On to Omaha: It's a sweet sweep for the Huskers

[Brad]

On to Omaha: It's a sweet sweep for the Huskers

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=38&u_sid=1434104


Any discussion on the poll

[Big E]

The only negative to NU or Creighton being in the CWS is if they go 0-2, and all the people that snapped up the tickets don't show to the other games, or unload their tickets. I was really disappointed by that in the previous two visits by NU.

Outside of that, you're only talking about a handful of hotel rooms for one team (and their fans) from out of town. Big deal. The city, state and region makes up that difference on ticket and merchandise sales to all the new bandwagon fans.

-Big E

[Brad]

NU In CWS Mixes Green With Red
Metro fans, businesses gearing up

http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/1624621.html

Minutes after NU recorded the final out, fans flocked to Husker Hounds at 84th and Center for CWS necessities. "We jumped in the car quick because we knew everything would go fast," said Cindy Empson. "It will be crazy." Cindy stocked up on the traditional Mardi Gras beads, in red and white of course. Nick Wells searched for the perfect ball cap. "I think I'm going to go with this one." Bryan Nichols and his son were after Nebraska College World Series shirts. "As soon as the game was over we packed up and headed for Husker Hounds looking for shirts." Bryan was told CWS shirts won't be in for a few more days.

[DTO Luv]

Care to guess how I voted? Even though it is one team not coming from afar, the NCAA said in the OWH a fear years ago that it did lose money (enough to worry about apparently) when the Huskers came. If CU was in I would worry too, but they don't have the amount of crazed, ticket buying fans like UNL does.

[Big E]

How would the NCAA have lost money on the deal just because the ticket buyers were Nebraska fans? A sold ticket is a sold ticket. I can certainly see a drop-off in concessions when no one came back after the 0-2 starts, but the tickets don't suddenly become unsold.

Am I missing something?

-Big E

[OmahaDevelopmentMan]

Care to guess how I voted? Even though it is one team not coming from afar, the NCAA said in the OWH a fear years ago that it did lose money (enough to worry about apparently) when the Huskers came. If CU was in I would worry too, but they don't have the amount of crazed, ticket buying fans like UNL does.

Also, CU doesn't have anything close to the amount of fans as the Huskers do. The thing I'm starting to worry about is both CU and NU both have a chance at the CWS in the next few years, so if they keep losing money, would they consider leaving? Oh and I voted the same way as you .

[DTO Luv]

^ One NCAA guy said that would be an extreme possiblitly, but I think we'd add on more seats for Fing Husker fans than let CWS leave. Even if the tickets are sold and they still lose substantial amounts of money, than I think it's someting to worry about. Plus Omaha will lose money from them not staying in hotels or sticking around Omaha for 10 days.

[Big E]

The NCAA wouldn't let both NU and CU in the same CWS. Unless they both happened to be worthy of Top 8 National Seeds, I can guarantee you that they would, at the very least, run into one another in a Super Regional before they both made it to Omaha.

-Big E

[murfj]

How in the world could the CWS possibly lose money by having Nebraska there? I don't know the exact capacity of Rosenblatt, but let's say that if Nebraska is in the CWS they have 18,000 fans who buy tickets and go to the games. If Nebraska doesn't go and University of Sacramento gets there instead (for example), they bring maybe 2,000 fans..... that's a huge difference in ticket sales- it seems obvious which one is the bigger money maker. The only difference I could see as a whole would be that many of the Nebraska fans are not booking hotel rooms as an out of state team's fans would, but again those 18,000 Nebraska fans are going to be eating out at Omaha restaurants, some of them may be from areas farther away than Omaha/Lincoln so they may still book hotel rooms....

Again, I don't see the negative aspect to this.

[GoWest]

I doubt that anybody losses money. They may make less some years, but I have a hard time seeing them loose money. Retailers interviewed on TV after Nebraska’s win said that their sales were up the last time Nebraska went to the CWS. I think I sense the anti UNL thing coming into play.

[murfj]

That's exactly what I am sensing, because there is no logical way the CWS loses money when more tickets are sold.

[icejammer]

I think that's the point some would make, that not as many tickets get sold when Nebraska is in the CWS. While that would be true for 2001 (lowest paid attendance in the last 8 years), it didn't hurt attendance so much the following year (3rd highest in last 8 years). I think (possibly) in 2001 that people from out-of-state who normally would attend did not, thinking that locals would buy up all the extra tickets and shut them out, so they didn't even try. I don't think it's so much a concern of actually losing money as it is losing potential revenue for the NCAA. Still, considering that even though the baseball championships is the second highest grossing championship series for the NCAA, I don't think it hurts them much when you consider the NCAA men's BB tourney grosses 5 times as much.

[jjjjhskr]

I don't know if it's good or bad for Omaha and the CWS but has anyone checked what tickets are going for on ebay??! Saw 4 seats for sessions 1-6 go for $1,850 about an hour ago. Wish I could sell my tickets for the sessions before I get there next Tuesday but I think I'd have some upset family members....

[Brad]

CWS ready for Big Red

Jack Diesing Jr. was sure of at least one thing Monday as he spoke of the 2005 College World Series running smoothly even with Nebraska involved.

[omahapropertymanager]

I don't believe that the NCAA would actually lose money with Nebraska being here. I think they only people who have a chance on making less money than last year (Their's no way they will lose money) would be the hospitality industry. With the Huskers in there's one less team that would have brought fans who would have stayed in hotel rooms, etc. The good thing is that we knocked Miami out and not a team that would have brought thousands of fans.

[DTO Luv]

The consensus around work is no one wants the Huskers there either. (Guess I'm at the right place ) One area we will take a hit in is exposure. People in Lincoln don't all think the world of Omaha, but people who are paying all of this money to come are going to want to go around the city.

$1,800 for tickets? A guy at work is selling his for $5 (10 tix in a book $50 for the book.)

[OmahaDevelopmentMan]

Wasn't there suppose to be a new scoreboard at rosenblatt that would be up in time for the series? Or is that not going up untill next year?

[GoWest]

Yeah I’m sure we will take a big hit on exposure. What will we do without the 1000 people Miami would bring up here? I doubt that many people from Miami would be that impressed with Omaha anyway. From what I understand Miami doesn’t really travel the best. Again the retailers they interviewed on TV said this is good for business. They guy that they interviewed was a hotel manager and he said business was better when the huskers were here. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of Nebraska residents stayed in town during the entire series to take in the environment, check out the zoo and do some shopping. After all, until recently they have been left out of the CWS.

[DTO Luv]

I doubt there would be that many people from Lincoln staying in Omaha all week. Plus what other teams were here when Nebraska was here? It could have been other teams bringing in people.

[Coyote]

Wasn't there suppose to be a new scoreboard at rosenblatt that would be up in time for the series? Or is that not going up untill next year?

The new contract with CWS has $2.2 million in improvements during the next three to four years.

Among the improvements to be made are the installation of a permanent video board as well as a new scoreboard, the installation of protective fencing in front of the dugouts, the expansion of locker-room facilities for umpires and laser grading of the field.

[GoWest]

You could be right about it being other teams. I’m just repeating what the hotel manager said. You know you do have to leave your address when you stay at a hotel. Sometimes I even get a follow up feedback card. They know where we are from.

And I’m sure you know that not all Nebraska fans are from Lincoln. Omaha is a big exciting city to many outstate Nebraska fans. Some Nebraskans probably even come back from other states to see there team in the CWS.

[DTO Luv]

^ Well we'll take them than.

[jjjjhskr]

$1,800 for tickets? A guy at work is selling his for $5 (10 tix in a book $50 for the book.)

The highest I've seen go by on ebay was $2,800 for 2 season tickets for the series. For an individual game 4 tickets for $560. Amazing.

