NCAA Baseball

[CreightonWarrior]

Looking to go to baseball College World Series next year.

If anyone has been, I didn't know what the best way to get tickets was? Any hotel recommendations for Omaha.
Thanks

I live in Omaha, look at AirBnBs instead of hotels, which are crazy expensive. All tickets are now digital so the only best options are through those traditional routes.

[shoothoops]

Looking to go to baseball College World Series next year.

If anyone has been, I didn't know what the best way to get tickets was? Any hotel recommendations for Omaha.
Thanks

NCAA Ticket Exchange. Safe, secure, easy to navigate.

They used to have a same day, general admission tickets, stand in line option, which was very popular. But that ended with the pandemic and it hasn't returned.

Hotel recs are going to depend on your budget, comfort and interests. My tip would be that the large convention center team hotels are fun for big team parties, but they are pretty ordinary when it comes to room comforts etc......

There are many close hotels which will have obviously marked up prices. Many are fine, Hampton next door is good. Keep in mind anything super close will be busy with people and some noise. Almost anything downtown, Midtown, Old Market are fine. I have known more than a few people that had to book in Iowa.

We've had to scramble a bit some years, due to rain etc...(there are rain delays almost every year at some point) and we have stayed near the medical center about 2.5 miles away and it was fine.(ate at Pitch Pizza)  A quiet respite near the storm, better value too. Nice little area and if $ is a concern, don't be afraid to do something like that. Early Bird, plenty of food recs.

Check AirBnB places too. Everyone else will be staying for the same reasons. Sometimes you can get same day deals at websites like Hotel Tonight if you are scrambling a bit.

There is a circulator that runs every 10 minutes an hour before to an hour after each game. ORBIT bus is also an option.

We have tailgated near Creighton and walked some years. That's pretty close.

Old Market is good for lunch and it is near the Fan Fest. There is always a bigger opening weekend concert.

When LSU plays, they take over the place. If you watch tonight's game it will look like an LSU home game. So that may be tough for your team but they are a lot of fun and very generou at their tailgates. Lots of adventurous foods.

Old Mattress Factory, Blatts and some bars around the stadium will have some team parties and gatherings.

[marqfan22]

Thank you!

Looks like a beautiful city and looking. forward to it.

I live in Omaha, look at AirBnBs instead of hotels, which are crazy expensive. All tickets are now digital so the only best options are through those traditional routes.

[marqfan22]

Great recap!

Really appreciate it and shared it.

I was surprised the ncaa ticket exchange marks up so much, but I guess that's what it is.

Appreciate all the recommendations

NCAA Ticket Exchange. Safe, secure, easy to navigate.

They used to have a same day, general admission tickets, stand in line option, which was very popular. But that ended with the pandemic and it hasn't returned.

Hotel recs are going to depend on your budget, comfort and interests. My tip would be that the large convention center team hotels are fun for big team parties, but they are pretty ordinary when it comes to room comforts etc......

There are many close hotels which will have obviously marked up prices. Many are fine, Hampton next door is good. Keep in mind anything super close will be busy with people and some noise. Almost anything downtown, Midtown, Old Market are fine. I have known more than a few people that had to book in Iowa.

We've had to scramble a bit some years, due to rain etc...(there are rain delays almost every year at some point) and we have stayed near the medical center about 2.5 miles away and it was fine.(ate at Pitch Pizza)  A quiet respite near the storm, better value too. Nice little area and if $ is a concern, don't be afraid to do something like that. Early Bird, plenty of food recs.

Check AirBnB places too. Everyone else will be staying for the same reasons. Sometimes you can get same day deals at websites like Hotel Tonight if you are scrambling a bit.

There is a circulator that runs every 10 minutes an hour before to an hour after each game. ORBIT bus is also an option.

We have tailgated near Creighton and walked some years. That's pretty close.

Old Market is good for lunch and it is near the Fan Fest. There is always a bigger opening weekend concert.

When LSU plays, they take over the place. If you watch tonight's game it will look like an LSU home game. So that may be tough for your team but they are a lot of fun and very generou at their tailgates. Lots of adventurous foods.

Old Mattress Factory, Blatts and some bars around the stadium will have some team parties and gatherings.

[shoothoops]

Great recap!

Really appreciate it and shared it.

I was surprised the ncaa ticket exchange marks up so much, but I guess that's what it is.

Appreciate all the recommendations

Sure. You're welcome. Feel free to ask more questions when ther arise.

You can also wait for teams to lose their 2nd game as those fans will often sell those tickets. I can guarantee you that many of those LSU fans waited. Many didn't as they often draw well. But it's common. Some people have more of a stomach for waiting until the last minute than others. Hotel Tonight has gotten me last .inute deals many times of the years. But the best time to do it js the morning of your stay. Not too late not too early.

Yes some walking distance hotels habe big mark ups. But try the little Home2Suites types of places aboit 2.5 miles down by the medical area and you'd save a lot and you wouldn't miss much..That's a pretty good sweet spot.

Also as mentioned pay atrention to which 8 teams are playing. Some bring a lot of fans some don't. It's a mix of team fans, bucket listers from far away, locals, a little bit of everything.

It's always a fun time and you never know whom you will meet or run into there. Some great stories.

If you are just going as a curiosity or bucket list thing, try for opening weekend. All of the teams are there, some concerts, good atmosphere. It gives you a good feel for it. If you have a team and just want baseball, things can open up a bit during the week.

[shoothoops]

Congratulations to Jabari Brown for landing an SEC assistant coaching position. Well deserved. Fitting that he does it for the league's first Black Head Coach, Kerrick Jackson.

Jabari was a player and assistant at Historically Black Claflin University in D-2 ball.

He was most recently the recipient of the Maggie Corbin Minority Baseball Apprenticeship at Vanderbilt University.

https://vucommodores.com/the-maggie-corbin-minority-baseball-apprenticeship/

[marqfan22]

Ended up getting a room at the Magnolia hotel fur the first weekend. Bucket list trip. No favorite team. Need air fare and tickets next!:)

Thanks again

Sure. You're welcome. Feel free to ask more questions when ther arise.

You can also wait for teams to lose their 2nd game as those fans will often sell those tickets. I can guarantee you that many of those LSU fans waited. Many didn't as they often draw well. But it's common. Some people have more of a stomach for waiting until the last minute than others. Hotel Tonight has gotten me last .inute deals many times of the years. But the best time to do it js the morning of your stay. Not too late not too early.

Yes some walking distance hotels habe big mark ups. But try the little Home2Suites types of places aboit 2.5 miles down by the medical area and you'd save a lot and you wouldn't miss much..That's a pretty good sweet spot.

Also as mentioned pay atrention to which 8 teams are playing. Some bring a lot of fans some don't. It's a mix of team fans, bucket listers from far away, locals, a little bit of everything.

It's always a fun time and you never know whom you will meet or run into there. Some great stories.

If you are just going as a curiosity or bucket list thing, try for opening weekend. All of the teams are there, some concerts, good atmosphere. It gives you a good feel for it. If you have a team and just want baseball, things can open up a bit during the week.

[shoothoops]

Ended up getting a room at the Magnolia hotel fur the first weekend. Bucket list trip. No favorite team. Need air fare and tickets next!:)

Thanks again

Sure. You're welcome. There are many people annually similar to you, that doesn't have a team. You will end up spending time with fans of one or several teams while you are there.

I haven't stayed at your hotel, but it is in a good location next to Old Market and within a mile or more of many places and events associated with the games. (Many of the teams stay at the large convention center hotel beyond the outfield, and they hold some ore and post game events there too.)

[shoothoops]

Tennessee previously had one of the worst stadium set ups in SEC. The Vols released this week, renderings of their new $100 million stadium upgrades.

Some other recent ones, Ole Miss announced $40 million upgrades. Georgia announced $40 million upgrades. Vandy announced major upgrades as part of their $300 million athletic facilities upgrades. Auburn announced $30 million baseball stadium upgrades. And many of these are just to try get into the top half of the league.

Hoover, Alabama previously announced $23 million upgrades to the SEC Tourney in order to keep it there. (Popular location with fans) 

[shoothoops]

Preseason rankings:

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/baseball/d1/d1baseballcom-top-25

[Sandstone]

Baseball America preseason rankings. There are several rankings services used. (NCAA/D1 baseball, Baseball America, and the USA Today Coaches Poll, a baseball.writers poll etc...and RPI)

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/college-baseball-top-25-rankings/

https://www.sportswriters.net/ncbwa/news/2024/02/01/wake-forest-tops-2024-ncbwa-preseason-poll

Opening day is two weeks from tomorrow.

