NCAA agrees to 25-year deal with Omaha

The College World Series won't be leaving Omaha for a long, long time.

Tuesday afternoon, the College World Series of Omaha Inc. organization announced it had reached an agreement with the NCAA that will keep the college baseball tournament in Omaha through 2035.

Last week, a memorandum of agreement between the two sides noted that the College World Series would stay in Omaha for at least 20 years, but now it will be 25 years before Omaha has to worry about negotiating with the NCAA.

Under the agreement, the majority of revenue that comes from the two-week tournament will go to take care of the city's stadium construction debt, which is expected to be about $140 million. The remaining funds will go to stadium operation expenses and upkeep, reserve funding for stadium expenses and the NCAA.

According to the Omaha World-Herald, the stadium is projected to bring in about $16 million in 2011, the first year it is open. Of that revenue, $6.5 million would go to settle construction debt, the NCAA would get $5 million and another $3.5 million would go to operating expenses. The remaining $1 million would be split between the city and NCAA, with the NCAA receiving 80 percent.

Currently, the NCAA is under contract to hold the College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium through 2010. Under the current deal, the NCAA receives about $3.3 million from Omaha, so the new deal will be an increase of over 50 percent for the collegiate governing body.

The stadium will be run by the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority (MECA), which also oversees the Qwest Center, located just southeast of the new stadium site. MECA will work with the NCAA on securing stadium naming rights, which could bring in close to $1 million annually.