Here is a review of the ballpark I found that summarizes my thoughts perfectly. Had a chance to be epic and just built it the wrong direction, for the wrong reasons.
Having attended the College World Series every year since TD Ameritrade opened 6 years ago, I have had an ample opportunity to experience pretty much all the park has to offer.There is a lot to like about the ballpark. It's modern, well-manicured, and has decent amenities. The park should be a baseball fan's dream. But, nearly all of that is negated by some truly awful design choices that make the park hostile to both players and fans alike.The main issue is that the park is facing the wrong way, thanks to the geniuses at the NCAA and city planners who cared more about promoting Omaha than promoting the game played within the confines. They wanted fans to look out past the outfield bleachers and see Omaha's sprawling CenturyLink Center in the background, rather than looking out on the city where the fine people of Omaha actually live.This decision is responsible for TD Ameritrade's fatal flaw: because of the direction the park is facing, the prevailing winds are almost always blowing in, deadening the ball and stifling offense. This means that teams which have relied upon strong offense to make it to the CWS have to make significant changes to their game to adjust to how big the park plays. Coaches and players alike comment that being behind by 2 runs in this park might as well be 20, because it's nearly impossible to mount a rally. Pitchers consistently pitch complete games, because they can get through 9 innings having only thrown 100 pitches. Doubles are uncommon, triples are rare, and home runs are unicorns.This is in stark contrast to the old Rosenblatt Stadium, which had the same distances to the fences, but was much more friendly for offense, and home to a more exciting game. The NCAA obviously recognizes this is a problem. But, instead of looking at why their stadium fails players, they've decided to change the balls to give them a little more travel.Of course, the wind that seems to be so strong near the fences seems to stop dead in its tracks somewhere in the middle of the field, because none of that wind that makes the flags jump and flutter makes it to the seats. And that's the second horrible side effect of this park's unfortunate configuration.Being a fan at TD Ameritrade requires a true passion for the game of baseball. Without it, the games would be nearly unbearable to watch. Because of the way the park faces, about 85% of the seats for the day games are directly in the sun for the entire game, and because sunset in June is so late in Omaha, it's often 8pm before most of the park is out of the blast path of the harsh Nebraska sun. Couple that with Omaha's punishing heat and humidity, and the complete lack of air circulation in the stands, and you have one of the least fan-friendly ballparks I've ever been to. Sitting in the seats you've paid for isn't worth it unless you're under the overhang on the first base side, which is why many skip their seats and stand on the concourse the entire afternoon game, or--as seems to be the case these days--skip the game altogether.And that's the trend I have seen: attendance for the CWS has gone down every year. I've heard apologists say that "the teams this year just don't draw," but that's complete BS. Because the area hotels fill up a year in advance, you have to plan a trip to the CWS well ahead of time. Each team's cheering section makes up about 1/2 of 1 seating section, so they are a small fraction of the ticket sales. The rest of the sales are either advance sales to people who enjoy the CWS regardless of who's playing (and there used to be a lot of us), and fans from the community who attend with general admission tickets. Those sales are way, way down. In years past, the ticket upgrade line used to stretch around the block, sometimes reaching all the way to the left field GA entrance. 500-600 people came out in 2011 for ticket upgrades. That number has precipitously decreased and the lines have gotten shorter and shorter. This year, the longest line was about 70. Attendance for day games that used to top 23,000, saw attendances near 15,000. This park is driving fans away from the game!Other gripes: the lighting is dim for night games, and the jumbotron is so bright that it can actually change the quality of lighting on the field. It's distracting for fans, and I've seen it affect right fielders when it changes luminance in the middle of a play.All in all, TD Ameritrade is a beautiful park that faces the wrong way for the wrong reasons, and in doing so, it makes it an incredibly unpleasant place to watch a baseball game. No amount of fun concessions can make up for the punishment fans are expected to take to sit through a day game. If the park had been rotated even 90 degrees, it could be a park that rivals the best of the big leagues. But, apparently the view was more important to the designers than the fan experience. And that's a shame.
