quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog:

quote:

Originally posted by JUST-A-FAN:
Unlike Panther I think the thread has relevance. Based upon the complaints of a few posters concerning the prices of concessions at the Qwest.

If you want to have a safe new home for the state tournament your going to have to also pay for it.

I also think the thread is relevant for the number of fans that not only attend the state meet but also attend the NCAA finals. As the finals will be at the Qwest in two years its great to know our prices are as high as like arenas.

Parking in St Louis was $10.00 per session for anything close to the event. Food prices were very high however you learn to adjust and not eat anything while at the arena.

It would be great to see more Nebraska fans in St Louis next year and sell the event out when it comes to Omaha in 2009.

What you say has a lot of merrit, howver you are missing one thing and that is about 6,000 fans who didn't show up to the Qwest this year on Friday night and Saturday. That is a big time problem. People you can't compare a big time NCAA event to the Nebraska state wrestling tournament because there are two different fan bases. What people don't realize is that in small town USA right now there isn't a lot of money and what little money people have they are going to spend it at 1. a place they feel they are welcomed, 2. a place they feel they get more bang for there buck. Does Omaha and the Qwest fit these?

So Bulldog, are you saying the Qwest Center should lower it's prices that a majority of the fan base is willing to pay to cater to the "small town" money? The minority of the fan base, based upon the assumption from your previous post that there were 6000 fans that didn't show (which means nearly 10,000 did), should dictate where the state wrestling tournament is held? As far as getting more bang for the buck, the Devaney Center couldn't & still doesn't hold a candle to the Qwest Center. That would be a short argument.

Split the tournament so that the 6000 people that don't like the Qwest can go somewhere else. And, judging by the gushing comments from CBS, the NCAA, and the teams that played in the March Madness 1st and 2nd rounds at the Qwest, they would be the only 6000 people in the country that feel that way.

Interesting comments on Channel 7 news thursday night they interviewed 3-6 people and none of them could believe that you could park for only 6 bucks and the concessions were even cheaper than other venues. I think in previous thread somewhere had what it costs to go to Pepsi Center in Denver for theor state wrestling tournament and Qwest was cheaper all the way around as well

Other interesting comments from fans were how friendly the people of Omaha were. Most of these comments were coming from Kansas fans. Similar rural values and economic conditions of people from Nebraska. This is not the first time I heard comments from people visiting Omaha from outside our state rave how friendly the people of Omaha are.

quote:

Originally posted by SayWhatWillis?:

quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog:

quote:

Originally posted by JUST-A-FAN:
Unlike Panther I think the thread has relevance. Based upon the complaints of a few posters concerning the prices of concessions at the Qwest.

If you want to have a safe new home for the state tournament your going to have to also pay for it.

I also think the thread is relevant for the number of fans that not only attend the state meet but also attend the NCAA finals. As the finals will be at the Qwest in two years its great to know our prices are as high as like arenas.

Parking in St Louis was $10.00 per session for anything close to the event. Food prices were very high however you learn to adjust and not eat anything while at the arena.

It would be great to see more Nebraska fans in St Louis next year and sell the event out when it comes to Omaha in 2009.

What you say has a lot of merrit, howver you are missing one thing and that is about 6,000 fans who didn't show up to the Qwest this year on Friday night and Saturday. That is a big time problem. People you can't compare a big time NCAA event to the Nebraska state wrestling tournament because there are two different fan bases. What people don't realize is that in small town USA right now there isn't a lot of money and what little money people have they are going to spend it at 1. a place they feel they are welcomed, 2. a place they feel they get more bang for there buck. Does Omaha and the Qwest fit these?

So Bulldog, are you saying the Qwest Center should lower it's prices that a majority of the fan base is willing to pay to cater to the "small town" money? The minority of the fan base, based upon the assumption from your previous post that there were 6000 fans that didn't show (which means nearly 10,000 did), should dictate where the state wrestling tournament is held? As far as getting more bang for the buck, the Devaney Center couldn't & still doesn't hold a candle to the Qwest Center. That would be a short argument.

