The 2020 Major League Baseball Draft will be staged in Omaha ahead of the College World Series, marking a major shift for the annual event.
In an announcement made Wednesday, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed that the 2020 Draft will be held in Omaha. The schedule calls for it to begin on June 10 and run through June 12, effectively making it a lead-in to the College World Series that begins on June 13. It will be held at the Holland Performing Arts Center, a venue located in downtown Omaha.
Moving the MLB Draft should provide for more cohesiveness with the College World Series, and potentially allow draft-eligible players who are competing in the College World Series to be on hand when they are selected. More from the Omaha World-Herald:
The first day of the draft will be reserved for the first round of picks. That will be televised by MLB Network.
“Major League Baseball is excited to bring the draft to the site of the College World Series, where the top collegiate players will be competing later that week for a national championship,” Manfred said in a statement. “Placing the draft in the competitive atmosphere of Omaha will bring greater exposure to the event and give future professional players a more rewarding draft day experience.”
Manfred said in a press conference Wednesday that CWS teams, along with local high school and youth league baseball and softball teams, would be invited to attend the draft’s first day.
MLB has sought for some time to bring more media exposure to its draft, as it was televised for the first time from the Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando in 2007. Since 2009, it has taken place at the MLB Network studios in Secaucus, NJ.