Vanderbilt Baseball at the College World Series: City of Omaha Primer

Corrie Oberdin from the Omaha Convention and Visitors Bureau was kind enough to get in touch with me and send along some helpful information for Commodore fans making their pilgrimage to Omaha for the 2011 College World Series. I have reproduced this information with her permission:

New Downtown Omaha Information

The new TD Ameritrade Ballpark replaces Rosenblatt Stadium, which was home to the College World Series from 1950-2010. The ballpark is located in downtown Omaha, on 1200 Mike Fahey Street.

The new downtown ballpark has many hotels within walking distance. Fans will be able to walk to the ballpark and back to their hotels without working up much of a sweat. These include:

• Hilton Omaha
• Fairfield Inn
• Hampton Inn
• Homewood Suites
• Holiday Inn downtown
• Courtyard by Marriot
• Hilton Garden Inn and Suites
• Embassy Suites
• Doubletree Suites by Hilton downtown

There are also many attractions, shopping, food and bars with live music within walking distance of the ballpark. This is an entirely new area for Omaha - the majority of these stores and restaurants have opened up within the past year. I've included links to some of the businesses in the area:

• Attractions: Hot Shops Art Center, Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, Filmstreams
• Shopping: Urban Outfitters, American Apparel
• Food: Goodnights Pizza, Capitol Lounge & Supper Club
• Bars/Live Music: Slowdown, DJ's Dugout & Blazing Pianos, Nosh Wine Lounge

The ballpark is about a ten minute walk from Omaha's Old Market. If you haven't had a chance to explore the Old Market, it is an excellent arts and entertainment district with fabulous dining, shopping and nightlife, including

• Food: La Buvette, Vivace, M's Pub, Blue Sushi and the Upstream Brewing Company
• Shopping: Flying Worm Vintage, Nebraska Clothing Company, Trocadero and Drastic Plastic
• Bars/Live Music: Nomad Lounge, Urban Wine, Mr. Toads, O'Connor's Irish Pub

The Omaha Visitors Center is also close to the TD Ameritrade Ballpark at 1001 Farnam Street. It has a coffee/snack bar, an Omaha store and bike rentals.

For those Commodore fans looking for some other dining options, Yahoo published a story for CWS attendees. A few of them may be listed above.

The Vanderbilt Baseball team ate at Drover's last night, which is apparently a must-visit steakhouse. Sonny Gray reports in from twitter: