Apparel, Souvenirs with Commemorative Final Season Logo Selling Well

OMAHA, NE - Omaha residents desperate for a sign of spring during an extraordinarily cold and snowy winter get a long distance ray of hope today as pitchers and catchers report to the Kansas City Royals Spring Training facility in Surprise, Arizona. Those players who wind up at Triple-A Omaha will wear a commemorative Rosenblatt final season logo on their uniforms.

The logo will be worn as a patch on the right sleeve of the Omaha Royals' jerseys. It was designed by The Emblem Source, which designs World Series and All-Star Game logos for Major League Baseball.

"When deciding what vendor to partner with to create a unique image to celebrate the final season of Rosenblatt Stadium, our list was short," said Martie Cordaro, Royals Vice President/General Manager. "We went straight to The Emblem Source based on their World Series and Major League Baseball work. The design is very classic and appropriate for honoring the stadium that was built in 1948 for Omaha's professional baseball team."

The commemorative logo is an oblong shape featuring an outline of the historic ballpark in navy blue with "Rosenblatt Stadium" in white letters. A white baseball with red stitches is in the background while the perimeter of the logo is in red with the words "Final Season" on top and "1948-2010" along the bottom.

The Royals are also focusing on branding the final season logo on many items of apparel and souvenirs already available for fans as collector's items. Based on sales of merchandise featuring the new logo so far, those items will be big sellers during the ballpark's final season.

Items featuring the commemorative logo include T-shirts, sweatshirts and jackets, as well as framed photos of Rosenblatt Stadium. They are currently available at www.shoporoyals.com and www.shoprosenblatt.com and at the Royals Treasures gift shop at Rosenblatt Stadium weekdays from 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

For more information, contact Kevin McNabb, Director of Media Relations, at (402) 738-5103.

The Royals open their 2010 season at Rosenblatt Stadium on Thursday, April 8th at 7:05 p.m. facing the Memphis Redbirds. 2010 season tickets, mini-plans and other ticket packages are currently on sale, with single-game tickets going on sale Saturday, March 13. For tickets or more information, contact the Royals ticket office at (402) 738-5100.

ABOUT THE ROYALS: For the second year in a row, readers of Omaha Magazine voted the Omaha Royals as Best Omaha Sports Team in the magazine's 18th annual Best of Omaha Awards, published in its January/February 2010 edition. 371,046 fans attended Omaha Royals games in 2009, making the Royals the largest-drawing sports team or event in the metro area last year. The team's total attendance, as well as the average of 5,457 fans per game, marked its largest figures since the 2000 season. Omaha's Triple-A franchise has drawn over 300,000 fans a year to Rosenblatt Stadium for 22 consecutive seasons, dating back to 1988.