Willis,
You can tell the Qwest and Omaha to do as they wish! I will be in town when the CWS is going on and I will pay the current Omaha rates! It is getting old explaining to you Omaha folks that there is a problem and all I see from you is that outstate Nebraska is the problem. Well outstate Nebraska embraced Devaney an Lincoln, so how do you suggest they do the same for the Qwest? It boils down to $ and cents and nobody has shown me how having the state tourney in Omaha has increased the interest in our sport abd increased the revenue!

The bottom line is people like to complain, before the tournament was moved to Devaney I'm sure people complained about moving the tournament. The fact of the matter is this, the NSAA tournament isn't moving anytime soon. If the Qwest is good enough for the NCAA, it's certainly good enough for the NSAA. Crap or get off the pot western nebraska.

come on kman, let them keep complaining i love it. It was reported on the news and espn with great feedback, and that the people were nice. Weren't there folks on this thread that complained aboout people in Omaha being mean??? just maybe the ones that thought folks were mean came to Omaha with a chip on their shoulder???? and how about all the resturants that opened up between now and 5 weeks ago... boy at the end of February their weren't any places to eat by the quest......Aren't the Olympic trials for swimming coming to the Quest Center????? Yeah, lets keep it at the Devaney Center..... People can be rude everywhere and this is 2007, expect to pay for everything also expect the best.... like i used to tell my boys, grow up and quit your crying. (actually i kind of like reading it)

The NCAA basketball tourney got rave reviews. There is a nice article in the OWH. They want to bring it back in 2011.

quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog:

quote:

Originally posted by SayWhatWillis?:

quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog:

quote:

Originally posted by JUST-A-FAN:
Unlike Panther I think the thread has relevance. Based upon the complaints of a few posters concerning the prices of concessions at the Qwest.

If you want to have a safe new home for the state tournament your going to have to also pay for it.

I also think the thread is relevant for the number of fans that not only attend the state meet but also attend the NCAA finals. As the finals will be at the Qwest in two years its great to know our prices are as high as like arenas.

Parking in St Louis was $10.00 per session for anything close to the event. Food prices were very high however you learn to adjust and not eat anything while at the arena.

It would be great to see more Nebraska fans in St Louis next year and sell the event out when it comes to Omaha in 2009.

What you say has a lot of merrit, howver you are missing one thing and that is about 6,000 fans who didn't show up to the Qwest this year on Friday night and Saturday. That is a big time problem. People you can't compare a big time NCAA event to the Nebraska state wrestling tournament because there are two different fan bases. What people don't realize is that in small town USA right now there isn't a lot of money and what little money people have they are going to spend it at 1. a place they feel they are welcomed, 2. a place they feel they get more bang for there buck. Does Omaha and the Qwest fit these?

So Bulldog, are you saying the Qwest Center should lower it's prices that a majority of the fan base is willing to pay to cater to the "small town" money? The minority of the fan base, based upon the assumption from your previous post that there were 6000 fans that didn't show (which means nearly 10,000 did), should dictate where the state wrestling tournament is held? As far as getting more bang for the buck, the Devaney Center couldn't & still doesn't hold a candle to the Qwest Center. That would be a short argument.

Willis,
You can tell the Qwest and Omaha to do as they wish! I will be in town when the CWS is going on and I will pay the current Omaha rates! It is getting old explaining to you Omaha folks that there is a problem and all I see from you is that outstate Nebraska is the problem. Well outstate Nebraska embraced Devaney an Lincoln, so how do you suggest they do the same for the Qwest? It boils down to $ and cents and nobody has shown me how having the state tourney in Omaha has increased the interest in our sport abd increased the revenue!

Bulldog, just to set the geographical record straight, I am not from Omaha. I actually lived in Lincoln for the better part of a decade and am originally from a town of 2000 people. So you can set the "Omaha" bias argument down and walk away from it - quickly.