[coffeeprovinces]

Happy Opening Day to those who celebrate. And a belated Happy Opening Day to softball.

Big East is in full swing.

[MU82]

Yadi sez hello

[ATL MU Warrior]

St. Louis is the armpit of the world

[The Sultan]

7 of the 8 teams are set for the CWS this year.  All are from the ACC or SEC - as will be whomever wins tonight to get the last spot. If Georgia beats NC State, one side of the bracket will be four SEC teams.

Also, 7 of the 8 teams will be one of the top 16 national seeds - the only one not is perennial power Florida.

One of the chalkiest CWS fields that I can remember.

[Macallan 18]

7 of the 8 teams are set for the CWS this year.  All are from the ACC or SEC - as will be whomever wins tonight to get the last spot. If Georgia beats NC State, one side of the bracket will be four SEC teams.

Also, 7 of the 8 teams will be one of the top 16 national seeds - the only one not is perennial power Florida.

One of the chalkiest CWS fields that I can remember.

Considering 11 SEC teams got selected to the tournament, I would hope they would get at least 4 to Omaha. Can't wait for all 8 to come from the SEC next year! Kind of ridiculous that your team can make the regionals even if it finishes four games under .500 in SEC conference play.

There was an interesting article in the LA Times recently about how with the disbanding of the Pac-12, there is an opportunity for the Big West to push to become college baseball's formost conference out west.

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2024-05-31/big-west-college-baseball-ucsb-pac-12-implosion

One selling point for recruits was not needing to take red eye flights to the midwest and east coast. Other than Hawai'i all of the conference schools are in California, some only a short bus ride from each other.

Another selling point was the opportunity to play for a national title being in a west coast conference. A Big Ten team has not won the College World Series since 1966. Cal State Fullerton, of the Big West, has won four times since then. I'm a Big West guy and hope this happens, but with the advent of NIL, I don't see a national title coming to a Big West school soon.

When former Long Beach State ace Juaron Watts-Brown got offered $30,000 plus a car to lease to transfer to Oklahoma State, ain't nobody in the Big West offering that type of money to anyone.

The overlooked bench player at another Power 4 school with crappy stats currently making some NIL money, his starting number to transfer is $10,000. The only other school that can pay that is another Power 4 School.

[The Sultan]

So Florida State was eliminated today. That means the continuation of one of the oddest streaks of futility in sports. They have now been to the College World Series 24 times (the third most all time behind Texas and Miami), and still have never won it - they've only finished second three times.

The second longest streak is 12, which is shared by Clemson and North Carolina.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

So close.  Helluva rally but just short

[Uncle Rico]

So close.  Helluva rally but just short

Rough 24 hours

[Pakuni]

Rough 24 hours

At least Aggie fans are taking it well.

https://x.com/BoardGeniuses/status/1805732644757344555

[The Sultan]

Texas fired their coach 24 hours ago. Seems this was obviously in place before he was coaching in the CWS deciding game. I get it. But it's slimy.

[Uncle Rico]

At least Aggie fans are taking it well.

https://x.com/BoardGeniuses/status/1805732644757344555

Going to be a long 24 hours for Message Board Geniuses

[Pakuni]

Texas fired their coach 24 hours ago. Seems this was obviously in place before he was coaching in the CWS deciding game. I get it. But it's slimy.

He said this last night.
Somewhere, Gary Barnett is blushing.

"I took the job at Texas A&M to never take another job again, and that hasn't changed in my mind," Schlossnagle said. "That's unfair to talk about something like that. ... I gave up a big part of my life to come take this job, and I've poured every ounce of my soul in this job. And I've given this job every single ounce I could possibly give it. So write that."

[MU82]

The lying sack of sh!t began that lie-filled diatribe by calling the reporter "selfish" for asking the question that had been on everyone's mind.

[WhiteTrash]

The lying sack of sh!t began that lie-filled diatribe by calling the reporter "selfish" for asking the question that had been on everyone's mind.

It's a terrible look for him. He deserves all the backlash he is receiving. He was not blindsided or box in with the question, he just wanted to be an a-hole. But, alas, it is college baseball and nobody will care by tomorrow.