WASHINGTON — Across the country, business is booming in publicly financed sports stadiums, situations similar to Mayor Mike Fahey's proposed new baseball stadium in north downtown Omaha.

Fahey, who wants about 60 percent of the stadium cost financed with taxpayer money, contends that a new stadium is needed to keep the College World Series beyond 2010.

That plum brings cash and cachet to Omaha, the mayor says.

Nationally, some economists question how much publicly financed professional sports stadiums have helped their cities.

They say the real winners are team owners and players. Relatively little money trickles into local economies, they argue, while such public needs as education and road and bridge repair are insufficiently funded.

Their starkest comparison: the deadly collapse of a patched-up Interstate 35 bridge in Minneapolis and the groundbreaking this year for a new $400 million taxpayer-funded Minnesota Twins baseball stadium.

Omaha is different in that it hosts an amateur sports event, but some of the same issues swirling around pro stadiums have cropped up.

Some economists and politicians complain that professional team owners have forced cities into bidding wars to retain big-time teams.

"There is likely no major metropolitan area in this country that has not been held hostage at some point by the owner of a sports franchise who threatened to move his team elsewhere," economist Arthur Rolnick told a U.S. House hearing last week. The hearing focused on whether spending on pro stadiums diverts money from infrastructure needs.

Communities often feel compelled to build stadiums when the owners of professional sports teams demand them, says Bradley Humphreys, an economist at the University of Alberta who has studied the financing and economic impact of sports stadiums.

The NCAA, a driving force behind the new Omaha stadium, has the same leverage with the College World Series, Humphreys said.

Fahey has warned that if aging Rosenblatt Stadium isn't replaced, the city could lose the tournament it has hosted since 1950.

"The NCAA has you over a barrel," Humphreys said. "They can hold the College World Series wherever they want. If Omaha doesn't pony it up, somebody else will. There's a lot of communities who would love to host the premier college baseball tournament."

Among cities that might be interested are Orlando, Fla., and Indianapolis.

In dealing with Omaha, the NCAA is functioning like a corporation trying to maximize profits from the College World Series, says Ernie Goss, an economist at Creighton University.

"They're trying to get the best deal they can get," he said. "The citizens have to make sure they're getting the best deal, too."

Estimates on a new stadium have ranged from $95 million to $117 million. Under one scenario, Fahey has proposed paying for a new $100 million stadium by raising $40 million in private donations and about $60 million in public financing through a citywide 2 percent tax on prepared food and beverages, and possibly tickets to entertainment events. The tax is projected to generate $3 million annually. That revenue, along with naming rights, advertising, seat tax and leases, would pay off a 20-year bonds used for stadium construction.

The College World Series would not necessarily be the only event to be held at a new stadium. The mayor has said the Omaha Royals minor league baseball team and Creighton's baseball team might play at the proposed stadium.

He also says a new stadium would be a catalyst for economic development.

The economic development record is mixed in major league cities where new stadiums have been built.

Over the last dozen years, more than $10 billion in taxpayer money has subsidized the construction of more than 50 major league stadiums, says Neil deMause, co-author of "Field of Schemes," a book critical of public financing of sports stadiums.

He contends that the stadiums, by themselves, haven't fostered urban revitalization.

"No self-respecting businessperson is going to open a restaurant around the corner from a building that is dark most of the year," deMause told a congressional committee earlier this year.

Fancy new professional stadiums haven't generated much new local spending because most of those attending the games are local residents, according to research by Humphreys and other economists. Spending on a game simply takes away from money that's spent on other forms of local entertainment.

And most of the money spent at stadiums goes to team owners, Humphreys said.

Goss calls spending on professional stadiums a "rip-off" and says the nation — often through preferential tax-exempt financing — is paying too much for them compared to the economic benefits they provide.

But Omaha would be somewhat different, he said, because the College World Series attracts thousands of out-of-town visitors who otherwise might not travel to the city.

A 2003 study by Goss estimated that the CWS added $33.8 million to the city's economy that year.

And for college baseball enthusiasts across the country, the series' theme, "The Road to Omaha," has a distinctive marketing value, he said.

At the end of the day, Goss said, if it's a question of building a new stadium in Omaha or letting the College World Series move to another city, "You certainly could make a strong case for building a new stadium."

Like major league cities with new pro sports stadiums, Omaha would gain another intangible benefit.

"It would say something about the city to have a nice new facility," Goss said. "It's your showcase. It's providing curb appeal to the rest of the U.S. And, luckily, it's not for an event in January."