MLB Series in Omaha

[riceweb]

I had heard some chatter that teams like the Brewers were looking into hosting a series or two in Omaha against their weaker, less attended opponents. Since Omaha is now home to our fancy TD Ameritrade Park, it seems like a win for any club that would bring a couple of games down.

But I haven't heard anything about an MLB team in ages. I'm not sure if it was idle conjecture or if there was anything more substantial behind the rumor. Mostly, I was just curious if anyone had any thoughts on the matter (i.e. which clubs would be most likely to host a series in Omaha, when would they play, etc.)

[iamjacobm]

That would be amazing and this city would eat that up.  I have a hard time believing it though.  Players would hate it, the home team fans would hate it, the cities that spent hundreds of millions of dollars to keep their teams in their cities can't be big on letting revenue, no matter how small, out the door.

[Big E]

Plus the only place that could possibly support an event that important is in Sarpy County and holds 17 people, with berm seating.

[riceweb]

Here's a table of 2011 attendance figures:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance

Cleveland and Kansas City, despite hot starts, still boast wretched attendance #s in the mid 10s. But really, any of the clubs averaging less than 20k would probably be a good fit for a series.

[Brad]

I had heard some chatter that teams like the Brewers were looking into hosting a series or two in Omaha against their weaker, less attended opponents. Since Omaha is now home to our fancy TD Ameritrade Park, it seems like a win for any club that would bring a couple of games down.

Funny, until I just looked, I thought the Brewers were the weaker team....

But I haven't heard anything about an MLB team in ages. I'm not sure if it was idle conjecture or if there was anything more substantial behind the rumor. Mostly, I was just curious if anyone had any thoughts on the matter (i.e. which clubs would be most likely to host a series in Omaha, when would they play, etc.)

I don't see any sports team that has their own stadium playing a single game here with the exception of a natural disaster.  Its all about the Money and most of the money doesn't come from ticket sales.  Bringing a pro team here for a series will do nothing but loose money for that team.  Loss of Advertising Revenue, Loss of concession sales, etc.  It will not work.

[OmahaBen]

Never gonna happen for a multitude of reasons.

Off the top of my head, it'd require MLB approval, MLBPA approval, teams would have to forego season ticket revenue for those games. Might have some contractual issues regarding their home stadium.

Much like Ricketts moving the I-Cubs to Omaha (as though Des Moines has no say in the matter), this rumor is DOA.

[SabrinaFaire]

I had heard some chatter that teams like the Brewers were looking into hosting a series or two in Omaha against their weaker, less attended opponents. Since Omaha is now home to our fancy TD Ameritrade Park, it seems like a win for any club that would bring a couple of games down.

Funny, until I just looked, I thought the Brewers were the weaker team....

I think they are just tired of Cubs fans referring to Miller Park as "Wrigley North" ;)

[riceweb]

I had heard some chatter that teams like the Brewers were looking into hosting a series or two in Omaha against their weaker, less attended opponents. Since Omaha is now home to our fancy TD Ameritrade Park, it seems like a win for any club that would bring a couple of games down.

Funny, until I just looked, I thought the Brewers were the weaker team....

Oh, I just meant, let's say another crappy opponent comes up to play the Brewers. Prolly not gonna be a whole lot of people coming out to see the game in Milwaukee, but 20k might show up in Omaha.

[almighty_tuna]

I had heard some chatter that teams like the Brewers

What caused you to mention the Brewers specifically?

[riceweb]

That's the rumor I had heard, but it's been so long, I don't even recall who had mentioned it.

[almighty_tuna]

There is a staff connection to the Brewers, so that's why I asked.  However, before people start ZOMG-ing, no, I don't know anything.

[HskrFanMike]

The Iowa Cubs were never moving to Omaha. That being said, if Omaha's AAA team was playing at TD Ameritrade Park, there would be interest by the owners of the Cubs (who still own about 20% of Ameritrade) to switch their affiliation from Des Moines to Omaha - with Des Moines possibly becoming the Royals AAA affiliate.

As for a MLB series, I suppose it would be possible, especially later in the summer. Before that, I'd wait to see how an exhibition game works in Omaha. Again, I think the Cubs (because of the Ameritrade relationship) are a likely candidate.

[nebport5]

Plus the only place that could possibly support an event that important is in Sarpy County and holds 17 people, with berm seating.

When the Ricketts bought The Cubs I remember a Daub quote about requesting that they bring the Cubs here for an exhibition game.

[lnkS]

I had heard some chatter that teams like the Brewers were looking into hosting a series or two in Omaha against their weaker, less attended opponents. Since Omaha is now home to our fancy TD Ameritrade Park, it seems like a win for any club that would bring a couple of games down.

Funny, until I just looked, I thought the Brewers were the weaker team....

I think they are just tired of Cubs fans referring to Miller Park as "Wrigley North" ;)

Probably just tired of Cubs fans in general.

[ThatGuy]

I don't see any sports team that has their own stadium playing a single game here with the exception of a natural disaster.  Its all about the Money and most of the money doesn't come from ticket sales.  Bringing a pro team here for a series will do nothing but loose money for that team.  Loss of Advertising Revenue, Loss of concession sales, etc.  It will not work.

Yes. End of story.

[OmahaJaysCU]

It has been done before.  A couple years ago the Rays played a few regular season games in Orlando.  I am in the camp of this is highly unlikely, but if it were somehow pulled off that would be amazing.

[cdub]

I don't know what Brewer attendance is doing right now but I loved that stadium when I went there and I would definitely be going to games if I lived in that area.  

