College World Series: Ballpark asks messy fans to clean up their act

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - After a quiet day off Sunday, TD Ameritrade Park is packed once again with crowds of people.

Ready for Day 1 of the CWS Championships Finals and by the looks of it, part of their excitement for the games, come with some bad habits. Like leaving their trash behind.

The CWS team said they expect fans to be excited and distracted by the sheer fact that there’s even a College World Series in 2021 at all, but they also recognize it’s not an excuse to ditch your unwanted food and beverages.

“Help us keep this ballpark looking a way that people come to expect,” said Kristyna Engdahl, Director of Communications for MECA.

MECA manages the TD Ameritrade Ballpark and Engdahl explained it takes more than 50 people and a combined total of eight hours to get the stands spotless for fans to enjoy the CWS experience. And labor shortage doesn’t make it any easier.

Like many companies both locally and across the country, MECA is having trouble retaining staff and that’s impacted their custodial contracts.

”We’re struggling to hit those numbers. So, it gets especially tough when you walk in there, in the morning and there’s a lot of trash leftovers from people I think could carry it with them when they walk out,” Engdahl said.

Before fans can be welcomed back each day, TD Ameritrade has to be cleaned from top to bottom. Even with a dedicated staff assigned to the task, it can still be an all hands on deck effort.

“Instead of standing around and scratching our heads wondering what we’re gonna do, a lot of people just dive in to help get the job done,” she stated.

So 6-News went on the hunt to find the culprit. A bunch of Mississippi State fans denied any involvement upon investigation and so did several young fans we probed.

The case remains unsolved. But, Engdahl joked it’s really not about blame, but responsibility.

“If you have two items and you set them down and walk away from it and everybody does it, that’s hundreds of items still left behind,” she said.

One positive did come from all the rubbish, the plea from the CWS team sparked interest in job seekers joining their custodial staff, but she said, fans still need to toss their garbage in the trash. No excuses.

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