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Our President says he'd consider moving football to 1-AA. He openly wishes we had a smaller stadium. Basketball hasn't won an NCAA tourney game of any type in nearly a decade. Enjoy the MAC.

I started to compose a posting for this thread, but it made my head ache and I held the backspace button. Now I will go see if the office first aid kit has some ibuprofen.

I just can't see how a big conference would accept Akron when it can't consistently draw 10k+ for football and only fills it's 5500 basketball arena a few times a year. If Akron could develop a legitimate following and the community and students embraced the athletics, it could grow into something as the Cleveland-Akron-Canton area is a very large market. I just feel Akron has to prove it has fans before we get accepted over safer expansion picks.

@GoZips I would point out to you that you need to clean up your act as well. Listening to you berate our Mens Soccer players and head coach last Fall during one of the MAC Tournament games until another fan confronted you was totally ridiculous. He did so in a very calm and professional manner and your response to him was continued negativity. I was happy when you chose to watch that match from elsewhere in the stadium. You didn't come across as a Zips fan on that occasion among others that I've witnessed. I'm not going to take the time to go back and review your posts and responses to which you are taking offense, but I add to the recommendation that likely cleaning up your experience on ZN.o begins with you. Feel free to call me out if you'd like on past negativity. I'm far from guiltless; others have called me out in the past for being so negative in some of these threads. I've tried hard not to be so in recent months. Sometimes it is very difficult when you shake your head at the direction that UA athletic department staff chooses to go. In those cases, I just try hard not to post anything.

The unsportsmanlike conduct has gone to far. Nasty has driven several high quality posters off the board. Your childish and unkind behavior is destroying ZipsNation. I try to give a look inside the team. I actually have access. If smart ass sniping is your meat you will destroy ZipsNation. Thirty years ago people similar to yourselves whined that the Zips were not good enough to join the MAC. Many people who lacked vision wanted to stay in the Ohio Athletic Conference. The OAC kicked Akron out. The university is well aware of the need to go up and out of the MAC. The MAC no longer fits for Akron. Nothing against the MAC. It is a fine One A conference. It just no longer is the best fit for Akron. Sports finances should improve by upgrading to a better conference. That is important. There is a need to generate more revenue. P5 type conferences generate more revenue and allow their members to participate in more sports at less cost to those universities. It is high time that posters on ZipsNation make some positive contributions to the discussions. I, for one, have a fair bit of quality information that needs to be shared with members of ZipsNation. I am reluctant to share this good information because everything is negative, a joke and spun to insult. I am tired of being ridiculed and made the butt of sorry jokes. I see that recently a young poster who has in the past held a positive attitude has turned into a sour, nasty poster like many of you are. What a shame. Like I stated, I WILL report EVERY nasty uncalled for post from here on out. ZipsNation has become a sewer.

You don't ask to be admitted to a P5 conference. They invite you in if and when they decide it is in their best interest. That being said, the chances of Akron being asked to join a P5 conference at any time in the forseeable future is the same as Bluto's GPA, 0.00.

The ONLY way Akron would have a chance of moving to another conference would be in the scenario where the AAC loses Cincinnati and/or UConn to a power conference. And in that scenario, we're fairly far down the list of desirable candidates. And even if we did manage to make that move, the AAC we would join would be one that isn't that great because they just lost one or two of their best members. But looking at our "competition" for moving up in this hypothetical scenario, NIU and Buffalo are ahead of us from the MAC alone, and if the AAC wanted a more southern market then there are comparable universities in C-USA (Old Dominion has the massive Hampton Roads market which is completely untapped for both college and pro sports) that they would look at first.

1. Move to another conference? UofA can barely afford to remain in the MAC and has VERY LIMITED financial and fan support. 2. Students don't care about attending athletic events - even when the teams win. BB ball and soccer - can't get 2000 to attend for 2 hours. 3. UofA needs to develope a connection between students and teams if they believe athletics is an asset and will attract new students. 4. How can this disconnect be repaired or more accurately stated, established? 5. How KD & staff have been able to recruit in the players is amazing. The players attend because of the staff/winning; not because of the JAR w/15 students & 2000 fans 6. Short term cure invest more $ in the BB team/program to assist with travel costs for recruiting a larger region and improved travel arrangements vs out of state opponents. 7. Long term cure: fix the disconnect between the students and the gameday experience and continue winning. 8. Even if LBJ pays for an arena, there will still be 2000-3000 in attendance until the BB program has the consistent funds to compete in a bigger pond.

Blue & Gold, by all means please include the AAC. They are one of two conferences that the Zips have the best opportunity to join. The other conference is the negatistas favorite "we can't join them". Sad. Same crowd that whined that the Zips could not make it in the MAC. A fine conference that the Zips have out grown.

Yes, Zippy5, the Zips will have a solid, tough OOC schedule this year.

Kent being Kent. I just puked in my mouth after rolling my eyes so hard I now have a migraine. http://www.ohio.com/news/education/tamir-rice-s-mother-to-be-keynote-speaker-at-may-4th-commemoration-at-kent-state-1.678736

The banners look kind of ugly and out of place, tbh.