Creighton University broke ground yesterday for its baseball practice field and celebrated construction progress on its softball stadium.
The future baseball field — near Florence Boulevard & Cuming Street — will be completed by June 2026. In addition to being the home base for Creighton baseball practice, the all-turf field will serve as the principal location for teams preparing to compete in the NCAA Men’s College World Series. The 193,000 sq. ft. field’s design mimics that of Charles Schwab Field Omaha a few blocks east, to better orient visiting teams preparing to compete in the “Greatest Show on Dirt.”
The new softball competition field — near 20th & Cuming Street — will be completed this fall. Like the baseball field, the 79,000 sq. ft. complex will feature state-of-the-art turf across the entire playing surface. The softball and baseball fields will also be available to students through Creighton intramural and club sports, as well as community baseball and softball events.
The new fields’ turf will allow practice to begin earlier in the spring, as they will be ready to use as soon as snow is cleared. The softball field will additionally update its current basic scoreboard to a state-of-the-art video board, along with expanded seating and enhanced dugouts.
The two ballfields are funded by a combination of public and private support. The State of Nebraska’s Shovel-Ready Fund granted $30 million to support the CL and Rachel Werner Center for Health Sciences Education and the baseball and softball complex. The College World Series of Omaha, Inc., contributed an additional $2 million toward the baseball practice field.
The demolition of the old Creighton Sports Complex — where the softball team had played its home games since 1988 — will make way for a new 5.7-acre campus quadrangle, west of the Harper Center.
Designing the baseball and softball fields are HDR Architects (designers of Charles Schwab Field Omaha) and Lempka Architects. In February 2025, the Omaha City Council approved the transfer of portions of Burt Street to Creighton University to allow for the construction of the baseball practice field, as well as a new pedestrian walkway and bicycling lanes through campus.
“The fields are a wonderful addition for Creighton students and student-athletes,” said the Rev. Daniel S. Hendrickson, president of Creighton University. “The new fields will welcome more of the community to Creighton. Our hope is that these fields, and all recent and future projects, will continue to bring Creighton and Omaha even closer together.”
The baseball practice field continues Creighton’s 75-year legacy as the Men’s College World Series host institution. Since the first Omaha-hosted CWS in 1950, the University has provided sites, amenities and thousands of hours of Creighton Athletics staff time to support the event each year. This includes access to Creighton’s weight rooms, sports medicine facilities, batting cages, training rooms and coaching staff space.
Krista Wood, head coach of Creighton softball, said the softball competition field will present several opportunities to improve the fan experience and develop student-athletes at a higher level.
“With the new field and stands, and the technology of the new video board, the atmosphere will be much more engaging and exciting,” Wood said.
The new softball field will also have a bigger dugout and a separate bullpen for the players. (In the current field, Creighton softball shares a bullpen with the visiting teams.)
“Creighton is unique because we are a smaller school that competes at a national level while also offering one of the best educations in the country,” Wood said. “We are able to give our student-athletes a great experience athletically and academically, which sets them up for life.”
The fields will take shape alongside other campus projects under construction, including a new sophomore residence hall and the aforementioned campus quadrangle. Recent campus additions include the freshman residence hall Graves Hall; the CL and Rachel Werner Center for Health Sciences Education; the Jérôme Nadal, SJ, Jesuit Residence. Other significant improvements include renovations to the St. John’s Fountain and Plaza, the Skutt Student Center and, currently, Creighton Hall.
The university has invested more than $500 million in Omaha’s urban core since 2015.
“The fields and other recent announcements about academic facilities, housing and campus infrastructure improvements continue Creighton’s excellent track record of investing in Omaha,” Hendrickson said. “There is much more to come. We are not slowing down, and we are excited to work with the city to help shape the future of Omaha’s urban core.”
