This year's College World Series is "likely to produce the third-best attendance performance" since TD Ameritrade Park opened in '11, according to Jon Nyatawa of the OMAHA WORLD-HERALD. LSU and Florida begin the best-of-three final tonight, and the "buzz, the hype and the hoopla will return with the same vigor that’s been evident throughout" the past week. Fans have "enjoyed great weather, lively crowds and thrilling action." Perhaps "more so than any year since the CWS moved" to downtown Omaha, there "seems to be an amplification of the elements that make this event memorable to its participants and patrons." There is the "homey atmosphere, the family-friendly amenities, the eclectic collection of vendors, the displays of on-field brilliance." The CWS has "already served as a reminder of why this annual tournament has thrived in Omaha for so many years." This year’s version has "been as good as it gets." However, there is the "growing problem of game length." The 14 CWS games to date have lasted an average of 3 hours and 27 minutes, which "could be the longest average game length at the CWS" since '09. But "even with an occasionally bogged-down pace, this CWS has produced its share of captivating moments" (OMAHA WORLD-HERALD, 6/26). In Omaha, Tom Shatel writes TD Ameritrade Park "will never be" Rosenblatt Stadium, the prior host to the CWS. It "has to be its own stadium, finding its own way with its own personality and memories and history." But this has been a "spectacular" CWS. Shatel: "The teams, the games, the weather. ... I don’t want to say that the 2017 CWS is like the CWS at Rosenblatt. But it’s unlike any CWS so far downtown." Shatel: "There’s nothing to complain about" (OMAHA WORLD-HERALD, 6/26).
