Baseball's Permanent Address

The College World Series came to Omaha in nineteen fifty and has never left. That remarkable fact requires a small amount of context. The tournament began in nineteen forty-seven in Kalamazoo, Michigan, moved to Wichita for one year, and then the NCAA went looking for a permanent home. Johnny Rosenblatt, then the mayor of Omaha, made the case for his city. The combination of a new municipal stadium, civic enthusiasm, and central geography persuaded the organization.

The first College World Series in Omaha drew total attendance of seventeen thousand eight hundred and five for the entire tournament. The event lost money for ten of its first twelve years in the city. The four men most responsible for keeping it going during those lean seasons were local businessmen who believed in the event's potential long enough to sustain it through the losses.

Their patience was rewarded. The College World Series became one of the premier events in amateur athletics, drawing tens of thousands of fans each June to downtown Omaha, filling hotels across the metropolitan area, and establishing Omaha as a city synonymous with college baseball's national championship.

The tournament moved from the original Rosenblatt Stadium, named for the mayor who secured it, to the purpose-built Charles Schwab Field in downtown Omaha in twenty eleven. The new stadium seats more than twenty-four thousand and is built within walking distance of the Old Market district, integrating the tournament into the city's commercial center.

More than seventy-five years after Johnny Rosenblatt persuaded the NCAA, Omaha remains the only city in America that has ever hosted the College World Series since it moved from Wichita.