"We see it as a hugely positive sign," said NCAA spokesman Bob Williams.
The NCAA previously had given the city a thumbs-up on the downtown ballpark plan. But the sponsor of the College World Series also wanted the city to get the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority on board.
At a press conference Tuesday in the Mayor's Office, Sokol, the MECA chairman, said he was confident that a majority of his five-member board will support the memorandum of understanding he reached with Fahey.
At least two other MECA board members, David Kramer and Terry Moore, said Tuesday that they will support the agreement. Another member, Gail Werner-Robertson, was out of town but is believed to be ready to go along with Sokol.
Former Mayor Hal Daub, another MECA member, said he will reserve final judgment until he has reviewed all the materials but has a number of questions about the financing for the $140 million project.
"For a few years now we haven't had enough money to buy toilet paper, and now we have all this money around," Daub said of city finances.
However, Moore and Sokol treated the proposal for a new downtown stadium on parking lots C and E as essentially a done deal.
"I think this is it," said Sokol, who has sparred for months with Fahey over putting the stadium on property controlled by MECA.
"Everyone's on board now," Moore said.
Not quite everyone.
Omaha City Councilman Garry Gernandt, who represents south Omaha and is a member of the Save Rosenblatt group, said he will continue to oppose the downtown ballpark plan.
"I'm disappointed (in MECA's decision), but I'm not going to surrender," Gernandt said. Gernandt wants the CWS to remain at Rosenblatt Stadium.
The mayor, however, is advocating a new downtown ballpark in hopes of securing at least a 20-year contract to keep the series in Omaha.
The MECA board is expected to review and vote on the memorandum of understanding at its April 14 meeting. The provisions of the agreement were not made public Tuesday.
On April 21, Omaha officials will travel to Indianapolis to meet with the NCAA. With MECA's backing, the city and College World Series of Omaha Inc. would be in a strong position to gain a preliminary agreement for a new CWS contract. Omaha has hosted the CWS since 1950, but the current contract expires after the 2010 championship.
The MECA agreement, along with endorsements by the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce and other groups, "speaks to the broad community agreement we were looking for," said Williams of the NCAA.
Tuesday's announcement was the result of negotiations between the city and MECA over the past week. To reach the deal, the city gave ground on two key issues:
--The city gave up the authority to develop the remaining convention center and arena parking lots without the permission and involvement of MECA.
--MECA gained the right to develop the former Pinnacle plant property at 10th Street and Capitol Avenue. That site would be used temporarily as a parking lot but eventually would be developed into a full-service convention hotel.
What did the city get in return?
"We get lots C and E," Fahey said.
"This was a critical component of moving forward with the NCAA on a long-term contract for the College World Series."
Key to reaching an agreement with MECA was finding a way to guarantee that the city would not at some future date try to take the remaining Qwest Center parking lots.
Though the language of the agreement was not made public, Sokol said Tuesday that the attorneys came up with wording that was satisfactory to both the city and MECA.
Fahey has said that the city had no intention of taking those lots, but he was advised by City Attorney Paul Kratz that it would be "contrary to the law" for the city to formally waive its power of eminent domain.
The future development of the Pinnacle property -- the former Swanson frozen dinner plant -- posed a similar problem. Both the city and MECA have said they want another full-service hotel there to help attract more convention business to the city.
However, MECA was concerned that the city would not move fast enough to develop a hotel on the Pinnacle site. Under the agreement, MECA would be in charge of recruiting a full-service hotel.
The agreement would give MECA the authority to manage construction of the stadium and operate it.
As part of that, Omaha would pay MECA $75,000 a year to manage the stadium. MECA would control the revenues generated by the stadium, using some of them to pay the facility's operating costs and turning the rest over to the city to pay off construction debt, said City Finance Director Carol Ebdon.
The ballpark plan still must go before the City Council. Councilman Chuck Sigerson said Tuesday he believes that it will receive the council's approval. He predicted that it will have the support of at least five of the seven council members.
"This is going to be the best thing that has happened to Omaha since the Qwest Center," Sigerson said.
Over the next several months, the council will take a series of votes on land purchases, the construction of replacement parking, MECA contracts and $59.24 million in bonds to finance the $140 million stadium project.
The city also has not reached agreements for the Omaha Royals and Creighton University to become tenants of the new stadium. Fahey said MECA will be brought in to help with those negotiations.
To see more of the Omaha World-Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.omaha.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Omaha World-Herald, Neb. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
More News:
Market Updates |
Stock Alerts |
All Trading News |
Stock Index
|
|
