NCAA, Omaha work out long-term agreement

College baseball fans looking to travel "The Road to Omaha" won't be facing a detour anytime soon.

Omaha officials and the NCAA worked out a long-term agreement this week to keep the College World Series in Omaha through 2030, with the tournament moving to a new downtown stadium beginning in 2011.

The announcement came late Wednesday as officials for both sides signed a memorandum of understanding, a precursor to a final contract that will be signed by the NCAA and Omaha officials before the start of the 2008 College World Series.

The NCAA and Omaha are under contract to host the College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium through 2010. The two sides have had a series of agreements to host the tournament there since 1950, but this new deal will keep the tournament in Omaha for 20 years, starting with the 2011 summer classic.

The final sticking point, as it always seems to be, was money. Omaha officials want to make sure the stadium is paid off in 20 years, and they appear to have gotten their wish. The two sides agreed that the funding for the stadium would be used first to make annual payments on the construction debt, then pay off stadium and CWS operating expenses. After that, payments would go to a capital fund for future stadium repairs, with the NCAA getting whatever is left over.

Revenue from the tournament is a small part of the funding that will be used to construct the $140 million stadium just northwest of the Qwest Center in downtown Omaha. Other funding is coming from stadium recepits, private funding and an increase in hotel and car rental taxes.