OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — On Friday morning, the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority announced that the U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials would be returning to Omaha in 2021.
"This Omaha’s Super Bowl, to be able to keep it here on the books was huge for Omaha," said Josh Todd, the Executive Director of the Omaha Sports Commission. "It’s a great thing for Omaha, next June is going to be unprecedented."
Todd said economic impact projections for the 2020 swim trials were north of $90 million. He thinks the rescheduled event will bring big money to the city.
"Ticket things will not be an issue, we will sell this thing out," Todd said. "With what we’re going through in the world right now Omaha will be ready to support anything that we do and it is going to be awesome."
The trials were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic that has pushed what would have been the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo to July 2021. The swim trials will take place next year as well from June 13-20 at the CHI Health Center.
It wasn't guaranteed the event was coming back to Omaha in 2021. However with a short 14-month turnaround to host the trials, it was likely to come back to CHI Health Center Omaha
"USA Swimming from the first postponement was 100-percent committed to keeping the event in Omaha," Todd said. "They consider Omaha special as the home of the trials."
Unlike most years, the swim trials will take place the week prior to the College World Series instead of after the CWS and the trials will overlap with CWS opening weekend in 2021. Finding hotel accommodations for the fans was the biggest hurdle for the city to overcome to secure the 2021 bid.
"Our challenge became finding the guest rooms," said Keith Backsen, the executive director at Visit Omaha. There are over 3,000 reservations and 27,000 room nights we needed to try to help re-secure for 2021.
The rescheduled Olympic Trials will be the sole qualifier for pool swimmers on the U.S. Olympic Team for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The 2021 Olympic Trials event schedule will remain the same across the 15-session, eight-day event.
As of April 10, 2020, 1,213 athletes had qualified to compete at the Olympic Trials. The group anticipate these successful trials cuts will be accepted for the 2021 event. Updated Trials qualifying standards will be released ahead of the official return to competition across the U.S.
“We are incredibly thankful to the USOPC, NBC, the Omaha Sports Commission, the Metropolitan Entertainment & Convention Authority and every other partner involved in successfully moving an event of this magnitude to new dates that will best prepare our team to succeed in Tokyo in 2021,” USA Swimming Chief Operating Officer Mike Unger said. “Fans can expect to witness the same incredible level of competition and entertainment throughout this highly-anticipated event.”
Ticket purchasers will have two options for the 2021 Olympic Trials event:
· reissuance of new tickets in the same seats for the same session(s)
· ticket refunds within six months of the rescheduling announcement via the original point of purchase
Remaining tickets can be purchased through any Ticketmaster outlet nationwide or online at ticketmaster.com/swimtrials20, as well as at the CHI Health Center Omaha box office.
For more information on the Trials visit www.usaswimming.org/trials.
Watch reporter Phil Bergman's story in the above video.