[edsas]

I think Nebraska at the CWS is going to be great, especially since they've got a legitimate shot of winning it all this time. If Nebraska makes it to the final, the atmosphere around Rosenblatt will be positively electric.

Sidenote, I was watching a local sportscast here in LA a couple of days ago covering whatever regional USC and Cal State Fullerton were in. Afterwards the sportscaster turned to the anchors and said, "Omaha's not exactly vacationland USA, but I've always wanted to go to the College World Series. There aren't many sporting events that look as let-loose-fun as this one."

Thought it was a nice plug.

[eomaha]

Three Big 12 teams in the CWS... pretty impressive.

[murfj]

Again, as another poster mentioned, if Nebraska wasn't going to be in the world series it would have been Miami--- and there is absolutely no way that Miami's 1000 fans would bring more money to Omaha than Nebraska's many thousands of fans.
And Nebraska is not just Lincoln's team- they are the entire state's team, so fans are coming in from ALL OVER NEBRASKA and even other states to see the Huskers play in the CWS, so many of them are still going to be staying in hotels- probably far more than the 1000 or so from Miami who would have been taking those hotel rooms.
I also know plenty of people in Omaha, and they say the same thing that I am noticing here- the only people who complain about the Huskers being in the CWS are the ones who seem to think Omaha is separate from the rest of the state, and don't want to claim the Huskers as their own.

[OmahaDevelopmentMan]

Three Big 12 teams in the CWS... pretty impressive.

I think thats going to be a problem for the Huskers. Texas is always ready to play come series time no matter how good their team is. The Huskers have also struggled with Texas this season, so that may end up being a bad thing. Baylor as well knows what the Huskers can bring to the table and would be more prepared than most teams to play them. We'll have to see though. I think if the Huskers go 2 n bbq for the 3rd time I think Anderson will have to get his act together with in a few years of hes gone. We all know how the NU AD never hesitates to fire a good coach.

[omahapropertymanager]

I think thats going to be a problem for the Huskers. Texas is always ready to play come series time no matter how good their team is. The Huskers have also struggled with Texas this season, so that may end up being a bad thing. Baylor as well knows what the Huskers can bring to the table and would be more prepared than most teams to play them. We'll have to see though.

The good thing is, the way the brackets are set up Nebraska would not have to play Texas or Baylor until the final. I'd feel a lot more comfortable if it was Baylor that Nebraska would face, but we've got a shot against Texas. Anything can happen in a long series like this, especially now that the championship series is best of 3.

[StreetsOfOmaha]

I don't see how ANYONE could see the Huskers coming to the CWS as a "good" thing for Omaha.

I could maybe accept someone's argument saying that it would be the same, but definitely not "better".

My contention is that it is much worse to have the Huskers in the CWS than any other out of state team. Although I think there is a definite negative economic impact, I think the non-substantive "national exposure" issues are what will hurt us the most.

1) Many of the Husker fans who will buy out the tickets are the same SUV-driving, Omaha suburbanites that would go to the CWS anyway, only this year they will wear Husker apparel.

2) For every local Husker fan who goes to the CWS, a potential out-of-towner who has never been to Omaha has missed out on valuable city exposure.

3) Granted many Husker Fans will stick around after games to dine, drink, etc. in the Old Market and downtown, many are likely to just head home since they aren't staying in hotels downtown and elsewhere.

4) Many of you may remember from the past two times the Huskers were in the CWS, that the UNL games were totally packed houses flooded with red, but since many tickets are sold as "session" tickets, meaning you can attend the afternoon and evening games, the other "non-Husker" game of the day would be only half full since many Husker fans only came to see THEIR team, and could drive back home afterwards. That doesn't look good on the national sports broadcast, or to visiting team fans.

5) To the rest of the country who will be watching national sports coverage of the CWS from their homes, I think seeing the stands at Rosenblatt Stadium almost completely flooded with red t-shirts is a turn off, meaning they won't watch as much CWS coverage, meaning they won't see and hear as much of Omaha.


Of course these claims ara all totally subjective and based on my opinion, but I do strongly believe them to be true and logical. As a non-biased sportsfan (meaning I don't care for sports) who sees the Huskers as he sees any sports team, I think that if the Huskers make it all the way to the final game, the negative impact on Omaha would be devastating when compared to past years that benefitted from the Husker's absense.

[Big E]

To dispute, point-by-point:

1) Fair enough, it's probably a wash.

2) How many of those local Husker fans never ventured east of 90th before, though? Or they haven't been there since FNB or the Qwest Center went up, or since the condo boom, or the Desert Dome, Orangutan Forest, etc... You could be exposing people that LIVE here to downtown for the first time, and they could actually come back once a month for the next 20 years.

3) And many of the out-of-towners simply head back to their RVs and drink Old Style from a can that they imported with them from Baton Rouge.

4) The early session games are set up differently this year. On dates with more than one game, each game is a "session" and the stands will be cleared between games. You still buy tickets to "sessions", but the sessions are now single games instread of a double-header. My gut tells me this was implemented specifically to counter the Nebraska Effect.

5) Ask officials of the Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl and Rose Bowl if their events suffered when Miami or Florida State or LSU or USC or UCLA were playing in their own backyards (and in two cases, home stadiums). The NCAA wants butts in the seats, period.

So, in conclusion, I submit that the CWS is no worse to better off with the Huskers in it. The main disadvantage was unused session tickets, and that has been addressed.

-Big E

[OmahaDevelopmentMan]

First off, streets, AMEN!

Now, to counter dispute

2) How many of those local Husker fans never ventured east of 90th before, though? Or they haven't been there since FNB or the Qwest Center went up, or since the condo boom, or the Desert Dome, Orangutan Forest, etc...

Yes, but what about the all the other CWS fans who have never been to Omaha or haven't been in a while? Isn't most of that new to them as well?

3) And many of the out-of-towners simply head back to their RVs and drink Old Style from a can that they imported with them from Baton Rouge.

LSU didn't make it this year

Point #4 has been been addressed.

5) Ask officials of the Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl and Rose Bowl if their events suffered when Miami or Florida State or LSU or USC or UCLA were playing in their own backyards (and in two cases, home stadiums). The NCAA wants butts in the seats, period

This isn't football, its baseball. Thousands and thousands of fans will travel for miles to see a bowl game. In baseball, most of the time we're lucky to see a good 3000+ out of town fans per game. When its dominated by Nebraska fans people won't even bother to come because the stadium will be much more unwelcoming than it would be in the nonNU years.

And to address the argument that all the Husker games sell out (not yours Big E), all the games sell out regardless if NU is playing or not. Only difference this time is the ticket demand increases.

[custudent]

I am no Husker fan, by any stretch of the imagination, but I think we're probably overstating things if we think Nebraska being here is going to have a "devastating" impact.

Most fans at the College World Series year in and year out are local, or at least come regardless of the field. It is from this group that most Husker fans are probably going to come to, add in those that will come from out-state who wouldn't come otherwise. Also, Nebraska knocked out Miami to get here- one of the worst drawing teams year in and year out at the CWS.

Splitting up all the games into individual sessions is a good thing for when NU is here. Thier fans do have a reputation for not going to both games of a session, so that should make it easier to get into non-Husker games.

I also think we're being a bit of a worry wort if we think that seeing some Husker-leaning crowds on ESPN is going to turn people off. This event is a lot bigger than Nebraska and is more than capable of surviving on it's own. Even if Nebraska sweeps their way to the national championship, it's not going to hurt the CWS and it'll still be back with a vengence next year.

I'm not going to be rooting for Nebraska and I don't particularly like large segments of their fan base. That said, let's not get too carried away in our concern.

