Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.Omaha has a fine venue for major sports events, a record of hosting big competitions and the right attitude.
Officials in Omaha and elsewhere gave that general assessment when describing how the city landed the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in January 2013 for the Qwest Center Omaha.
Bob Dunlop, senior director of events for U.S. Figure Skating, said his organization liked the fact that a practice sheet of ice could go in the convention center, complementing the competitive sheet in the arena.
Dunlop said the skating body also was impressed with Omaha's performance in hosting the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials in 2008 and the swimmers' decision to come back next year.
Omaha wants it, Dunlop said.
Area residents endorse these events by showing up and pitching in, said Bob Freeman, an Omaha attorney who will serve as chairman of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships' organizing committee.
“And we're good sports,” Freeman said. “We're supportive of all the competitors.”
The event will draw some of the nation's finest skaters in ladies competition, men's, pairs and ice dance. The senior level will feature the best skaters, and the event will include junior and novice levels. Some 250 skaters will compete, and hundreds more coaches and officials will attend.
Harold Cliff, president of the Omaha Sports Commission, said he expects the event, which will run from Jan. 19 through 27, to attract more than 100,000 attendees and occupy 11,000 room nights in area hotels. The 2008 swim trials produced 11,500 room nights.
Dunlop said there's no official contract yet between the Omaha Sports Commission and U.S. Figure Skating. They will share revenues and expenditures.
“With these events come risks, and with these events come rewards,” he said.
Cliff said the budget for the event will exceed $3 million, and certain financial guarantees for U.S. Figure Skating will be built into the budget.
Dana Markel, executive director of the Omaha Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the economic impact on the previous two host cities of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships — Greensboro, N.C., this year and Spokane, Wash., last year — was estimated at $26 million each.
Economic impact includes hotel room nights, food and beverage sales and other factors. San Jose, Calif., will host the event next year.
“This is a huge score for Omaha, to have this championship coming,” Markel said.
Freeman said area figure skating clubs showed enthusiasm for volunteering for the event. He said volunteers and fans in general play an important role in how competitors and officials feel about the host city.
“We want people to say, ‘I can't wait until Omaha hosts this event again,'” Freeman said. That happened with theU.S. Olympic Swim Trials, he said, and helped influence the swimming competition's decision to return in 2012.
“Are you kidding? It's going to be great,” said Misty Banks Noon, president of the Figure Skating Club of Omaha. “We have all sorts of volunteers here in our city that are ready to help make this one of the best, if not the best, Figure Skating Championships that our country has seen.”
Dunlop said he expects NBC to provide eight to 10 hours of television coverage.
Omaha hosted the championships one time before, in 1967. Peggy Fleming, the 1968 Olympic ladies singles champion, won her fourth of five U.S. titles at that event.
Dunlop said the 2013 championships will precede the world championships that year. Then the 2014 U.S. Figure Skating Championships will precede the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia. The 2014 U.S. championships will help determine who qualifies for the U.S. Olympic Team.
Roger Dixon, president and chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority, said local officials have pursued the skating championships for more than a year.
Dixon said a major challenge will involve coordinating schedules for teams and events that typically occupy the arena and convention center in January. Those include Creighton University basketball, University of Nebraska at Omaha hockey and the Midlands International Auto Show.
Cliff said he and representatives of the Omaha Sports Commission and MECA met numerous times with U.S. Figure Skating officials. He said their site-evaluation committee visited Omaha a couple of months ago, and several months ago he and Dixon went to Colorado Springs, where U.S. Figure Skating's headquarters is situated. Omaha Sports Commission and MECA administrators went to Greensboro to check out the championships in January.
Alyssa Craig, a 17-year-old skater who attends Millard North, was thrilled to hear that the nation's best skaters would compete in Omaha. “Oh, I think it's awesome,” Craig said.
Omaha officials expressed the hope that the championships would expose thousands of people to Omaha. But Craig said the championships will expose many Omahans to the competitiveness and grace of great skaters.
“I think it will open the eyes of some people here in Omaha,” the high school senior said. “They're amazing.”
World-Herald researcher Jeanne Hauser contributed to this report.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1123, rick.ruggles@owh.com
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