I have to say, however, that your remark about "being in Omaha during the CWS and paying Omaha rates" made me laugh out loud! Guess what? Hotel rates go through the roof (relative to the inflated rates you think run rampant during the State Tournament) and yet you don't hear people such as yourself screaming at the NCAA to move the CWS because the hotels are picking on poor old little you and your small town budget. I paid nearly $250 for a hotel that was less glamorous than a Motel 6 3 years ago during the CWS and still managed to have a great time at the CWS. I didn't piss in my own Cheerios each morning and get up and say "Well, I guess I HAVE to go pay $20 to park in someone's backyard and I HAVE to go drop $7 on a beer at a local hole in the wall that looks barely able to remain open any other time of the year". I woke up and looked forward to a great day of socializing with friends, watching some great college baseball, and soaking in the atmosphere created by others with the same mind set.

Make no mistake, all of these things apply to the Qwest Center and the State Wrestling Tournament. Outstanding physical venue, top notch competition, and the availability of NUMEROUS recreational opportunities within a 15-20 minute walk/drive. The one difference I just noted? Your attitude.

Show up at State every year (or don't) and piss and moan about how the security guard did his job and asked to look inside your bag, how you can't hang your team banner (that is evidently crucial to the success of your teams wrestlers and absolutely vital to motivating you to actually zealously cheer on your team), clench your fists and complain that concession prices are too high, scream about parking (I know, I hate parking in an actual parking lot too. I much prefer the off-road mud track that we called parking lots at Devaney - oh, glory days), and then throw in the most ridiculous of arguments I have heard in this debate in awhile (that the NCAA Wrestling fan base is entirely different from the fan base here in Nebraska - really? We must be the worst wrestling fans in the country then. That's like saying Nebraska High School football fans don't watch college games or the NFL. Nice logic. No, seriously. )

I bet if you are that adamant about watching small town wrestling with free parking and $1 concessions, where banners can be hung on the wall, and parents can get down next to the mats to coach, errrrgh I mean, take pictures of their wrestlers you could probably find a little kids tournament in the area where you live. You'll probably even get more bang for your buck, what with medal lanyards only an additional $1 and t-shirts selling for a measly $6, and best of all, you won't have to pay exorbitant gas prices (which I'm sure someone out there will have a three step argument to show how the NSAA, the Qwest Center, and the city of Omaha are all in cahoots on and manipulated somehow) or stay in a hotel to enjoy it.

Go ahead and bash me all you want, but the NSAA is not happy that attendance is horrible at state wrestling. I didn't say I stayed at a hotel during the CWS, I have friends in Omaha. I go to Omaha a lot and I am stating that Omaha and the Qwest Center better do something to bring the attendance at state up or it will lose it. Right now that would mean split venues which I would hate but the NSAA does not like losing money plain and simple.

you have friends in Omaha? i find that hard to believe....

What would be the two venues for this split tourny. Not the qwest and another venue because that would never happen. The nsaa would still have to pay the qwest the same amount and then pay for a second venue. The nsaa will make more money on a poorly attended tourny at the qwest then one tourny at two venues. Not going to happen so find another idle threat to throw out their.

The NSAA board may be a little bit off, but they aren't stupid. Split venue not only would kill the tournament, but would cost more to rent two facilities, to say nothing of the additional manpower needed, both by NSAA and the entities that would charge them for it.

Accepting the fact that it's going to stay in Omaha for at least the next five years is the only thing that will bring attendance up at this point. Once those who can't let go of Devaney grasp this simple concept, the better off we all will be.

Does anyone have the attendance #'s for each year for 2000-2005 and 2006-2008? I remember reading an article at the end of the 2006 tournament that said the all time attendance mark was broken by about 5000. I am wondering if overall attendance is down or if the perception is that attendance is down from the empty seats. The Qwest Center is a much bigger facility.

quote:

Originally posted by Mr. Pin:
I am wondering if overall attendance is down or if the perception is that attendance is down from the empty seats. The Qwest Center is a much bigger facility.

I was thinking the same thing.

I sure hope the two venues are close together so I can commute between them to see the matches I want. Get real!

