Charles Schwab Field Omaha

About

Charles Schwab Field Omaha (formerly TD Ameritrade Park Omaha) is a ballpark in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Opened in 2011, the city-owned stadium replaced the historic Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium, which was about two miles (3 km) south. The diamond is aligned southeast (home plate to center field) at an approximate elevation of 1,010 feet (310 m) above sea level. Charles Schwab Field has a seating capacity of 24,000, with the ability to expand to 35,000 spectators. The ballpark cost $131 million to construct. The park turned a profit of $5.6 million in its first year of operation, easily covering its debt payments. It is the home field of the Creighton University Bluejays, and the host venue of the College World Series (MCWS)—the final rounds of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. The MCWS has been held in Omaha since 1950, and will continue to be hosted there through at least 2035. The Big Ten Conference has also held its baseball tournament at the venue, first in 2014 and 2016, and from 2018 onwards. Attempts were made to bring a professional baseball team to Charles Schwab Field, but legal troubles prevented this. The Triple-A Omaha Storm Chasers (formerly Royals) of the International League opted for a smaller capacity venue at the new Werner Park, west of Papillion in Sarpy County. In 2021, after Charles Schwab Corporation acquired TD Ameritrade, the park was renamed Charles Schwab Field Omaha.

Groundbreaking for the park occurred on January 21, 2009. In June 2009, TD Ameritrade acquired the naming rights for the stadium, agreeing to pay $15 million over the following 20 years. On April 15, 2010, it was announced that the Omaha Nighthawks, the local franchise in the United Football League, would play their first season in Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium and then move to the park for 2011 and beyond. The football gridiron was laid along a line extending from home plate down the first base line into right field. The United Football League suspended all play midway through its 2012 season and then dissolved afterwards, marking the end of professional football at the park. In December 2010, it was announced that Omaha would host a six-day multi-genre music festival in July called Red Sky Music Festival. Concerts were to be held all day as well as nightly in the parking lots of the park as well as CenturyLink Center. The festival took place in 2011 and 2012. The original Hammond organ from Rosenblatt Stadium has been restored and is used during games at Charles Schwab Field, although musician Lambert Bartak (retired after the 2010 CWS, died in 2013) would not be the organist. On February 9, 2013, the ballpark hosted outdoor ice hockey at the "Mutual of Omaha Battles on Ice." The first game featured the junior Omaha Lancers and the Lincoln Stars of the USHL. The second game was a collegiate matchup between the Nebraska–Omaha Mavericks (now branded as the Omaha Mavericks) and the University of North Dakota, both then of the WCHA. In May 2014, it was announced that a franchise in the new Fall Experimental Football League, called the Omaha Mammoths, would play their home games at the park beginning in October. The Mammoths would only play one shortened season in Omaha. In 2014 and 2016, the park hosted the Big Ten Conference's baseball championship. A four-year contract was soon reached to hold the tournament there from 2018 through 2022. On June 21, 2018, Major League Baseball announced that a regular season game between the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers would be played at the park on June 13, 2019, ahead of the 2019 College World Series. The Royals won the game, 7–3, with 25,454 people in attendance. This was the first MLB game ever played in Nebraska. In 2026, two new video boards were added to the outfield. The project replaced the original right field board, and it added a brand new screen in left field. Ribbon panel displays were added to the second level, and a new LED lighting system was installed.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.