Thinking of going to Omaha for the first time. Any of you guys that have been

[Saltydog]

before I'd welcome thoughts on where to stay, get tickets, etc.

Looks like rooms close to the stadium are obviously much higher. What about over in Council Bluffs? Is it an o.k. area?

[LandDawg]

Use the NCAA ticket exchange app for tickets. By far the best way to buy and sell.

[Dental Dawg33]

Use the NCAA ticket exchange app for tickets. By far the best way to buy and sell.

Didn't see the app in the App Store. Is there another name to look it up?

[louisvilledawg]

Didn't see the app in the App Store. Is there another name to look it up?

google NCAA ticket exchange and it should take you where you need to go.

[It_Could_Happen]

We stayed at the embassy suites which was walking distance to the park and it was a blast.

Old Matteess Factory was the bar we mainly hung out in. Right beside the stadium.

Also did the GA tickets in the outfield every day and it was very easy until the championship series. That?s when the long lines started.

[Big4Dawg]

How does it work? You just hang out for a week and a half? Wish the games didnt have a day inbetween them

[Doggie_Style]

Yea I'm thinking of going as well.....hopefully that 3rd mortgage on my double-wide goes through! ***

[RocketDawg]

Yea I'm thinking of going as well.....hopefully that 3rd mortgage on my double-wide goes through! ***

Yeah, I was thinking when I saw the original post if there was enough time for the loans to go through. Maybe with really good credit ....

[Dental Dawg33]

google NCAA ticket exchange and it should take you where you need to go.

Perfect, thank you

[Randolph Dupree]

Council Bluffs is where I stay when we go (been a few times). With the new stadium you can stay in CB and be at the stadium in 5 minutes. The area is ok but you will just sleep there and most of your time will be in Omaha. It's worth the savings to do this. Also, there is a chain of grocery stores in that area of the world called Hi-Vee. You can go to the customer service desk and purchase an entire book of GA tickets (one for every game) for $90. No lines and no hassle. Get to to game early and you can get a good seat, come late and you will still get an ok seat. Don't buy in to the "...they're going to fill up/sell out ..." hype, they won't. Get the GA tickets and do the reserved ticket lottery, and you'll be good to go.

Things to do in between games: the zoo is good there and the old Rosenblatt site is pretty cool. It's a great experience and I recommend all Baseball fans go at least one time.

[jbjones]

I made a rash decision and burned all of my skymiles to fly up there for the Championship Series. Stayed at a crappy Super8 just South of Creighton's campus. I stood in line that wrapped nearly all the way around the stadium. Said to hell with it....bought a Game 1 ticket from FlashSeats for just north of $100. About 20 rows up behind 3rd base. It was awesome. Sat next to an older couple from LSU. They were awesome. Matter of fact, since I didn't know what I was doing for Game 2....the lady called me the next day and gave me her ticket. She had a ticket in the upper deck club that she was going to use. She refused to accept my offers of payment.

Boring story short, NCAA ticket exchange or flash seats (if it's still used) are good ways to get into the stadium rather than GA in the outfield. "Blatt beer & table" is a bar just outside right field. It's a pretty cool venue and a good place to get a few beers before the game. Right across the street from the main entrance is a sports-clothing store called "the dugout". It's a good place to waste time when the usual thunderstorms come through and the stadium isn't open. Finding a place to stay isn't that hard, but can take some searching. A former colleague of mine stayed in Council Bluffs. Last year, I found a lot of decent locations on AirBnB.

I had a wonderful time in Omaha. It was one of those rash decisions that really paid off. I'd do it again if I can pull it off.

[Dental Dawg33]

How early before the game do they let you in the stadium? Our first trip to Omaha and thinking about trying our luck with the ticket lottery.

[Thrill1]

You gotta go if you can pull it off. The day?s drive is not that bad. I used the booking.com app to find a room. Plenty of choices. The downtown area is awesome. Plenty of restaurants/bars all within walking distance of TDA. Wait to buy your souvenirs up there. Tons more options on shits, caps, etc and usually cheaper than what you would find here. Agree that Blatt Beer and Table is an awesome hangout. Lots to do around the stadium.

