha Royals, said he has meetings set with Sarpy County officials over the weekend.
http://omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10368222


Yeah, I kinda figured that MECA was too big for the Royals..

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:19 am
by Greg S
Having the Royals and their 72 dates would certainly help development in the area vs an empty stadium.

Greg

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:34 am
by DTO Luv
THere goes Sokol |expletive| things up again. If it's a financial wash to have the Royals there then put them in to insure that the area around the stadium gets developed quicker.

..

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:51 am
by Erik
This whole thing is beyond stupid..

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:58 am
by the1wags
Time for people to write the city council, MECA, the Royals, the mayor, etc. Tell them we want the Royals downtown. We need the extra dates for more downtown activity.

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:23 am
by Stargazer
The more I hear him... I think Stein really DOES want to play downtown... and it is indeed Sokol's to screw up... although Fahey will end up getting the blame ("they would have stayed if our beloved Rosenblatt weren't being demolished!").

Unless they leave town entirely... I'm a winner either way though... as I'll be able to catch the businessmen's special afternoon game just 5 minutes from my work... should they end up playing at Werner Field at South Port Park. :shock:

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:30 am
by Brad
Stargazer wrote:Unless they leave town entirely... I'm a winner either way though... as I'll be able to catch the businessmen's special afternoon game just 5 minutes from my work... should they end up playing at Werner Field at South Port Park. :shock:
I agree Jeff, as long as they stay in town I am happy.

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:34 am
by DTO Luv
I still don't see them staying in Omaha if they don't play Downtown.

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:40 am
by Brad
DTO Luv wrote:I still don't see them staying in Omaha if they don't play Downtown.
Really?  Its so much easier when you have a fan base already here as opposed to moving to a new city and building a base.  If Sarpy is going to pony up the money, which they can do with the current strength of the county, I think they would stay in a heart beat.   They would get everything the way they want.  I new stadium, a stadium built for them, and they would get to stay in Omaha.

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:01 pm
by DTO Luv
Even if they do put up the money I think Stein would rather keep in the recent M.O. of other successful minor league parks and go into a DT area.

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:04 pm
by Brad
DTO Luv wrote:Even if they do put up the money I think Stein would rather keep in the recent M.O. of other successful minor league parks and go into a DT area.
C. DAVID KOTOK COPYRIGHT 2008 OMAHA WORLD-HERALD WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER wrote:Downtown Omaha remains the first option, Stein said, but ultimately may not make the most business sense.

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:39 pm
by the1wags
He means in some OTHER cities downtown. If I'm Stein and get offered the right size ballpark in Sarpy county and the right size ballpark in downtown Vancouver, see ya later.

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:47 pm
by Brad
the1wags wrote:He means in some OTHER cities downtown. If I'm Stein and get offered the right size ballpark in Sarpy county and the right size ballpark in downtown Vancouver, see ya later.
Canadians don't watch baseball...

..

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:53 pm
by Erik
I am losing faith now in the viability of the downtown stadium without the royals..

Can somebody give me some reason to believe that not having a major tennet for the stadium is an okay thing.. and that a huge $140 million dollar stadium sitting there 50 weeks out the year, potentially is okay....

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 1:09 pm
by DTO Luv
No Canadians aren't as into baseball as hockey, but putting a DT stadium in Vancouver way trumps putting one in Sarpy county.

Moving the stadium to a suburban area is just so backwards. People realized that mistake and are putting the stadiums in urban areas. This would just be a big step backwards for the Omaha area.

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 1:11 pm
by Greg S
That's it.  If the stadium is really going to help generate development around it, you need the Royals and their 72 dates.  MECA can't replace that with concerts and such.  If they think people will drive DT for independent league baseball while the Royals are an option out west, they're nuts.

Like someone earlier said, it's time to start contacting MECA and the World Herald about this.

Greg

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 2:07 pm
by Brad
Alan Stein on the The Big Show with Matt Perrault on the Mighty Big Sports 590am today at 3pm

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 3:00 pm
by Brad
Brad wrote:Alan Stein on the The Big Show with Matt Perrault on the Mighty Big Sports 590am today at 3pm
now 5:30PM

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 3:38 pm
by the1wags
Brad wrote:
the1wags wrote:He means in some OTHER cities downtown. If I'm Stein and get offered the right size ballpark in Sarpy county and the right size ballpark in downtown Vancouver, see ya later.
Canadians don't watch baseball...
You also have to factor in that Metro Vancouver is 2.1M people. Over double the potential fans, with a 9K seat stadium in AMAZING downtown Vancouver, or the same stadium in suburban Omaha. Not a hard choice if the money's the same on the Royals end IMO.

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 4:22 pm
by OmahaJaysCU
From the updated evening article:
Omaha World-Herald wrote:The mayor said he is confident that the city and the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority will make a maximum effort to bring the Royals downtown.
Omaha World-Herald wrote:I'm going to do my best to cut a deal with the Royals," Dixon said.
I am a glass half full kind of guy...I still think they will be playing in Downtown Omaha.

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 4:26 pm
by CapitalGuy
I think a stadium in Sarpy would be cool. It would be closer for fans and would give that area of the metro more entertainment options. Especially, if they could get something going like what they described in Lexington. Maybe the Lancers will move into Sarpy too. The Southport area could really become the entertainment destination in Omaha.

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 4:27 pm
by Brad
Omaha World-Herald wrote:I'm going to do my best to cut a deal with the Royals," Dixon said.
I was wondering about that.  Is it not Dixon's job to negotiate and run all the MECA stuff, Sokol just over sees everything and appoints people like Dixon.