I think it is hilarious that everyone is jumping all over the two venue set up but 4 years ago said that it had to go to that because Devaney was unsafe. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. I like the Qwest center, it is a wonderful facility and NWI is correct in that the tourney won't leave the Qwest for at least 5 years. I only stated that the attendance is not up to par there and Omaha and the Qwest Center need to find some solutions. You laugh at me when I bring the NSAA into it, but the NSAA will listen to a lot of different ideas that might not be the best for wrestling.

Just so you know, Bulldog -- I have NEVER been on board for a two-site setup. I know there was talk of that back when Devaney was the only option and I was as opposed to it then as I am today. The only thing dumber than leaving it at Devaney when a much better facility is available in Omaha (as they did in 2004-2005), is to split the tournament into two sites, and anybody who thinks that is a viable option really needs to have a few pounds of air pressure released from between their ears.

In fact, you can go ahead and put the two-site idea out to pasture. The NSAA, quirky as they can be sometimes, is not going to spend more money on a second venue AND the staffing that would be required to go with it. It's not going to happen. Not today, not tomorrow, not in five years.

The first solution to the problem is for those of you who refuse to accept the Qwest Center to accept the fact that it is not going back to Devaney and will not go back to Lincoln unless a new arena is built. If you can't afford to make the trip, that's fine...but don't make Omaha out to be the bad guy because economic times are tough and you can't afford the costs associated with attending the tournament. (And, with all due respect, maybe if you tried coming to Omaha without the chip on your shoulder that some of you obviously carry, you might find the big, bad city to actually be quite accommodating.)

And just to give you a heads up -- IF Lincoln does build a new arena (and that's a questionable if right now), the concession costs and hotel costs are going to be comparable to, if not more than, what you now deal with in Omaha. The days of $2 hot dogs and $1 frostys are long gone. It's called modern-day cost of living, and we're ALL paying the price for it, from Falls City to Chadron, South Sioux City to McCook and every little burg and sprawling metropolis in between.

quote:

Originally posted by NWI:
Just so you know, Bulldog -- I have NEVER been on board for a two-site setup. I know there was talk of that back when Devaney was the only option and I was as opposed to it then as I am today. The only thing dumber than leaving it at Devaney when a much better facility is available in Omaha (as they did in 2004-2005), is to split the tournament into two sites, and anybody who thinks that is a viable option really needs to have a few pounds of air pressure released from between their ears.

In fact, you can go ahead and put the two-site idea out to pasture. The NSAA, quirky as they can be sometimes, is not going to spend more money on a second venue AND the staffing that would be required to go with it. It's not going to happen. Not today, not tomorrow, not in five years.

The first solution to the problem is for those of you who refuse to accept the Qwest Center to accept the fact that it is not going back to Devaney and will not go back to Lincoln unless a new arena is built. If you can't afford to make the trip, that's fine...but don't make Omaha out to be the bad guy because economic times are tough and you can't afford the costs associated with attending the tournament. (And, with all due respect, maybe if you tried coming to Omaha without the chip on your shoulder that some of you obviously carry, you might find the big, bad city to actually be quite accommodating.)

And just to give you a heads up -- IF Lincoln does build a new arena (and that's a questionable if right now), the concession costs and hotel costs are going to be comparable to, if not more than, what you now deal with in Omaha. The days of $2 hot dogs and $1 frostys are long gone. It's called modern-day cost of living, and we're ALL paying the price for it, from Falls City to Chadron, South Sioux City to McCook and every little burg and sprawling metropolis in between.

You state a chip on my shoulder, well let's see you get 1 chance to make a good 1st impression and Omaha and the Qwest blew that in 2006. I know change is difficult, however it would have been a heck of a lot easier if Omaha would have given a darn about landing the tourney in the 1st place. I remember a certain Omaha radio show making fun of outstate Nebraskans in 06 and the Omaha folks thought it was hilarious and now people are talking with there wallet and what to the wrestlers get a half full arena with no energy. Do you remember Devaney on Friday night where you couldn't even think because it got so loud and now you can hear coaches plain as day from the floor because there is not the enthusiasm or school spirit that once thrived at the State tournament. There is a major problem and all anyone who lives in or near Omaha can say is times change, that is not a solution that is part of the problem accepting a mediocre state tournament instead of trying to find viable solutions to get the fans back.

