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| Courtesy: Storm Chasers |
“The team name recognizes the importance of weather in the metro area and across the state,” said Martie Cordaro, vice president and general manager of the team. “It also, in a whimsical way, pokes a little fun at the variety of weather we experience here.”
The team will have two new mascots for the 2011 season – Stormy and Vortex. Casey will also be returning. The team will have a new logo and uniforms as well. But it won’t be out with the old and in with the new entirely.
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| Vortex |
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| Stormy |
“Nine thousand total capacity – 6,500 fixed seats versus the 24,000 that we had. I think that’s the biggest change. Yes, geographic location has changed, but Sarpy County should be commended for keeping Triple-A baseball in the metro because if they didn’t do it, Triple-A baseball wouldn’t be playing anywhere else here.”
With the exception of a three-year period, the team has been known as the Omaha Royals for four decades. One of the biggest challenges in changing the team name is going to be brand identity – especially among people who enjoy the baseball experience while not necessarily following the box scores on a regular basis. The front office seems confident that they are up to the challenge.
“We’re going to do a very good job of making sure that the relationship between Omaha and Kansas City remains constant,” said Alan Stein, president of the Storm Chasers. “We’re going to put a patch on our shoulders. We’re going to do all of the little things with our affiliates’ stamp that we can. We’re going to sell more baseball than what we have in the past.
“Beyond that, we are very comfortable that as the Triple-A club in this market, we’re going to be everywhere with this new brand and when folks get out to the new ballpark and see how great that is, we don’t think there is going to be any issues at all with the transition of the brand.
“Then when you throw on top of that what a good brand this is all by itself – all of the things we’re going to be able to do in schools with kids and math and science and technology and all of the fun play on words that we’ll be able to use with Storm Chasers, and the fact that, according to our research, more people said weather was the one thing they identified themselves with in Omaha [more] than anything else. They said transportation, agriculture, philanthropy and weather. We knew we were on the right track.”
The Storm Chasers will begin play at the newly named Werner Park in Sarpy County on April 15, 2011.
In other news, Bill Jensen, the PA announcer at Rosenblatt Stadium for the past 20 years, will return for the 2011 season for both the Omaha Storm Chasers and the College World Series.
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Omaha Storm Chasers' GM Martie Cordaro makes the announcement about the new team name on November 15, 2010:
