[Husker] New Stadium Plans Announced

Wed Feb 27 19:53:04 CST 2008

I'm very familiar with the area, as I work downtown
(if I turn around from my computer, I have a great
view of lot C).  I drive past lot E every day as I
take my daughter to daycare.  There are currently 4500
parking spaces at the Qwest Center, the vast majority
are north and west of the Qwest.  South of the Qwest
Center is a "donors of substance" parking garage
(probably about 400 stalls) and east of the Qwest is
another small parking lot (maybe 500 spaces).

By my guess, the remaining Qwest Center lots that will
surround the stadium will hold about 2500 cars.  Those
are within 2 blocks of the outfield. If I had to bet
where the other parking spaces will be, they will be
directly northeast of the Qwest and south of the
Qwest.  At worst they'll be 6 blocks away.

By my math, there will be two or three times as much
parking at the new stadium as at Rosenblatt... all
within about 4-5 blocks.

Your point about scouting for CWS parking spots in
FEBRUARY pretty much nails the point as to why the CWS
has outgrown the Rosenblatt area.

As for the tax money used to pay for it, come on now. 
$22 million is going to come from hotel taxes.  As a
resident of the Omaha area, do you use area hotels
much?  (You may refuse to answer that on the grounds
that you may incriminate yourself!)  Another $10
million is going to come from rental cars.  How often
do you rent a car in the Omaha area?  The only
possible complaint is the $28 million in keno funds
that was going to Douglas County; that may, in fact,
result in a tax increase from the county.  Of course,
the county was going to stop getting those funds
anyway, but there was a chance that the money could
have been used to lower city taxes.

I listened to the Royals GM and Creighton AD this
afternoon.  I think Creighton is very intrigued by the
stadium, and probably will commit to playing games at
the stadium.  The Royals are another issue entirely. 
I think in the end they will give this a shot.  If
they choose not to, we'll see another baseball
franchise in Omaha.  Maybe not AAA; it might only be
an American Association franchise like Lincoln's
Saltdogs.  Somebody will play there.

I think it's about 80% likely that Creighton will play
most of their games at the new park.  Royals are
probably only 66% likely.  I think it's 75% likely
that a pro team will play there though.
--- Skylar Dodds <sklarbodds at cox.net> wrote:

> Mike,
> 
> I certainly understand what you're saying, but the
> mayor himself admitted
> that most the spots won't be right next to the
> stadium but within a mile of
> the stadium (since two lots are going to be
> destroyed to build it and moved
> somewhere else).
> 
> That being said, parking regulated by the NCAA means
> there's going to be
> strict rules as to what will and won't take place
> there.  That's not all
> bad, but I for one love the fact that I start
> searching for the best area
> next to Rosenblatt in February and I can find people
> that own property in
> that area and scout out a great tailgating spot for
> me and my friends. Guys
> like me who aren't lucky enough to be season ticket
> holders are going to be
> left to park a long way away and will not be able to
> get close and tailgate
> 'with the crowd'.
> 
> I didn't mention this in my other email, but bottom
> line is, unlike the
> Qwest, I don't get a say in $60 million of the
> taxpayers money going to pay
> for this thing.  It's going to be crammed down my
> throat whether I like it
> or not.
> 
> I do agree completely with your point that
> Rosenblatt or not, the CWS was
> going to change to more corporate feel to it. 
> There's nothing that can stop
> that.
> 
> I still am waiting to hear how Fahey's going to deal
> with the fact that
> there very well might not be ANY tenants other than
> CWS in this stadium.
> $140 mil is a lot to pay for 10 days a year + 5-10
> Creighton games.
> Creighton AD said already that they're going to
> build another baseball
> field.  He said it's at the very least going to be a
> practice field that has
> the expandability to host real games there in the
> future (with the
> underlying message of, "We'll see if they're going
> to cater to us or not).
> The Royals president said that they're going to
> listen to the 'pitch' to
> keep them there but a lot of things are going to
> have to take place to keep
> them there.  I think there's at least a 60-70%
> chance there's nobody else is
> going to play there.
> 
> Good discussion tho Mike, keep it up!
> 
> --
> Skylar 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mike Jaixen [mailto:mikejaixen at yahoo.com] 
> Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 5:20 PM
> To: Skylar Dodds; 'List Husker'
> Subject: RE: [Husker] New Stadium Plans Announced
> 
> The Qwest Center currently has 4500 parking spots on
> that property.  About 900 spots are going to used by
> the stadium, but they are proposing replacing all
> those spots, and then some.  There will be over
> 5,000
> spots within seven blocks of the stadium, with the
> majority within a couple of blocks of the outfield.

Mike Jaixen
Blog: http://huskermike.blogspot.com

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