Omaha's Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium soon will be history, but the city is trying to squeeze a few bucks out of the south Omaha icon before it meets the wrecking ball.
Omaha has reached a tentative deal with the Omaha Royals that would give the city a cut any time a T-shirt, mug or other merchandise is sold with the Rosenblatt name on it.
Now the city wants the NCAA and College World Series Inc. to agree to similar deals.
But both organizations are crying foul, sensing an end-of-an-era money grab.
After 62 years with Rosenblatt as Omaha's baseball stadium, the city shouldn't try to cash in on the name “when everybody is going to be celebrating and saying goodbye,” said Jack Diesing Jr., president of CWS Inc.
The NCAA and CWS Inc. have their own marketing plans for the stadium's final College World Series, which begins June 19.
They object to paying a 7½ percent merchandise fee, saying the city has never charged to use the Rosenblatt name in the stadium's history.
The stadium, named for former Mayor Johnny Rosenblatt in 1964, will be demolished at the end of the summer baseball season. The Royals will move on to a new ballpark in Sarpy County.
The CWS will move downtown next year to new $128 million digs that meet NCAA concerns about modern ballpark amenities and proximity to hotels, restaurants and attractions.
After a bitter fight over leaving the Rosenblatt house of memories across from the Henry Doorly Zoo, the city approved abandoning the stadium and its legendary name in exchange for an NCAA contract to play the CWS in Omaha for 25 more years.
City Council President Garry Gernandt, who lives in south Omaha and fought to save Rosenblatt, chuckled about the latest dust-up. He did not voice objections to the city charging a fee to use the Rosenblatt name.
The fight over Rosenblatt “still hasn't gone away,” he said Wednesday.
The debate over royalties began last summer when the Royals applied for and received federal and state permission to trademark the Rosenblatt Stadium name.
Royals President Alan Stein said he felt obligated to apply for a trademark to protect the Rosenblatt name from “bootleggers and road people.” The Royals have their own plans to mark the end of Rosenblatt.
“There's going to be folks who are going to start making money off this name. We've got to protect it,” Stein said.
City Attorney Paul Kratz said the city learned of Stein's plans and told him to assign the trademark to the city and agree to the 7½ percent merchandise fee or face a lawsuit.
The city owns and operates Rosenblatt, so the city was within its legal rights to make the demands, Kratz said.
“If anybody's going to receive royalties on the name, it ought to be the city,” Kratz said.
He said he did not yet know how much the city could receive from merchandise sales.
Stein said he has agreed to the city's terms, though no documents have been signed.
“Rosenblatt Stadium is owned by the city,” Stein said. “I don't think there is any question that they have the authority and the right to do what they want to do with it.”
CWS Inc. and the NCAA have reached no such agreement with the city.
Diesing wrote a letter to Mayor Jim Suttle this week asking him to reconsider.
Diesing said Wednesday that the CWS would refuse to pay to use the Rosenblatt name on series merchandise. He questioned whether the city has the legal right to collect the fee.
“It's absolutely the wrong thing to do,” Diesing said.
He also said he was “disappointed” that the CWS and the NCAA were not involved in the talks between the city and the Royals over the agreement.
NCAA officials could not be reached for comment.
Suttle said the Royals deal was “an attempt to compromise rather than litigate.”
“Rosenblatt Stadium belongs to the citizens of Omaha, and I feel that this compromise best represents their interests.”
Steve Rosenblatt, a former city councilman who lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., is the son of the stadium's namesake. He said he has no problem with the city profiting off the family name.
In fact, he's working with the Royals to come up with merchandise to celebrate the team's final season at the ballpark, including a bobblehead doll in the likeness of Johnny Rosenblatt.
He said he has no financial stake in efforts to market the Rosenblatt Stadium name.
What would his dad say about attempts to make money off the stadium's demise?
“I don't think he'd really have a problem,” the younger Rosenblatt said.
Contact the writer:
444-3100, maggie.obrien@owh.com
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