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Basketball practice facility (and more) coming


jupitertoo

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The AAC is spread out over half the country, while 75% of the MAC is in Ohio and Michigan. It's a glorified D2 conference and most schools don't generate much excitement with casual fans. I doubt we'll ever leave, but I definitely think more people care about Memphis, Navy, USF, Tulsa, ECU, Wichita State, Temple, etc.

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36 minutes ago, akzipper said:

The AAC is spread out over half the country, while 75% of the MAC is in Ohio and Michigan. It's a glorified D2 conference and most schools don't generate much excitement with casual fans. I doubt we'll ever leave, but I definitely think more people care about Memphis, Navy, USF, Tulsa, ECU, Wichita State, Temple, etc.

 

AAC Members after Cincy, Houston, UCF depart...

 

East Carolina

Memphis

USF

SMU

Temple

Tulane

Tulsa

Wichita State

UAB

FAU

Charlotte

North Texas

Rice

UTSA

Navy

 

Men's Soccer & Women's Lacrosse would have a very nice boost as well with Vandy (women's lacrosse), ODU (women's lacrosse), James Madison (women's lacrosse), Florida (women's lacrosse), FIU (men's soccer), and FAU (men's soccer). 

 

Talent wise, assuming JoeMo does what we think he can do for Akron football, Akron matches up perfectly with those schools. Enrollment wise, we'd be middle of the pack. Facility wise, I'm sure we'd fit in just fine. 

 

Getting to the AAC is not a pipedream - it's what we should be striving for. As you pointed out, @akzipper, the MAC does nothing for fan excitement or national publicity. 

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5 hours ago, jupitertoo said:

What would AAC membership do for the Zips aside from doubling the cost of travel?  Cincinnati is exiting, so...

 

 

 

I'm going to need to see the math on travel costs only doubling.

Are you asserting, for example, flying the baseball and softball teams to away conference games in the AAC would only cost twice what it costs to bus them to away conference games in the MAC? I'm not sure you can prove that.

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3 hours ago, Zipmeister said:

 

I'm going to need to see the math on travel costs only doubling.

Are you asserting, for example, flying the baseball and softball teams to away conference games in the AAC would only cost twice what it costs to bus them to away conference games in the MAC? I'm not sure you can prove that.

 

I think non-revenue sports find their own conferences - more regional. You already have that, and it will probably only grow. 

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16 minutes ago, LZIp said:

 

Can you share the gist of what's said? I see the first part about Guthrie liking traditional sports venues, but the rest is behind the dreaded (and stupid) pay wall. 

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4 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Can you share the gist of what's said? I see the first part about Guthrie liking traditional sports venues, but the rest is behind the dreaded (and stupid) pay wall. 

Basically he thinks there charm to venues with history and culture. Wants to focus on upgrading the JAR rather than having a new arena, and that includes replacing the bleachers.

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10 minutes ago, LZIp said:

Basically he thinks there charm to venues with history and culture. Wants to focus on upgrading the JAR rather than having a new arena, and that includes replacing the bleachers.

 

Perfect. Sounds great to me. I am on board with this as long as it's done right, and Guthrie has done nothing to make me believe he wouldn't do it right.

 

In the age of cookie-cutter, modern arenas, we should be looking to standout with an awesome college basketball atmosphere. 

 

Out of curiosity, has anyone with insider info seen any renovation numbers that show the absolute maximum capacity for the JAR with a renovation? i.e. If they connect the levels, could we get 6-7k? Is 5,500 the absolute max with more seating space, but less seats due to no more bleachers? 

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When I think about improving the JAR, my mind automatically thinks of new seats, paint, removing the track, renovating entrances, etc. I just don't see UA doing what it takes to make it a legitimate D1/big-time arena. 

 

In my opinion the only way to make the JAR legit would involve removing the track, demolishing everything behind the baskets on the north and south sides and corners to create a 360 seating bowl, blowing out then creating concourses behind the seats and adding suites above the top level. Something like that would be in the $40-50 million range for sure, but could be done in phases. Naming rights could probably take care of $10 million. Still not ideal for a school that's not in a great place financially. Especially since that pricetag might be on par with some new 5-8k seat arenas being built. 

Edited by akzipper
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10 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Perfect. Sounds great to me. I am on board with this as long as it's done right, and Guthrie has done nothing to make me believe he wouldn't do it right.

 

In the age of cookie-cutter, modern arenas, we should be looking to standout with an awesome college basketball atmosphere. 

 

Out of curiosity, has anyone with insider info seen any renovation numbers that show the absolute maximum capacity for the JAR with a renovation? i.e. If they connect the levels, could we get 6-7k? Is 5,500 the absolute max with more seating space, but less seats due to no more bleachers? 

I would think a renovation would reduce the capacity 

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2 hours ago, zippy5 said:

I would think a renovation would reduce the capacity 

Agree, especially if you're replacing bleachers with chairbacks.  I would guess capacity would remain similar to 5,500 if it could be engineered to have a continuous bowl of chairback seating from the floor upward.  The corners will always be an obnoxious sore spot because I highly doubt they could ever be engineered out without massive architecture changes.

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4 hours ago, zippy5 said:

I would think a renovation would reduce the capacity 

In the minority here but I think a renovation and reduction in seat capacity would not only help with aesthetics and it will make the JAR seem like it's drawling more people in than it actually is. 

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3 hours ago, akzipper said:

New JAR floor is officially done. Could use some gold like the original renderings, but still looks nice.

 

Also looks like Akron Children's Hospital replaced FirstEnergy as the sponsor. 

Slightly off-subject, but since the pic is of the VB team.  Doesn't the program have a Teraflex surface floor for games and practices?  These are the small things that could help propel a program upward.  I remember when my nephew's wife, who was a JC All-America was considering Akron in  part because of facilities and equipment.  All the top NCAA vb programs use Teraflex.  Protects against both acute and chronic injuries and allows players to play more aggressively.  MAC teams -- some of them, hopefully use the surface.  I'm sure Ball State men's program has it.

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1 hour ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

It's missing the gold accent on the ribbon, too.

Good call. Now I’m lowering my ranking of the new floor from 5-stars to 3-stars. I do like the new A logo, but the floor could have looked outstanding [sigh] 🫤

 

Maybe with the volleyball lines now on the court they thought the two tones of wood looked too busy? That would not, however, effect the gold accent on the ribbon.

 

 

Edited by Blue & Gold
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2 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

Good call. Now I’m lowering my ranking of the new floor from 5-stars to 3-stars. I do like the new A logo, but the floor could have looked outstanding [sigh] 🫤

 

Maybe with the volleyball lines now on the court they thought the two tones of wood looked too busy? That would not, however, effect the gold accent on the ribbon.

 

 

 

Most times the court is designed to look best during basketball games, since the volleyball lines are just temporary. 

 

My guess is that mockup was created to present the new logo system and UA wanted something much simpler for the court. Usually designs are simplified to cut down on costs, but they already needed to paint gold for the wordmarks. I don't think a few extra gold stripes would break the bank.  

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