While it might be nice to get a minor league exhibition game here, it will be tough when the minor league affiliate does not even play in TDA.  The Cubs used to come play the I Cubs in Sec Taylor.  Did KC ever come to Rosenblatt?

[OmahaBen]

While it might be nice to get a minor league exhibition game here, it will be tough when the minor league affiliate does not even play in TDA.  The Cubs used to come play the I Cubs in Sec Taylor.  Did KC ever come to Rosenblatt?

Teams stopped doing that all together because the player's association objected (don't blame them, frankly, since they're already working 162 out of 180 days, and most of those other 18 days are spent traveling).

[S33]

Of what benefit would it be to any ball club to do this? not happening.

[riceweb]

Am I the only one that sees a revenue opportunity? It's not like MLB clubs are rollin' in the dough when small crowds come in. The Indians already this season have set a record low attendance mark for Jacobs Field at 8,726 fans.

Cold weather and low expectations for a team coming off consecutive 90-loss seasons are just two of the factors contributing to the low attendance for the Indians, who drew less than 10,000 fans to three of their first four home dates and set a record-low mark at Jacobs/Progressive Field with 8,726 fans Sunday.

I've seen that they've bounced back since riding their strong record, but if that's how the season has started, I can't imagine how it'll look in August when the team is slipping towards irrelevancy again.

At that point, against a weak opponent, after you've exhausted all of the "Kids' Day At The Park" promotions you can muster, you schedule a series at TD Ameritrade Park. Not only could you expect large crowds, but you could also rack up the corporate sponsors as well. Who in town wouldn't want to sponsor the MLB? You think Mutual, FNBO, Werner, et al wouldn't be all over that?

I'm not saying it's a sure thing, but for any club lagging in revenue, I would expect them to crunch the numbers on a series in Omaha.

[Brad]

Teams don't make money on people showing up for a couple games a year...  They make money on the big corporate deals and those deals have contracts which I would assume say "You will play XX home games a year here".  Most of those deals are multi year deals meaning they would probably need to start planning now if they want to play here in 2015 or so.  Even then, getting 20,000 people at the trade is not as lucrative as the corporate deals like they have at home.  

While I believe it Will Never Happen, it doesn't mean I don't want it to happen.  I would love it!  But its just not going to happen.

This would be similar to the Storm Chasers coming to the Trade for a 4th of July game.  Its just never going to happen because they can make more money at their own stadium with 9000+ fans than they will in someone elses stadium with 20,000+ fans.

[OmahaBen]

I've seen that they've bounced back since riding their strong record, but if that's how the season has started, I can't imagine how it'll look in August when the team is slipping towards irrelevancy again.

At that point, against a weak opponent, after you've exhausted all of the "Kids' Day At The Park" promotions you can muster, you schedule a series at TD Ameritrade Park. Not only could you expect large crowds, but you could also rack up the corporate sponsors as well. Who in town wouldn't want to sponsor the MLB? You think Mutual, FNBO, Werner, et al wouldn't be all over that?

So when do you schedule this? Before the season? Yeah, that'll go over well when the team is suddenly in a pennant race and has to play 3 games in Omaha instead of its normal home field. If you wait til the all-star break to make sure you're out of contention, what do you do with the tickets already sold, the sponsorships already paid, the travel arrangements already made? what if the road team objects?

Frankly, I'm not sure how a Cleveland-Tampa Bay series even draws well in Omaha with the novelty factor. I don't exactly know too many Rays or Indians fans in the area, and if you just want to see an MLB game simply because it's MLB, the Royals and Twins aren't that far away, and even Denver and Chicago are only a day's drive.

It's not that it'd be a bad idea for Omaha. It's that there's absolutely no benefit for the MLB teams involved to do this. The only team it might make sense for would be Kansas City to try to regain market share up here from the Cubs and Twins. But I don't even see that happening, notwithstanding the MLBPA's likely objections.

[SabrinaFaire]

I had heard some chatter that teams like the Brewers were looking into hosting a series or two in Omaha against their weaker, less attended opponents. Since Omaha is now home to our fancy TD Ameritrade Park, it seems like a win for any club that would bring a couple of games down.

Funny, until I just looked, I thought the Brewers were the weaker team....

I think they are just tired of Cubs fans referring to Miller Park as "Wrigley North" ;)

Probably just tired of Cubs fans in general.

We're everywhere. Already planning a KC invasion this June.  :)

[thenewguy]

I had heard some chatter that teams like the Brewers were looking into hosting a series or two in Omaha against their weaker, less attended opponents. Since Omaha is now home to our fancy TD Ameritrade Park, it seems like a win for any club that would bring a couple of games down.

Funny, until I just looked, I thought the Brewers were the weaker team....

I think they are just tired of Cubs fans referring to Miller Park as "Wrigley North" ;)

Probably just tired of Cubs fans in general.

We're everywhere. Already planning a KC invasion this June.  :)

us too.

[Greg S]

I could see the Cubs and Royals coming up here and playing their last Spring Training game on their way north (would be a big risk weather-wise though).

Greg

[OmahaChef]

Except a Cubs exhibition game to be announced for Spring 2012.

[almighty_tuna]

That would be awesome!!

[HskrFanMike]

Except a Cubs exhibition game to be announced for Spring 2012.

Ever since the Ricketts family bought the Cubs...and their company (TD Ameritrade) bought the naming rights to the ballpark, I've been expecting an Cubs exhibition game in Omaha.  Thought it would be this year, until it was clear the ballpark wasn't going to be ready in March.

[OmahaChef]

Last I heard, they were still working toward a Cubs exhibition game here in 2012.