They?ve made he old Rosenblatt into a miniature version of the old lady with a handful of the original red, yellow and blue chair backs. The area around the old Blatt has really gone downhill.

[KB21]

I'd go, but I'm having thyroid surgery tomorrow. So, I'll be laid up watching them on TV while recovering from having the left lobe of my thyroid removed.

[Coldsleeve Jr.]

before I'd welcome thoughts on where to stay, get tickets, etc.

Looks like rooms close to the stadium are obviously much higher. What about over in Council Bluffs? Is it an o.k. area?

This is where I stayed in 2013. At the Hilton garden inn I think. It's about as convenient as it gets for not being walking distance. They have a shuttle that will drop you off and pick you up when you call them. Area is fine.

[Jarius]

How early before the game do they let you in the stadium? Our first trip to Omaha and thinking about trying our luck with the ticket lottery.

I have a Hevesy story about waiting to get into the stadium before the championship series. We were all sitting in line waiting for the gates to open (we were out there for at least 2 hours). Hevesy was about 6 or 7 people behind our group. We had a cooler with us drinking beer and every now and then we would have to get out of line to take a piss. Hevesy took exception to us having someone hold our spot to go piss and come back and made a scene in the general admission line about it. We just shrugged him off, but it was at that moment that I knew why our OL recruiting sucked.

Anyway, they open the gates about 2 hours before the game.

[weblow]

I have a Hevesy story about waiting to get into the stadium before the championship series. We were all sitting in line waiting for the gates to open (we were out there for at least 2 hours). Hevesy was about 6 or 7 people behind our group. We had a cooler with us drinking beer and every now and then we would have to get out of line to take a piss. Hevesy took exception to us having someone hold our spot to go piss and come back and made a scene in the general admission line about it. We just shrugged him off, but it was at that moment that I knew why our OL recruiting sucked.

Anyway, they open the gates about 2 hours before the game.

John Hevesy was the biggest bag of shit to ever coach for this school. I have been to his house and hung out with his family and stand behind the fact that he is a 100%, unadulterated, dumbshit dildo of a human. He is garbage and we are better that he is no longer here having his roid rages and going off on fans.

[Todd4State]

My advice:

If you fly just know that you can probably Uber instead of renting a car. The stadium is within viewing distance of the airport. I basically rented a car to drive half a mile. I think I bought my tickets off of StubHub and I had to go to Council Bluffs, Iowa to pick up my tickets and I don't remember it being bad but it was kind of odd. There was a massive dog track at this hotel and I wasn't sure at first if everything was going to be legit- but thankfully it was.


If you stay downtown you can walk around downtown but you may save staying in Council Bluffs. Not 100% on that. I don't remember there being a lot of places to park.


I think with something like this you do have to decide kind of what you want out of it. I can't take two weeks off of work to watch baseball. If you retired- maybe you can. If you are able to you may not have to take out a second mortgage but I could see it getting expensive very quickly for the entire tournament. If you want to go just to go to the CWS and experience it- by all means I recommend that to anyone that has never gone before- just pick one of the early games that MSU is going to play so you can guarantee yourself a chance to see MSU in Omaha and enjoy it! I've already been so I'm only planning on going if we make it to the championship round. If you have already been or you just would rather only go if MSU has a chance to play for the National Title that may be a better option but it's obviously a lot less guaranteed at this point.


The stadium itself is "nice" but it doesn't really have a lot of amenities on the inside and it's not the coolest stadium ever. But it works for what it is intended for and I would imagine that most of the fans that go to these games are actual big time baseball fans there for the game and not the between inning entertainment anyway. Omaha has a AAA team and I believe that they have their own separate stadium somewhere else.


Personally, I would also recommend flying there as opposed to driving. I guess it depends on your time constraints some- you can certainly go through St. Louis and catch a game, Kansas City and catch a game, and then on up to Omaha. But to me, it's a really long drive and I would just rather fly which you can do in 5-8 hours probably as opposed to a 13 hour marathon depending on where you live in Mississippi.