Also, on the idea that local teams in the CWS will make them more likely to leave- considering the investment that the NCAA has made in this town and marketing Omaha as such an integral part of the event, it'd take a whole lot more than that to make them move. Also, if the NCAA starts to whine because one or both of the local teams make semi-regular apperances, they would have to be aware of the message that would send - there's a ceiling on how good we will let Nebraska and/or Creighton build up their programs. That's a terrible image for the NCAA to send to their member schools and they won't.

It's still June and it's still the CWS, even if Ma and Pa from Minden are here in the 1995 National Champions shirts. The CWS is too good to be ruined by that.

[OmahaDevelopmentMan]

I'm not going to be rooting for Nebraska and I don't particularly like large segments of their fan base.

Yes, and those fans (not all NU fans) will scare some out of towners away thinking all Nebraskans are A holes!

[Shatner's Rug]

The biggest negative is that Husker fans when they're in the big majority for the most part are a-holes. Any fan of an opposing team that's playing the Huskers that has to sit in the stands and take all the |expletive| they will from Husker fans is likely not going to come back next time if Nebraska is involved and that's the problem. The teams and fans that come to the CWS truly act like they are part of a bigger event, Husker fans with their arrogance will invade and act like they own the CWS.

[Brad]

NU crowds top NCAA postseason attendance

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=38&u_sid=1436934

LINCOLN - Nebraska averaged 8,330 fans for its five postseason home games this year at Haymarket Park, better than any other NCAA regional or super regional host.

[jjjjhskr]

Shatner, you're either an Oklahoma fan or one of those persons for no real reason have a hatred of the Huskers. And I initially got a good chuckle out of your forum name....

While I think Nebraska being at the CWS isn't the best thing - it's also not one of the worst. I have no idea all those years that Miami made it to the Orange Bowl for national championship games that the the sky didn't fall. Somehow we all lived and the sun is still revolving around the earth and all those ships that head into the great beyond haven't fallen off the earth when they got to the edge (don't tell me that either of those are not true, I'm not sure I cant handle it). There are so many examples of this and somehow it all works out. As far as economic impact, NU fans are known as big spenders when they travel and I would bet the hotels still do well - check out the travel websites and see what rooms you can actually book and if you can, what the prices are that are being charged. I would bet more NU fans will buy shirts, caps, programs, etc.. than the 500 max. fans who would have travelled from Miami.

To criticize Nebraska fans behavior is bizarre when Nebraska fans are known for their good behavior. In fact, this last week Nebraska fans lined the walk to the Miami bus to congratulate the players on a good game, not to heap abuses on them (much like the NU football fans are known for doing after wins and losses at memorial stadium). I've been to more than enough away games as a Husker fan (Pittsburgh, Seattle, Miami, OU, Colorado, Cal., and others - and boy have I seen some exceptionally poor behavior) and know from a visiting fans perspective how well behaved NU fans are - (and yes, I've seen some who are jerks but they're the exception not the rule).

[Big E]

At this point, it's probably a good idea to differentiate between NU in the CWS being:

a) good or bad for the CWS

or

b) good or bad for OMAHA, as the poll asks

I would still vote neither to good.

If the CWS were in some other one-day-drive city, such as KC or OKCity, they would LOVE LOVE LOVE Nebraska to be there, because they would bring 10,000+ fans. Probabaly 6000+ if they were in any other city that required a connecting flight.

So why is Omaha so upset?

-Big E

[Shatner's Rug]

