Omaha Forums

Coyote wrote:Phelps Diet: 12,000 calories / day

iamjacobm wrote:Phelps is competing again!

Unger said the feedback received from athletes after the ’12 meet also helped organizers decide Omaha was the place to be.

“We probably quizzed 25 to 30 athletes and asked them, ‘Hey, what do you think?’ ” Unger said. “Ninety to 95 percent of them said, ‘Why would you move it?’ ”

iamjacobm wrote:This is a really really cool article.

http://www.omaha.com/sports/omaha-s-wor ... 1c082.html

Unger said the feedback received from athletes after the ’12 meet also helped organizers decide Omaha was the place to be.

“We probably quizzed 25 to 30 athletes and asked them, ‘Hey, what do you think?’ ” Unger said. “Ninety to 95 percent of them said, ‘Why would you move it?’ ”

“I’ll tell you one of my favorite things about Omaha is being out at a restaurant, talking to people in Omaha,” Marsh said. “It’s such a pleasant place with pleasant people, and you feel welcome in a genuine way.” “I think Omaha has put on the
two best swimming events that I’ve ever been to,” Marsh said. “First trials, then they outdid it the second time.”

“I think that we’ve already proven now with two trials that the environment in Omaha is absolutely electric and a tremendous place for people to make an Olympic team,” Bowman said. “I know as a coach, for me, the trials are much more stressful than the games themselves because you have to get the job done on a certain day.

“Omaha, and the trek to Omaha, for young kids all over the country has been almost like a Mecca move in swimming where people need to be there,” he said. “They need to get their eyes on that unique event, because it isn’t anywhere else like that. That’s a testament to the job that you guys have done in Omaha.”

Omaha Sports Commission President Harold Cliff said Tuesday that about 2,000 more all-session passes have been sold than at this point four years ago.
Cliff also said that booked hotel room nights already are over 26,000 for the 2016 Trials, which would be almost 2,000 more than 2012’s total. That should help with the overall economic impact for 2016 potentially approaching $40 million for Omaha.

Surf Omaha is a portable pool that shoots water backward toward users, who can choose to lie on their stomach and arms on a boogie board or stand on a surfboard. The unit will be surrounded by an area for spectators to take photos and view surfers.

The cost to ride Surf Omaha hasn’t been determined, but Farrell expects it to be “somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 to $30,” he said. Riders will share a 30-minute session with seven other people, while in-water experts will be available to help teach.

» Myrtha will no longer use the precast concrete blocks to form the base under the pool, as it did in 2008 and 2012. Instead, it will ship a prefabricated steel foundation with all holes pre-drilled at the factory, allowing the base and walls to be more easily pieced together in Omaha.

» The pools are now built with a “movable head wall” that can be adjusted even after being filled with roughly 1 million gallons of water. John Ireland of Myrtha Pools said it will be the first time that innovation is used in the U.S.

» The competition pool will be about a meter wider than the two others built in the CenturyLink Center, allowing for ropes on the outside of Lane 0 and Lane 9. Those lanes, only used in some preliminary morning swims, previously were bordered by the walls.


After the Trials, the warmup pool will be headed to a facility in West Fargo, North Dakota. Ireland said the competition pool also has been sold, but the name of the buyer has not yet been made public.

Around Omaha, the extra visitors add to an estimated 29,000 hotel rooms already booked in conjunction with the Trials. That figure was around 23,500 in 2012.
And only a small amount of tickets remain for the final session July 3, making a complete sellout possible after three sessions sold out in 2012.

KETV wrote:USA Swimming says that thanks to “unprecedented demand,” the first seven days of the trials are sold out.

Fewer than 600 tickets are available for the last session on July 3.

According to USA Swimming, in 2012 there were three sold-out sessions, and there were none in 2008.

The strong sales guarantee that Omaha will set a new American attendance record for a swimming event, according to USA Swimming.

skinzfan23 wrote:That is amazing that it is nearly sold out. I can understand that last day being a little tougher sell since a lot of people are holding their 4th of July parties that day and the Storm Chasers fireworks and College Home Run Derby and fireworks are that same day.

As of Monday, fewer than 600 tickets remained for the Trials’ final session on July 3. The first seven days, and 14 sessions, already have been sold out.

Current ticket sales ensure that the 2016 Trials will exceed 200,000 in attendance. Previous U.S. Trials held at the Century­Link Center included attendance over 167,000 in 2012 and over 160,000 in 2008.

skinzfan23 wrote:Great pictures Brad....can't wait to see it all in person soon.

Brad wrote:

skinzfan23 wrote:Great pictures Brad....can't wait to see it all in person soon.

Thanks. Sounds like its going to be even better this year.

skinzfan23 wrote:Brad, did you get any pictures of the outside of the CLink with the LED lights being all different colors? I saw it last night on the news.

Brad wrote:

skinzfan23 wrote:Brad, did you get any pictures of the outside of the CLink with the LED lights being all different colors? I saw it last night on the news.

No, didn't know they were up and running yet. I will get one soon.

skinzfan23 wrote:

Brad wrote:

skinzfan23 wrote:Brad, did you get any pictures of the outside of the CLink with the LED lights being all different colors? I saw it last night on the news.

No, didn't know they were up and running yet. I will get one soon.

I was referring to the regular lights, not the swimmer LED lights. It looked like the light they have turned pink for breast cancer or red, white and blue, were all different colors last night. (I don't think the "swimmer" LED lights are on quite yet)

There will be an American attendance record for a swimming event when final crowds exceed 200,000 for the Trials, which run June 26 to July 3. The CenturyLink Center capacity for swimming is listed at just over 14,000.
And to handle more fans, Trials officials said about 200 standing-room-only tickets will be made available each session.

Three night sessions sold out in 2012, when total attendance was just over 167,000. That shattered the record Omaha set in 2008, when it drew more than 160,000 in its first time as host.
The popularity of the event has continued to grow since going from a 4,400-seat facility in Indianapolis in 2000 to a temporary 10,000-seat venue in Long Beach, California, in 2004, when total attendance first eclipsed 100,000.

skinzfan23 wrote:Brad, did you get any pictures of the outside of the CLink with the LED lights being all different colors? I saw it last night on the news.

Brad wrote:

skinzfan23 wrote:Brad, did you get any pictures of the outside of the CLink with the LED lights being all different colors? I saw it last night on the news.

Apparently it was an Orlando Tribute: