[jesse--james]

There has been a lot of talk about building a new baseball stadium in Downtown Omaha at a cost of $60 million or so -- What does everybody think about this?? Rosenblatt has a tradition as our City's baseball stadium. It would be a huge blow to that neighborhood if the stadium were moved. Is Fahey for the people of Omaha or for the outsiders ??? Is the the plan to move the stadium Fahey's attempt to hide to the rest of the world that we have a growing illegal immigrant population living in South Omaha ??

[mattpoulsen]

I understand your hesitation...Rosenblatt is a part of Omaha. However, it is run down and is becoming quite antiquated. I would also add that there are many other areas in Omaha besides the area that it is in. Just because its moving doesn't mean the powers that be are abandoning Omaha...they're just moving to a different part of it. I have seen some recommendations suggesting that the new arena be place somewhere near the Qwest center...I'm not sure how accurate that is though, so don't take my word for it. There is a sentimental attachment to the Blatt and I fully understand that, but times do change. And if Omaha really loved their Royals they would go to the games. The attendance at the games is embarrassingly low.

My big concern is to retain the College World Series. Granted, it may cater to outsiders, but its a nice revenue stream for the city of Omaha and gives a window for the rest of the country to get a look at the city. If you ask anyone in the country to name 3 things they know about Omaha I would be willing to bet that at least one of them would be the College World Series. It would be devastating to lose that.

[DTO Luv]

I think the new stadium is a great idea.

-The new land left over from Rosenblatt would be great for expanding the zoo.

-The new stadium will help Omaha keep the CWS until 2020. Rosenblatt is aging and the NCAA is falling out of love with Rosenblatt and the area. They're coming down on alcohol vendors and the "Dingerville" area so the current set up is becoming obsolete.

-A new stadium will help the Royals attendance as people who wouldn't have gone to the games otherwise will now attend.

- The stadium will be a new part of the North DT area which is already seeing development, and will see more once the stadium and streetcars are built.

[jesse--james]

Hold on to your wallets if it does happen -- the backloaded payment schedule for the quest center will come due in 2010 -- along with projected increases in the police and firman's pensions -- we just can't afford to build a new stadium right now. Rosenblatt is not that bad!! It has had many updates. I think that racism is behind the plan to move. Just because a few Illegal immigrants are moving into the area --the mayor wants to hide that. It's called WHITE FLIGHT! The attendance is low at the Royals games because the price of tickets is way too high for AAA ball.

[DTO Luv]

I don't think the city has any racial motivation to move the CWS. That's crazy. The only color the city is seeing is green with all of the development and new tax sources that will come up after the stadium is built.

Just because taxes may go up does not mean it's going to be outrageous. No matter what taxes go up anyways so you might as well get something to use out of it.

I haven't been to a Royals game yet this year but from what I remember last year the tickets were only $10, if that. That's not at all outrageous even for a family.

[WARNYOU]

I think that it is totally stupid for the city to build another ball park Downtown.
The city has put millions into Rosenblatt just in the last few years and it is not run down or outdated, if it were the CWS would have pulled out years ago.
The fact of the matter is that no one goes to the ball games now they surely will not go to the ball games later. Sure attendence may go up for the first years, but give it 5 years the park will be empty again as it is now.
If the zoo needs more land to expand they should buy some of the old houses around it's property line.
I am tired of kissing the NCAA/CWS 's *****, they say jump and the city asks how high. We give a great location, tax breaks, clean area, plenty of room for vendors, great attendence numbers and they are always threatening to move if Omaha does not bow to them. I feel we are better off with out them.
They come for one week, but we get stuck living here with a big bill the rest of the year.

[Macaroon]

I think the new proposal for the stadium in NODO with expandable seating for the CWS is a real WIN-WIN-WIN for everybody.

[mattpoulsen]

The major draw is the CWS! Tickets don't sell at Rosenblatt because its a AAA ball club and no one really cares! Of course we need to kiss the NCAA's butt because if we don't we'll lose the only positive revenue stream associated to Omaha baseball. They are suggesting a new stadium with only about 6000 permanent seats and bringing in portables for the CWS. If we don't build a new one we will eventually lose the CWS and Rosenblatt will end up disappearing anyway.

The choice is either move to a new stadium and keep the CWS or lose the CWS and eventually see Rosenblatt become obsolete anyway. To me the choice is obvious!

[jesse--james]

Originally Posted by DTO Luv

I haven't been to a Royals game yet this year but from what I remember last year the tickets were only $10, if that. That's not at all outrageous even for a family.

$10 a ticket for a family of four -- plus the outrageous concessions leads to a $100 night out easily. Perhaps those of you without families don't realize how fast that can add up.

Spending tens of millions of dollars for a new stadium is nothing more than subsidizing the service industry at the expense of the taxpayer. Fahey is spending like a fiend. -- backloading the payments for all of these projects so that his budgets look presentable -but once he steps out of office-- his house of cards will come crashing down -- and what will Omaha be then? A big city with big city problems.

[MattDen]

I think a new baseball stadium would be wonderful and the state needs to pony it up out of the general fund why the premier city in the state be held back from what it wants because of rural special interests.

Rather then the state of Nebraska spending so much money on rural roads to very few people, small schools that dont have a large enough student to teacher ratio and on state colleges in rural areas they should have a new baseball stadium for the premier city of the state.