The people who most often call Nebraska fans the classiest in the country are Nebraska fans and it is the biggest myth about Nebraska outside of county scholarships. Occasionaly you hear that coming from a person outside of a Nebraska fan but it's usually from an announcer that has abolutely no contact with Husker fans and they're just passing on the myth. It is so bad that Viola this week actually talked about how Nebraska fans don't boo at baseball games when they had been booing all game and it was shortly after someone dropped a "That's f*&kin b*&$%&(t" right next to the camera. Just ask any fan of a team that actually has to spend some time around Husker fans or whose team Husker fans feel is just too inferior to bother with but who has beat the Huskers (i.e. Kansas State, Missouri, Colorado, Creighton, Iowa) how they feel about Husker fans. I'm sure Husker fans didn't line Miami's bus, it was probably a few Husker fans. That's just the same as the small group that stands in the corner of Memorial Stadium clapping for the other team, Husker fans use that to perpetuate the "classy" myth by acting like the whole stadium stands and applauds when it's a small group. I was lucky enough to get a ticket with a friend to the final regional game when they beat Creighton and the "classy" Husker fans were actually booing every time a Creighton player was announced on the all-regional team. After spending time at a few Husker baseball games this year as a pretty neutral observer (two of the Texas games, the Creighton Rosenblatt games) I can say that Husker fans are anything but cordial to those two teams and their fans. To sum it up, when I start hearing about how well behaved or how classy Husker fans are from the people who really know, i.e. the teams above, and not from Husker fans themselves I'll start changing my mind.

[edsas]

Maybe times have changed, but the first time I experienced the classiness of Husker fans was when I attended my very first Husker football game. Nebraska vs. UCLA in 1987. It was a hard-fought, close game that Nebraska lost something like 28 to 24. I was 13 at the time and I felt like I got punched in the gut. I was devestated. But then I noticed all these people clapping. It wasn't the entire stadium, but it was damn near half of them. And 38,000 clapping people is still a lot of people. It seemed like they were applauding as much for Nebraska's effort as they were UCLA's. I can't really tell you for sure. All I know is I've attended a lot of sporting events in the last 18 years and I don't remember any losing fans sticking around and clapping excpet for Husker fans. Maybe it happens elsewhere, but I've just never seen it. I've seen them do it for close games, too. I remember Husker fans clapping when they barely beat South Carolina in 1988. And there was no question who they clapping for, either. It was the Gamecocks. I remember Husker fans clapping for Barry Sanders when he scored 5 touchdowns against them in 1988. When I was in college, 1993 to 1998, I never attended any of Nebraska's losses (there weren't too many of them), but I remember fans being more than gracious to the opposing teams. The only Husker game I've been to in the last 7 years was the 2002 Rose Bowl. Husker fans seemed quiet before, during and after that game more than anything. And we didn't clap for Miami. The team and the fans were mocked relentlessly by the LA media (who didn't think the Huskers deserved to be there -- and I guess they didn't) and Miami fans who, I can tell you, are asinine as they come. So no, we didn't clap for the Hurricains, but I offered congratulations to the Miami fans around me. I was sitting in their section, unfortunately.

Maybe Husker fans are in a funk along with their football team. Maybe they've lost their class, but there's no question they once had it.

But maybe with the baseball team giving them something to cheer about, you'll see a glimmer of the class that's been there for almost the entire time I've been a Husker fan myself.

[DTO Luv]

Omaha is seperate from the rest of the state. We don't have to much in common with the rest of it.

And Husker fans are dick holes. I can look at my family as the perfect example. I'll use my own mom. My brother had won a drawing to go out and flip the coin at a Huskers game. Tom was still the coach and we were playing Oklahoma. We got a tour of the stadium and then we go to go on the sidelines and watch my brother go out on the field and flip the coin. For some reason they had us on the OU side. My youngest brother (at the time) was about 6 and not really paying attention to what was going on. We were standing where the kicker's net was and the guy kicking almost ran into my brother and had said something about him under his breath. My mom heard it and walked up to the guy, got up in his face, and pushed him down on the ground and was yelling and screaming at him until our escort took us off the field. My mom's a tough lady any way, but she was also yelling stuff about the Huskers and not my brother.

Although I have heard one good story about them. My youngest brother(now)'s uncle played somewhere in California (later for the Raiders) and had TO apologize to him with a NU player after he had did something wrong to him during the game. But's that probably more of a reflection on him than the fans.

And like someone said earlier, the Husker's will make this about the Huskers and not the CWS.