We had a very interesting meeting Wednesday with a presentation by Roger Dixon President and Chief Executive Officer of the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority (MECA).
Roger joined MECA in 2000 and supervised the design and construction of the Omaha Convention Center and Arena currently called the CHI Health Center. He has overseen the expansion of MECA and under his leadership the TD Ameritrade Park Omaha opened. Currently he is overseeing the Riverfront Revitalization Project with completion anticipated in the fall of 2023.
Some of the focal points of MECA are to continue to attract exceptional events, maintain and grow attendance and remain a successful venue. Currently MECA has the record of running the 25th top venue in the country and is 46th in the world for Convention Centers. It is also a nationally renowned sports venue and draws the 10th highest attendance rate among the division 1 universities nation wide. In 2019 there were 332,054 fans that attended the College World Series. MECA will be hosting the Big 10 Basketball Tournament through 2022. For the first time in the State’s history they hosted the first regular season major league baseball game at the TD Ameritrade Park.
The Riverfront Revitalization project is an exciting project that will change the face of downtown Omaha. Roger gave us a view of the renderings of the project being renovated as well as a description of the revitalization, which includes the Gene Leahy Mall, The Lewis and Clark Landing and the Heartland of America Park. These areas will interconnect with downtown and have such entertainment venues as pavilions, a botanical garden, an amphitheater, dog parks, ice skating in the winter and regular skating in the warm weather among many other fun opportunities. There will be sand volleyball courts, food trucks, revamping of the scenic river walks and much more. MECA will over see construction and overall management. Gene Leahy is the first renovation and will open in 2021. You can check it all out at
www.riverfrontrevitalization.com. Another great feature is the majority of these options will remain free to the public.
Thanks Roger for this update on MECA and for all your hard work to make our city fresh and attractive.
Code Phrase? “I don’t remember” because no one will remember it by week after next.
I want to include a few words about how Rotary Connects the World and how the testimony from Olga Lagotska reinforced that motto. Olga was a little difficult to understand but here is the condensed version. Her father came to Omaha from Russia as he used to give lectures at UNO in 1991. This was by invitation from Rotary member Tom Gouttierre. After his lecture, Rotarian Dr. Harter, conversed with Olga’s dad and found out that Olga, back in Russia, was in need of medical care for cancer. Downtown Rotary provided Olga with the transportation here; she was treated for Hodgkin’s disease at no cost, stayed the whole month with Dr. Harter and survived. Twenty Seven years later she remains grateful to Downtown Rotary and in my view this is one of the ways Rotary Connects the World.
See you at the Metro Luncheon with Tom Osborne!
