Start planning ahead. Closest 1st/2nd round sites the next two seasons:
2025: Wichita, Milwaukee, Denver
2026: Oklahoma City, St. Louis
Omaha as an NCAA site
- Thread starter dafarmer
- Start date
Start planning ahead. Closest 1st/2nd round sites the next two seasons:
2025: Wichita, Milwaukee, Denver
2026: Oklahoma City, St. Louis
Yeah, I don’t get that at all. It’s a nice little area, but they really needed to plan better for a big crowd. They needed 4-5 beer carts out there. They had one and the line was huge. Inside, it was 3-4 deep at the bar waiting to order drinks.
Have a band out there, make beer and food readily available and things improve big time.
Kansas City just does it right. Different level of city from Omaha or Des Moines.
Really hoping for StL in 2026. The setup with Enterprise Center (which is gorgeous after the renovation) being a block walk from Union Station and a 4 block walk from Ballpark Village is perfect for the tournament. They kill it for Arch Madness so putting that on steroids would be a absolute blast.
Bricktown in OKC is set up great too.
I don’t eat bait! If Omaha wants to be a sports destination, it needs to up its game drastically.
Yes why would so many bars and food places not even be open? It was really frustrating trying to get food in between sessions on Thursday!
Your name says it all lol not your cup of tea but it was great. Not a ton of other options between sessions though
CHI concourse and entrance kind of sucks, it is a nice arena.
The Capital District is fairly new, and more for night life. They definitely could have prepared better for the tournament. They probably don't have the staff to be open all day on a week day when they usually dont have business.
The old market area has plenty of open bars and restaurants, and is only a couple of blocks from the Capital District.
Mid Town Aksarben by the UNO campus also has a bunch of bars and restaurants, but it would require an Uber or driving.
The Capital District is fairly new, and more for night life. They definitely could have prepared better for the tournament. They probably don't have the staff to be open all day on a week day when they usually dont have business.
The old market area has plenty of open bars and restaurants, and is only a couple of blocks from the Capital District.
Mid Town Aksarben by the UNO campus also has a bunch of bars and restaurants, but it would require an Uber or driving.
From what Chris Williams said on his pods about how much better Omaha is than Des Moines I assumed the area around the arena was close to on par with the P&L lol
No excuses for not having staff! This has been planned for a very long time!
Illinois didn't bring nearly as many fans as I expected on Thursday
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They knew ISU was coming for 3 days...the restaurant owners aren't going to hire extra staff for an event with no guaranteed turnout. The cws is a bigger event for the city, and they know what the crowd will be like.
Omaha has the most bars per capita in the country for a metro area. If you can't find anywhere to eat lunch and watch a game, you aren't trying very hard.
Cws is a bigger event but they had more than enough time to prepare for this event. Why would they not want to make $$$? Why make people drive in a crowded area after drinking? This is a pathetic way of doing business and a bad look fir your city's new go to area! There was only a limited time to walk around after the 1st session .We were in line on skywalk at 6:05 and barely made it to our seats before tip off.
I live 5 minutes from the arena and am very aware of local options. I just expected alot more than was provided by local businesses! Everything that was open was overcrowded because of those who chose not to open their doors.
The restaurants have no idea if they will get a fanbase that is going to travel...there isn't a guarantee that they will make money after hiring extra staff, if they can even find anybody to hire.
Most of the extra staff they get for the cws are short term event hires, that have other jobs or classes to attend on a weekday.
There is plenty downtown, and there is no need to drive...the Capital District is not the main attraction for most people coming downtown.
Edit: There was a real possibility that Baylor came to Omaha instead of ISU...everyone knows how well they travel. Running a business is more nuanced than blind luck.
