While the World Cup soccer tournament is almost over, it’s being announced that another sport’s World Cup event will be held in Omaha-Council Bluffs. The metro area will host the 2017 World Cup Finals in equestrian jumping and dressage.
Lisa Roskens, chair of the Omaha Equestrian Foundation, says there was tough competition from other cities around the globe. “They selected finalists of London, Hong Kong, Omaha and a city called ‘s-Hertogenbosch, which is a horse mecca in the Netherlands that’s hosted multiple World Cups,” Roskens says. “We were really up against some stout competition and really, truly were the underdog in this bidding process.”
She says this will be a world-class competition that will draw up to 90-thousand people to western Iowa and eastern Nebraska. “You will hear languages from every corner of the globe,” Roskens says. “It is a truly international championship and a very exciting competition. The other thing that makes 2017 such a special year is you will get to see the people that were just competing at the Olympics the previous summer.”
She says she’s hoping this is just the start of something very good. “The Midwest is a region ripe for this kind of competition and for this sport to grow,” Roskens says. “I really wanted to use this type of an event as a catalyst to grow our sport across the region.” The equestrian World Cup Finals will be held at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha March 27th through April 2nd of 2017.