Could Omaha, Nebraska host MLB & the Rays?

Could the Tampa Bay Rays play at the home of the College World Series after Hurricane Milton damaged Tropicana Field?

The Rays are set to play at George M Steinbrenner Field — the New York Yankees' spring training facility and home to their Low-A affiliate Tampa Tarpons — in 2025.

Steinbrenner Field is the largest spring training facility in Florida, with a capacity of 11,026.

A Wall Street Journal article Friday added speculation to Omaha's Charles Schwab Field being a home to the Rays with the team's 2026 home being uncertain at this time.

KETV reached out to both MECA and the city of Omaha about the Wall Street Journal article. A spokeswoman for Mayor Jean Stothert told KETV they haven't heard any communication from the Tampa Rays.

MECA doesn't have anything to share at this time, but did say they're open to conversations.

Hurricane Milton made landfall on Oct. 9 and damaged Tropicana Field, the Rays' home since 1998, with nearly the whole roof ripped away.

Topics:
0:00 Just EXPLORING how Omaha could work, at all?
0:55 The Rays overall situation
3:07 About Charles Schwab Field
4:52 Omaha has some advantages
7:37 Omaha has some disadvantages
9:58 This isn't totally impossible

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[brodiebrazil]

Does OMAHA have a chance?

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[jeremynebraska]

As an Omaha resident, I’d love this. And would seriously think about getting season tickets if it happened. I had season tickets to the Nighthawks football team when they played at Rosenblatt and CS Field in Omaha. Good times!

[BillyRicker]

Omaha is a great idea, it’s definitely a baseball city.

[mmancuso]

I live in Omaha…The only thing we enjoy more collectively as a state is Nebraska Football on a Fall Saturday…Baseball here is ABSOLUTELY HUGE…not to mention our money here runs SUPER DEEP

[operationgarage]

Small market doesnt make a difference when it comes to the Rays. Omaha would put 16k in the seats everygame easy which is what St Petersburg does now

[HeyApples]

I live 10 minutes from the stadium. Not mentioned in the video, the stadium is like 3-5 minutes away from the airport, plus walking distance to major hotels and downtown facilities. If you follow the football team, Nebraska is renown for treating visiting fans/teams very well. The logistics line up favorably in terms of scheduling. CWS is already a bucket list item for many baseball fans. This would work out better than people expect. Also, no major sporting franchises for a 4 hour drive in any direction, you would pull fans from surrounding areas like nobody's business.

[Kevin_C_Leonard_]

Omaha has hosted a major professional team before...sort of. Prior to moving to Sacramento the Kings called Kansas City home, but for a few seasons they split their home schedule between Kansas City and Omaha.

[skidawg]

I think the Royals will be an instant No to any team moving to Omaha (the seemingly forever home of their AAA team).

[mrhappy]

As an Omaha native this would be great but if they did relocate then the Royals AAA team would likely need to relocate; however, that would open a stadium for Creighton to play in as a replacement.

[nickolaslewis]

I COMPLETELY FORGOT about this stadium! It's actually a great idea!

[KNemesis]

Small market is an understatement. A team in Omaha would make the Royals look like the Yankees.

[sergiosantos]

That looks like a reasonable stadium (probably an upgrade) for the Rays. Would like to hear what the Royals and Cardinals have to say.

[Scott.Lemon.]

I....don't hate this idea. My long-term preference is still Orlando, fingers crossed. But Omaha is a sneaky good sports market. Rapidly growing metro population with Lincoln, another good-size metro, just down the road. Rehome Creighton and the conference championships to Werner Field in suburban Omaha (home of AAA Omaha Storm Chasers) for a few years to clear up the schedule, and you got yourself essentially a wide-open calendar.

[bjdon]

Omaha is likely one of America’s next boomtowns. If a team got in there now they might be in for a good ride. But having only about 1m people in the metro area now would be problematic until the population grows a bit more. 25, 000 is 2.5% of the metro population that has to attend each game.

[ac]

Move the rays to Charlotte NC at the Knights stadium (White Sox AAA team). The stadium is nice, perfectly located, and was designed to build upward on the concourses.

[ziggysax]

Btw, metro area with Council Bluffs and Lincoln is 1.5mil. No other major competing pro sports here. Plus the soccer stadium to be built across from the ballpark is great. They are adding on an entire terminal to the airport. A railcar will go through downtown to the airport eventually, which would go past all of the hotels. Football packs out 80k+ every game so I think 15-20 regularly is feasible.

[jakebrake]

When Katrina hit New Orleans and the Hornets had to play in OKC it went so well they obviously expanded. This is a great way to at least test the waters and see how viable that market, or one its size in a comparable market, works.

[gordonlong]

There are about 1.5 million people in Greater Omaha (Omaha, Fremont, and Lincoln in Nebraska, Council Bluffs in Iowa). There’s also 1.5 million people in Hillsborough County, where Tampa is. The core Omaha area actually has 20, 000 more people than Pinellas County, where St. Pete is. And there’s more than 5 million in an 8-county area centered on Tampa Bay.

Remember, the problem is that very few people are commuting across the Bay from Tampa to St. Pete for games at Tropicana. This has been a known problem for many years.

The only way the Gas Plant stadium can increase attendance is if a lot of Rays fans move into the district. I don’t see that really happening.

Besides the commute across the Bay hampering attendance, spring training and the teams of the Florida State League suck away tens of thousands of fans away from both the Marlins and the Rays. Unlike in the other markets where transplanted teams or expansion teams largely drove out the minors (LA, SF, San Diego, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, KC, Dallas, Houston, etc), they still thrive in Florida.

I don’t know but Orlando might be a better choice as the FSL doesn’t have much of a presence there.

Omaha has a few major businesses—-Warren Buffett’s firm, Union Pacific Railroad, Mutual of Omaha insurance, and Kiewit (all Fortune 500)—-Gallup polls, Werner Trucking, and a few noted architectural firms.

A lot of people in the Omaha area go down to Lincoln for Nebraska football; I’m sure a lot of them might support MLB.

[kylesmith]

I used to live in downtown Omaha and was walking distance from this stadium. They have done a great job and the CWS is a lot of fun. Unfortunate that the AAA team plays way out in suburbs, not here. Omaha could pull this off for a season or two. The hotel rooms exist and I think the support would be there. It’s a very events based city, and I don’t think this would be a long term landing place for the Rays, but the thought of this at all is fun!

[Pantherx]

Omaha is a small market, but don't underestimate Omaha and Nebraska in general's appetite for live sports. Look at any team that has setup shop in Omaha. They sold out every game for the first season of the UFL, they were the only team to do that, then even after being burned by the UFL the FXFL put a team here and still had the best attendance in the league. The four biggest crowds to ever watch a pro volleyball match in the US all happened in Nebraska, three of which happened last year in Omaha. A handful of NCAA volleyball attendance records have been set in Omaha and the world record for attendance at any women's sporting event ever that was also set 60 miles down the road from Omaha in Lincoln. UNO's hockey team is in the top 5 for attendance, the UNL football and volleyball teams both have ongoing NCAA record sellout streaks.

There are lots of reasons to think that Omaha is not a good fit for the Rays, but I do think for a season we could put as many if not more people in the stands than a they are getting currently.