Same old song and dance, different day eh Craig?

Here's a suggestion, instead of sitting behind your Tandy whining about how you and the rest of the folks you claim to know are treated, why don't you do something about it?

Have you gotten behind or made a proposal to the NSAA to split the tournament and move it back to Lincoln? Or even move the whole thing back to Devaney so you and the rest of the bunch can have their banners and overlapping mats and all the other things they think they are missing by having it at the Qwest?

How about writing letters to the editor of the OWH about how you and yours perceived your treatment in Omaha? Can't say as I remember seeing anything along those lines.

I bet the Chamber of Commerce would at least be interested in your motel room gouging conspiracy theory. Have you or yours contacted them? If so, what was the response?

Have you and yours officially notified the Qwest Center of your concerns?

My guess is no. None of the above has been done. But you are content to carry the flag for the poor opressed folks that don't get any respect here on Huskermat where what, maybe 500 people at the most even read it? Hate to be the one to break it to you but that ain't gonna change a thing.

Of course, if you just continue to whine here, nothing will change and you will continue to have something to whine about.

quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog:
You state a chip on my shoulder, well let's see you get 1 chance to make a good 1st impression and Omaha and the Qwest blew that in 2006. I know change is difficult, however it would have been a heck of a lot easier if Omaha would have given a darn about landing the tourney in the 1st place. I remember a certain Omaha radio show making fun of outstate Nebraskans in 06 and the Omaha folks thought it was hilarious and now people are talking with there wallet and what to the wrestlers get a half full arena with no energy. Do you remember Devaney on Friday night where you couldn't even think because it got so loud and now you can hear coaches plain as day from the floor because there is not the enthusiasm or school spirit that once thrived at the State tournament. There is a major problem and all anyone who lives in or near Omaha can say is times change, that is not a solution that is part of the problem accepting a mediocre state tournament instead of trying to find viable solutions to get the fans back.

Where do I begin???

First off -- if you're letting Todd and Tyler determine your perception of how Omaha people look upon people from out of town in general, and wrestling fans in particular, then there really is no hope for you. Those two clowns have long since outlived their relevance and appeal only to morons who still think fart jokes are funny. If THAT is how you think all Omahans think about our sport and people living west of Lincoln...I really don't know what else to tell you.

The bottom line here is that you and those who share your disdain with having to drive an extra 50 miles are STILL unhappy with the fact that we are no longer wrestling at Devaney. You STILL believe that wrestling in a tiny (by comparison), ill-suited arena is better than the infinitely more spacious Qwest Center. And I realize you don't want to admit it, but times DO change, and change has come in the fact that we now have an arena in Omaha that is better suited for our state tournament than the Devaney Center. If the day comes that the movers and shakers get things together and build an arena comparable to that located 50 miles away, THEN you can get all hot and bothered about moving things back to Lincoln.

Tell you what, Craig -- rather than continuing this going-nowhere argument, I'm going to offer you a challenge . . . how about listing some suggestions you would have for, as you say, trying to find viable solutions to get the fans back. Other than moving the tournament back to Lincoln (which is NOT a viable option until a comparable-size arena is in place), what can Omaha do to get those of you who have a problem to come back and support the state's best wrestlers and create the kind of atmosphere these kids undoubtedly deserve?

And to help move the process along, here are three things you can go ahead and assume are NOT going to change, no matter how much you complain about them:

-- Concession stand prices (go to any other big-city arena in the country and you'll understand why)

-- Parking charges (ditto)

-- Higher hotel rates (this just in...EVERY hotel does this when a big-ticket event comes to town. Rates double and triple during the College World Series, they doubled during the recent NCAA basketball tournament, and this is standard operating procedure within the hotel industry. I don't like it any more than you...but those are the facts)

Now...taking those unplayable cards out of the deck, what can Omaha do for you? Or, to paraphrase Jerry McGwire's plea to Rod Tidwell:

Help Omaha...help YOU.