By Rich Kaipust
World-Herald Staff Writer
State Sen. Brad Ashford of Omaha was behind getting $250,000 for the U.S. Olympic Trials, so few on Wednesday might have taken as much satisfaction on seeing one pool completed and another started inside Qwest Center Omaha.
News media members were invited Wednesday to see the progress inside the Qwest Center for the first time since work began May 12.Ashford introduced LB 1052 last winter, which, when later passed by the Legislature, shifted money from the State Visitors Promotion Cash Fund to the city of Omaha for promotion of the 2008 Olympic Trials. Ashford said it was the first time there has been direct appropriations of that magnitude to an event, not a facility.
“I’m hoping in the next four to eight years we can attract additional events and the state will always be a partner,” Ashford said, standing about halfway between the filling of the warmup pool in the convention center and the framework of the competition pool in the arena.
News media members were invited Wednesday to see the progress inside the Qwest Center for the first time since work began May 12. Both pools will be completed before the four-day Mutual of Omaha Swimvitational starts June 5, to be followed by the Olympic Trials on June 29 through July 6.
Starting in 1993 with the state’s investment in renovation of Civic Auditorium, Ashford said there has been a slow-growing awareness that funds for events facilities would only benefit the state. He pointed to the Qwest Center as well as convention centers in Lincoln and Grand Island.He said that likely helped get LB 1052 passed.
“This event is clearly in the line of appropriations that the state has made into making Nebraska an events-centric state,” Ashford said. “Because we’re not gaining population, we have to find new ways to bring people into the state, and events such as this are clearly consistent with that mission and that vision. And the state has, and I predict will continue, to invest in these facilities and these events.”
Dan Morrissey, president of the Omaha Sports Commission, said the $250,000 goes toward “budget relief in general” for the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Ashford said those behind the Olympic Trials — Morrissey, chief operating officer Harold Cliff, chairman Harley Schrager and others — “came down to Lincoln and really sold my colleagues in the state Legislature on the idea of this meet and this event as being a significant contributor to our economy.” The impact will include an estimated 10,000 people coming to Omaha for the Olympic Trials and accounting for more than 20,000 hotel nights.
Ashford also said the Department of Economic Development also has been helpful in other kinds of assistance.
“This is not a passive investment,” Ashford said. “This is an active involvement by the Department of Economic Development and the governor in making this happen. In some states, one would think, ‘Well, big deal.’ But in Nebraska, it’s taken us 15 years — and the building of the Qwest Center, I guess — to get to the point where our Legislature and the governor are looking at these kinds of events and these kind of facilities as being economic engines. It’s part of economic development.”
Workers from Myrtha Pools and DWR Construction had the Omaha Fire Department pumping the first of a million gallons into the warmup pool in Exhibit Hall A on Wednesday. The framework inside the arena gave the first glimpse of how the 50-meter pool would fit in the venue best known for housing Creighton basketball, UNO hockey and concerts.
“For many months, all of us have been asked how we are going to put a swimming pool — two swimming pools, Olympic-sized — in the Qwest Center,” Schrager said. “Now you see first-hand the marvel of this temporary construction.”
A late addition to the arena pool was 12 truckloads of sand. Cliff said it would go 3 inches deep and fill the gaps between the steel strappings so they wouldn’t show once the blue matting was laid over it. Purely cosmetic.
“It’s all about TV,” Cliff said. “We weren’t going to do it at first.”
NOTES: Pool temperatures ultimately will be 80 degrees in the arena and 81 in the warmup pool. It had a long way to go Wednesday. “It’s a little cold right now,” said Trevor Tiffany, president of Myrtha Pools USA. “It’s about the same temperature as the North Sea in England.” . . . Mayor Fahey was among those taking part in a ceremonial panel signing on the arena pool. . . . News media credential requests have hit 230 for the Olympic Trials. . . . Organizers have scheduled a free June 28 open house for people wanting to see the pools and setup inside the Qwest Center.