But do go- it's basically like a college baseball festival almost. There will be all kinds of college baseball t-shirts and stuff like that. Which I like because I like random college baseball team t-shirts and stuff like that. I saw us play Oregon State in 2013 and it was the game where we won to go to the National Championship finals. Hunter Renfroe hit his famous home run- which I didn't think was going out because nothing was going out of the yard that year- and Kendall Graveman was just on that day. It was something that I will never forget and it will always be a highlight of my fandom for sure.

[thedawg]

Ok I went in 2013 and stayed all 13 days .. we pulled an RV and stayed in an RV Park in the Horsehoe Casino Parking in Council Bluffs .. I’m glad that RV can’t talk .. here’s a few things I learned that will help u:

In 2013 individual general admission tickets from the box office cost $12 and u could buy a book for $70 of ten tickets .. lots of locals have a hustle where they buy a book for $70 and sell them can for $10 a piece to make $3 a ticket while saving u $2 a ticket ..this is how we got in game one .. google tells me prices have gone up to $15 and $90 if u use the box office but I assume the guys are on the corner with same hustle .. general admission is a fine seat .. only issue general admission is on a day game it’s uncovered and it is possible u can just bake .. for game three we got general admission tickets and it was hot as hell .. had some friends that had paid more than $100 for reserved shaded seats on the third base line.. they text us the whole row behind them was empty.. I don’t remember ever having an usher check me and from second inning on I sat in the shade in $100 seats with general admission tickets .. also they say they only sell 5500 and make u all scared ur not gonna get in .. so in 2013 all of starkville came to Omaha for the finals .. it was absolutely wild.. so me and my boys stood in that two hours plus like all the rest of the state fans ..we were in the middle of that line and I was virtually sure everyone wasn’t getting in .. long story short that massive outfield bleacher swallowed that line with room to spare.. we wasted a lot of time waiting in that line .. game two of the finals we walked up to GA ten minutes before first pitch walked in and got decent seats in right field .. this was with record crowds .. long story short don’t over pay for tickets
We actually were given more tickets than we could use and give away to our friends by fans that had been eliminated early and bought full books the moment they got to Omaha ...

Other useful info:
We saw plain clothes cops writing lots of citations for underage kids walking around downtown drinking on the street .. it feels like an sec football tailgate experience where no ones checking cups .. they will and bust u .. so beware

With 13 days there we stopped in at Blatts and Goodnights pizza both right across from the stadium and both are solid choices .. cold beer and good not great food .. We drank a lot of beer at the mattress depot right by the stadium too .. it is a bar and became starkville west after our games

We ate one fine meal and it was Drovers.. absolutely fine steak and meal .. u can tell it’s an Omaha institution.. I would recommend highly ..

There is a downtown area with tons of walkable bars .. we went one night and found an awesome Irish pub.. it felt like a younger crowd (possibly creighton kids) but it was fun .. had a good time that night

I heard there is a fantastic gentlemen’s club in the corn fields of Council Bluff.. I can neither confirm nor deny

Lastly if u can just go .. the atmosphere is so awesome .. eight fan bases are there and thrilled to be there.. in 2013 we met tons of awesome LSU fans.. when they went two and a bar b que they gave us tickets and coolers of food .. the stories will last a life time .. this year will be different .. I am heading up Friday with the wife and our 9 and 11 year old but i guarantee we make just as many memories .. we found a two bedroom house 14 miles from the stadium on air bnb for $100 a night and are headed up Friday ... HAIL STATE

[afranzo]

Does anyone know how the "reserved seat raffle" works for tickets.... allowing you to exchange GA tickets for reserved seating (and pay the difference of course).... they say you do it at the ticket office day of, but how exactly does that work in terms of a raffle? Also... how hard is it to move into empty reserved seats/section post say the 3rd inning with GA tickets... for those who have done this before!? This will be our first time to Omaha... going with my wife and 8 & 6 yr old from Louisiana! HAILSTATE