Have you heard of the Omaha Royals?

Few in Omaha have realized it, but the Omaha Royals finally lost their first game of the season today. Didn't know that? I'm not surprised. The OWH regularly lists the attendance as 2,000+, but they don't always specify that that number is the paid attendance, which is normally a far cry from the actual attendance. Because of the paltry attendance, rumblings are growing louder about a new, NoDo (i.e., North Downtown for you "out-of-the-O!") ballpark that would follow in the trend that is sweeping the nation: cozier ballparks that can be shared by multiple teams (in this case, the benficiary would be Creighton). It has happened in Lincoln (University of Nebraska and the Independent League Lincoln Salt Dogs), and the city would like to make it happen in Omaha near the jewel that is the Qwest Center. The major sticking point, other than the cost, is a little shindig we host every year called the College World Series. The proposed new stadium would seat >10,000. Rosenblatt set a record crowd last year of 27,000+. The NCAA will leave Omaha before they play in another ballpark in town.
But do we really need a new ballpark? There are some flaws at Rosenblatt, including rusted seating behind home plate and cramped locker rooms, but those are in the original park area. The newer areas of the stadium are very nice. The resturaunt in right field is magnificent, with a great view of the field. The brand new video board, while laced with flaws the first week, will be spectacular once the people running it figure out which button to push. Instead of adding something fancy to the new stadium area, fix up the aging parts.
I really think that what needs to change for Rosenblatt to resurrect its beauty for more than 10 days a year is the people associated with promoting the Royals. The Royals have new owners, so they need to be given time to improve the atmosphere at the stadium. Really, the product on the field is not as horrible as their parents down the road. The ORoyals were 2 games out of the playoffs last year, but few noticed because of the other people that need to assist in the resurrection: the local media. It was nice to see many of the TV outlets on opening night (print media is usually less noticeable, so forgive me, and it did rain out), but how many lead with the Royals during the week? No TV personality should push for a new ballpark because little to none of them do anything to help the Royals become significant in their viewers' lives. The more coverage the local media has, the more people will want to go to the ballpark because, sadly, this town is a "I saw you at the local hotspot" town. During the team's push for the playoffs last August, there was rarely a word about how close they were to making the playoffs. Generally, the sportscasts that I witnessed put the score up of the night's game, but didn't bother to spend much more time discussing it. The OWH does better with their write ups, but could it get to the front page a time or two? Its always with the MLB scores and stories, which I do understand, but this is our equivalent to an MLB team (bad analogy, but go with it). Find a spot for the first two paragraphs at least. There were a couple of great games this weekend, including an extra inning comeback by the Royals, but it still was found on the 3rd to last page.
I think that a new stadium would look very nice, but it would do little in the long term if those people who work to promote the Royals, including those in the media, continually fail to make the Royals important. The product on the field in Omaha is not the same as the prodcut on the field in KC, but no one knows that because they can't find that information. You have to spoon feed the fans before they can grow up and become full-fledged Royal supporters.