TheBluejayCafe.com - CU Believes In New Park Opportunities

October 29, 2009

Matt Perrault
TheBluejayCafe.com Publisher

Imagine watching Creighton's baseball team with over 10,000 of your closest friends as they take to the outfield on a warm spring night in Omaha against Louisiana State University. What about spending an evening watching perennial powerhouses Cal State Fullerton or University of Texas play before the College World Series?

For Creighton's Athletic Director Bruce Rasmussen, this isn't just a dream.

This week Creighton finalized a lease with the Metropolitan Entertainment & Convention Authority that will move Jays baseball to the home of the College World Series once construction on the new downtown stadium is complete. Creighton will play a partial schedule at the ballpark in 2011 before moving all of their games to TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in 2012.

Rasmussen has said publicly this week that seeing an average attendance of 3,000 to 5,000 Bluejay fans for baseball is realistic in the new park. In fact, the Creighton athletic director told TheBluejaycafe.com in a phone interview that he "believes that three to 5,000 is a conservative estimate" for how many fans could attend Jays' baseball games in the future.

Many fans believe that Creighton baseball could benefit from the new park dramatically, especially if powerhouse programs can be added to the schedule and play where the College World Series is hosted.

"We really believe, and we've had conversations with College World Series teams -not only coaches, but administrators - about their interest in coming in and playing games in the regular season at the home of the College World Series." Rasmussen said. "The scheduling issues that we have in baseball are much different than those in basketball. If the Final Four was in Omaha every year, it would be much easier for us to schedule teams for basketball.

"It's the 'Road To Omaha' - they want to get to Omaha. We think we will be able to schedule some high-profile games. You take those games, like the Nebraska game and then you add one or two series in your league, like against Wichita State, and then you add some national caliber teams - we think that is a core to begin with for a schedule. "

Regardless of how many fans do wind up going to Creighton baseball games, the deal is done, and fans are already buzzing with excitement for the new park.

"My sense is that we aren't going to play early in 2011 because they (The NCAA) want to see how the turf comes through the winter." Rasmussen said. "However, I also know that the NCAA does not want the opening game in the new stadium to be a College World Series game. My sense would be that we would play a handful of games in 2011 towards the end of our regular season, and then in 2012 play all of our games from there on."

Once TD Ameritrade Park Omaha is finished, Creighton University will be playing in top notch facilities that rival any school in the country. D.J. Sokol Arena for women's volleyball and basketball is brand new and has received rave reviews from fans. The Qwest Center Omaha has allowed men's basketball to rank 12th last year for attendance and soccer plays in the first class Morrison Stadium.

These new buildings have allowed Creighton Athletics to see an uptick in attendance numbers for athletic events and the Jays expect to see a similar result for baseball in 2012.

"There is always a spike in attendance when you move to a new facility." Rasmussen said. "We saw it with the Qwest Center. We've seen it with Morrison Stadium, and we've seen a spike in women's volleyball attendance at Sokol Arena. We've already sold more season tickets for women's basketball than we had for average attendance last year. We will do a marketing push as well for the new park that will be similar to what you've seen with the Royals - something we have not done in the past."

NOTES: One thing that did come out of our conversation with Bruce that should be added is that Rasmussen said that a suite purchase will bring a lot with it in the new park. "If you buy a suite at the new park - you get the College World Series, Creighton baseball and first right for any other event that happens inside the park - just like Qwest Center now."...If someone buys a club seat at the new park, they will get College World Series tickets, Creighton tickets and first right of refusal on other events? It will be interesting to see how that affects College World Series INC. season ticket holders for the 2011 CWS and beyond

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