Concerns raised over ballpark's orientation

The building of a new baseball stadium in downtown Omaha may be all but a formality, but that hasn't stopped some people from nitpicking over details of the new stadium.

At the Omaha City Council meeting Tuesday, a small handful of people attended to speak out against the stadium as the city board began considering items that will lead to the building of the stadium.

Most dubious among those criticisms was the orientation of the new park, or the line of sight from home plate to center field. The new design calls for a southeast orientation, which would provide for a view of the downtown skyline.

Critics, though, feel that the stadium should be facing to the northeast, the same way Rosenblatt Stadium now faces. One critic was quoted in the Omaha World-Herald saying "We will regret it forever if we don't face it in the right direction." Others claim that fans would be overly exposed to the sun with a southeast-facing ballpark.

Councilman Franklin Thompson pointed out that not every stadium faces to the northeast. In fact, Haymarket Park -- home of the Nebraska Cornhusker baseball team -- also faces to the southeast and provides a view of Memorial Stadium as well as the Lincoln downtown skyline. Thompson also said that engineers working on the project noted that the southeast-facing design would allow for an angle at which the sun shines on Omaha that would eliminate any sun problems.

Other concners were raised regarding the proposed increase in rental car taxes and keno revenue, but city officials quashed those concerns as well.

The World-Herald reported that city attorney Paul Kratz said that a final design has not been created, but that the public would have "zero official input" in the design process.