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 5:38 pm
by the1wags
CapitalGuy wrote:I think a stadium in Sarpy would be cool. It would be closer for fans and would give that area of the metro more entertainment options. Especially, if they could get something going like what they described in Lexington. Maybe the Lancers will move into Sarpy too. The Southport area could really become the entertainment destination in Omaha.
:barf:

Let's move everything to the suburbs, hooray! Do you know how many people saw my pictures of downtown at the Countryside Village show and asked if it was Omaha? At least 10 in 2 days.  After telling them it was Omaha, over half replied with something like, "Well I haven't been downtown in years." There is something basically wrong with that. Go get a postcard of ANY city, what do they show? It's not rows of celebrity home type suburban |expletive|. It's the skyline, the core, the urban area that gives a city it's identity. The Royals need to stay downtown and help keep the growth and vibrancy of downtown going.

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 6:24 pm
by CapitalGuy
A ballbark could help the urban vibrancy of LaVista and Southport more specifically. Everything won't be in the suburbs. The College World Series ballpark will still be downtown. The pedestrian bridge will still be downtown as well. Lots of other things will still be downtown. Having a stadium for the Royals in Sarpy will simply help in developing Sarpy County. And have you ever seen postcards of Levittown? Houses are basically there post card image. Maybe that could become Omaha's niche.

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:10 pm
by thenewguy
i agree with wags...sorry capitalguy :)  And like it's been said a million times, if they can support the stadium on the CWS alone, why not give the Royals a good deal and make it just extra gravy on the biscuits?  It would help boost all the bars/restaurants/hotels (though not as much as as the other 2) and would make for greater development of downtown and surrounding areas, which need it more than sarpy county or any suburb in west Omaha, Northwest Omaha, Southwest Omaha, etc.  Downtown and north downtown are on the verge of becoming great again, why take that away from them?  

Plus, i don't know how many times Big E, wags, DTO, etc have to post those news stories that quote the experts saying "you have to have a strong central core and surrounding downtown area in order to maintain a strong and vibrant city," before people will get it :)

(that last part wasn't an attack on you capitalguy, i was just stating it--sorry, those thoughts kind of ran together)

Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 2:10 pm
by Brad
August 5th is "Sarpy County Day" at the Royals.

Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 4:57 pm
by Brad
Brad wrote:August 5th is "Sarpy County Day" at the Royals.
Matt and Travis were talking about this... What do you think:

Pay Pall Park?
Werner Park?... The Omaha Truckers!
Cabellas Park?

Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:03 am
by Greg S
There's also a Lincoln Day coming up, should we be worried about them moving further west? :)

Greg

Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:17 pm
by Stargazer
Wags.. you sounds as if you'd rather they ended up in Vancouver... than possibly locating to La Vista.

Sort of reminds me of the attitude of many Husker haters who aren't even fans of college football. :lol:

Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:20 pm
by DTO Luv
I would rather they moved to Vancouver than Sarpy COunty. I'd be just as likely to go to games in either place.

Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:22 pm
by Brad
Well most of the normal thinking world would much rather have them in LaVista than anywhere out of state.

Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:36 pm
by DTO Luv
I would rather them leave and have the horribly slim chance that another AAA team would play Downtown then have them move somewhere else in Omaha than have no chance of any team playing Downtown.

Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:39 pm
by Brad
I want them to play downtown too, however if they leave, we are not going to get another AAA team downtown.  We would get some crappy summer league.  Omaha is ONE step below MLB, I we need to keep a AAA time in the metro somewhere.

Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:08 pm
by Omababe
Brad wrote:I want them to play downtown too, however if they leave, we are not going to get another AAA team downtown.  We would get some crappy summer league.  Omaha is ONE step below MLB, I we need to keep a AAA time in the metro somewhere.
Why do I get the feeling that this is all a big play-act to leverage the deal with MECA (or whoever is really calling the shots) to play at the new stadium?

The LaVista Royals?

Well, uh, I guess they *DO* have a Round Rock (TX) team!

Makes about as much sense as the Jersey Giants!

Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:39 pm
by Stargazer
Last I checked... the team playing at Council Bluffs' Mid America Center was the Omaha Lancers.

Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:41 pm
by CapitalGuy
If they get moved to LaVista, I bet they'll just change the name to the Nebraska Royals.

Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:48 pm
by Brad
CapitalGuy wrote:If they get moved to LaVista, I bet they'll just change the name to the Nebraska Royals.
I think you can ask the River City and Golden Spikes what in a name....

Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 5:02 pm
by Greg S
I also want them in DT but if it's La Vista vs Vancouver or some Houston suburb, I'd take them in La Vista.  I'm sure if they do go to La Vista the name won't change.  It's not uncommon for teams to have the primary cities name even if they are in a neighboring suburb or border state.

Greg

Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 5:10 pm
by the1wags
Stargazer wrote:Wags.. you sounds as if you'd rather they ended up in Vancouver... than possibly locating to La Vista.

Sort of reminds me of the attitude of many Husker haters who aren't even fans of college football. :lol:
It would most likely be the same result, me not going to the games.

Also, because I don't like Cornsucker football means I'm not a fan of college football?

Back to the Royals, it just irks me that we could have AAA ball downtown, well within walking distance from bars, restaurants etc. but could lose that for Southport. Before anyone compares the Old Market/downtown to La Vista, don't go there.

How many times can you go to Cabela's for pre/post game entertainment? I'm just not convinced that Southport will come remotely close to providing the outside the park amenities that downtown would.

That said, I'm sure the suburbanites that don't know downtown Omaha when they see a photo of it will think it's grand.  :roll: