It was billed as a big win for Omaha.
The Big 10 commissioner announcing the conference baseball tournament had found a long-term home at TD Ameritrade Park.
Last weekend's games were well attended even though Nebraska flamed out early.
Iowa survived and made a big run all the way to the championship game. But the delight of fans turned to into delays for tickets and waiting for a beer or hot dog.
MECA who staffs these events apologizes--and says they will try to avoid this again at all costs.
For Daryn Richardson and his wife Angie are die-hard Hawkeye fans.
“The minute we found out that the Hawkeyes were going to be in the championship game, there was no way we were going to stay away,” he said.
And they weren't alone; thousands flocked to the ball park creating a back up both in and outside t-d- Ameritrade Park.“Lines were a little long at the concessions, probably could have had a couple more windows open would have been great,” Richardson added.
MECA spokeswoman Kristi Andersen told KMTV they didn't expect the rush of Hawkeye fans to watch the championship game.
“This huge walk up which is really unheard of 6,000 fans walking up at once isn't something that we ever typically see so that rush of fans also created some long lines at the concession stands inside,” Andersen said.
Anderson said they understand the fan's frustration, saying they normally staff based on averages and estimated attendance.
“We staff for 5,000, we had 10,500 (fans) show up,” Andersen said.
This is a breakdown of attendance the 5-days of the tournament.
The first day had over 9800 fans show up attendance then plummeted and couldn't break 5,000 until the championship game where over 10,300 fans poured in.
They sold about 45 tickets per minute on average that's roughly 2800 tickets per hour. Andersen
Anderson says 13 of 16 ticket windows were open-but they couldn't keep up.
They were selling as quickly as they could but certainly the lines were long and there were fans that did not get their ticket bought and into the game until about the second inning or so. Andersen
What about the big series coming up the College World Series?
Anderson said they are well-versed in the CWS.
All those tickets are purchased well in advanced.
Staffing based on 20,000 fans or more per game, portable food stands.
