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Nike basketball shoes are far superior. That's one of the many reasons Kent still sucks.

Tbh I don't really think it would. I'd think most players today probably care about NIL, PT and geographic location. The venue would be toward the bottom of my priorities at least. On the flip side - even if the state matches some, Miami still has to foot a good amount and that's less $$ for what matters

Committing this amount of capital based on a run that is inflated by an incredibly weak schedule with a coach that has yet to sign the contract extension offer is malpractice. Now, will something like this attract more talent, top coaches, etc. should there be turnover? Maybe, but as fast as it has been built, it can all come crashing down in the blink of an eye. I want nothing more than to beat them in Cleveland and see them either lose in Dayton or miss the Dance altogether. The whole thing is a sick joke that Ohio taxpayers are the butt of.

Yes let them waste their money. We'll save ours for NIL. 💯

Maybe they will have another surplus sale if they switch brands again. Most of my Zips merch was purchased at the one they had when they left Adidas.

Are you implying that one of the richest athletes in the country, who doesn't donate any money to his hometown college, doesn't care about the college? Hard to believe! 🤣

Other than a few sneakers, everything at UA associated with Lebron is a farce. Time to move on to a better deal.

There are guys younger than him signing professional contracts in baseball and hockey. They almost all have lawyers/agents. Who is reading these contracts for these players? If this is true, I hope Cincy gets every cent.

This is cool, definitely will check them out now.

You're welcome haha. You're absolutely right but this is technically being fiscally responsible for the few people it enriches. Government and banks exist nowadays in order to use your money to enrich themselves. Rules for thee but not for me.

Speaking of Toledo, they seem to have a nice arena. But again, I've never been there. Looks nice on TV though.

This gave me a good chuckle as I can see the comparison, thank you! I'm just more tired of seeing Ohioans hard earned dollars going to waste because of vanity projects. We need fiscal responsibility.

GP1? Is that you?

Outside of Toledo how often does BG really sell out? For them 4,300 feels like the correct size. For schools like Toledo or OU, who have historically drawn better, it would be too small.

The only MAC arena I've been to other than the JAR is Kent. Both are terrible. From what I can tell on TV, most of the arenas in the MAC are terrible other than BG (although I think it's too small). They all seem old or way too big. EDIT: This excludes UMass, as I forgot they are in the MAC and haven't seen it as much on TV to get a good look.

Swag (if that is even what the youth call it these days) probably doesn't have the same pull it did 10, 20 years ago. It might still heavily matter to the top players at the top schools because those players have NIL deals directly with Nike or Adidas. At the G5 level it's probably much more important whether or not the NIL check cashes vs. whether or not you're a Nike school.

Under Armour will always be associated with lower level colleges and high schools. They put all their money into Notre Dame and have very little else to show for it. Even Curry bailed. The biggest schools are all Nike, so it makes sense they don't care about Akron. But at least we get some Lebron gear out of the deal. Which is more than can be said about other outfitters.

The Stroh Center was built for about 10% of this cost and was almost entirely booster funded. Even after adjusting for inflation the Stroh Center would be $43 million. It was done the right way IMO. ~$50M-$100M seems reasonable for a MAC arena. Edit: There is no need for these cathedrals that sole purpose is to pad an ADs resumé who will long be gone before the financial ramifications become a giant anchor to the athletic department and school finances.

I don’t want under armour because it puts us on the same level as Kent. If we can still use LeBron I’m all for going back to adidas

Good point, it will be well north of $300 million after budget run overs that happen with any project of this size

$281 million estimated.

It didn’t say the size in the article, I’m glad that they are going for a smaller venue. I’m that case I’m all for it. Better arenas in the conference make it more attractive (at least in my eyes). I went to BG this year and loved it

I’m done buying Zips gear until the Fordham AD’s fast food logo is crumpled up and tossed in the dumpster. Which would be criminal to do to any dumpster, but sometimes it sucks to be a dumpster.

I forgot to mention it at the time and maybe just thought it wasn't important but it seems to fit in this thread. On a recent Board of Trustees meeting that I watched part of, Goodrich stated that this is the last year of our Nike deal and he hinted we would be signing with someone else. He said something along the lines of "Nike doesn't value us as much as we value ourselves". I would like to go back to Adidas but I'm thinking someone like Under Armour may be more likely. As they have fewer schools in their portfolio and we could be a higher priority.