Three for three! In bowling, they call that a turkey. In classic video game jargon, they’re “heeeating up!”. In swimming, we can refer to that as being “Omaha”.
In a live webcast today, USA Swimming announced that Omaha, Nebraska will be the host of the 2016 Olympic Trials, marking the third-straight occassion the midwestern town of just over 400,000 residents (and more than double that in it’s metropolitan area), making it the United States’ 42nd-largest city.
Omaha beat out fellow last-round nominees St. Louis, Missouri, and San Antonio, Texas for the bid. Other announced finalists that were eliminated earlier in the process were Jacksonville, Florida; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Greensboro, North Carolina.
The meet’s host will once again be the CenturyLink Center. Traditionally used for college basketball, minor league hockey, and the annual shareholders meeting of Warren Buffet’s investing megalyth Berkshire-Hathaway. It holds 18,975 spectators in its largest capacity, though for swimming in 2012 they were able to stretch it to just 13,200 (still more than we saw in 2008).
The city is a regional commercial hub of sorts, with five members of the Fortune 500 headquartered there.
Omaha becomes the fifthth site to host this meet three tims or more, joining Long Beach, Indianapolis, the New York City area, and Detroit (though recall that 5 of the first 7 official Trials meets had split sites).
As for concerns over conflict with the College World Series, with an expected later start date for the 2016 Trials (coinciding with a later Olympic date), there should be even less than the small two-day conflict we saw in 2012.
The city may be much smaller than the two it beat out, but they love their sports. Keep in mind that they once packed 17,000 into CenturyLink for a college volleyball match. And it was only a national semi-final, at that.
Fair warning: Farrell’s, the bar that hosted the best party of the week in Omaha, went out of business shortly after the 2012 Trials. I guess we’ll have to find a new locale to shut down in 2016.
Dates released. Dates overlap with CWS. Hotels downtown sold out within an hour. Got tickets with nowhere to stay. Maybe I’ll stay in San Antonio and drive to the trials each day.
Omaha did an amazing job running the event BUT they do not have enough hotels downtown and even surrounding to support it! It is very frustrating and the overlap even more days this time either CWS… St. Louis or San Antonio should be the next venue choice. Flights are easier and cheaper too plus wouldn’t have sold out hotels even with a baseball game. NBA finals is over in first week of June
Have tickets gone on sale yet?
KerSwim – not yet. We’ll post about it when it does.
Any new information on dates?
Arlie – nothing confirmed.
If they release the cuts late 2014 does that mean you only have summer of 2015 and 2016 to qualify? Or can you use a time previously achieved?
Swimmmmmer – each Olympic cycle has its own twists and turns, but more-likely-than-not, the qualifying period will begin in 2014 sometime.
Follow the money trail back to USA Swimming and you will see that Omaha was the preferred pick. Strictly business. Not quite predetermined, but it’s difficult to get on base when there’s two stirkes against you already, as San Antone and Show Me City Louis had.
Hey, Omaha has a great zoological part also!
I have no reason to doubt that Omaha came through on technical merits with very high marks. But I do wonder if the “post-Phelps” era of uncertainty came into play re the decision. Maybe 2016 is time to for modest expansion plans to gauge how well USA Swimming can grow the sport without a once in a lifetime swimmer like Phelps. In this context, Omaha is even more compelling if you have more modest ambitions for growth.
Trial cuts don’t come out until late next year….but is it also possible that 2016 cuts will be engineered to stabilize or reduce the number of participants (and hence the number of participant’s spectating friends/families)? I’m guessing (and this is based on… Read more »
Well, there were definitely too many athletes at the meet in 2012… The cuts will need to be harder in 2016.
You don’t ‘grow the sport’ at USA Olympic Team Trials… it only serves to water down the meet. There is no need for 100+ athletes per event.
Do you know that for sure based on the 70+ criteria points USA Swimming deemed crucial to hosting this event, that they were the best suited for this meet? Does your 10K hotel rooms include Council Bluffs, which is a freeway bypass away from Omaha?
Maybe, just maybe… Omaha had the best bid… I believe that committee went over their 76 point check list and Omaha had the most checks! It’s a competition for one of the premiere sporting events of the quadrenium. The committee did their job and it passed unanimously by the Board of Directors. Don’t waste your time with negative input…. It’s not going to do you any good.
You’re right, input (negative or positive) doesn’t do any good when it comes to USA Swimming and the people who monopolize the many boards and committees. It seems that minds are usually always made up and the processes are only for show. Just because some decision passes “unanimously” does not mean the process was fair.
Well said! I don’t care if it was unanimous or not! USA Swimming failed, in bringing the 2016 Trials to a city that can handle the influx of people. Whoknows – who are you to tell anyone not to put their “Negative input in”! If I have an opinion, I have every right to voice it. God forbid anyone question USA Swimming. After all, they have a history of being above board on all their dealings and a reputation of highest of integrity! ( sarcasm )!