kreed5120

I'm fairly indifferent to it. They can still play 4 games those days. It will just be 2 men's, 2 women's. In fact, it's probably what they're doing. I haven't looked at the women's tournament to validate.

Throw the records out the window. The rivalry alone gives it plenty of stakes.

I'm sure someone will post Zips schedule graphic later, but the MAC released the conference schedule today. There will be 22 games. https://getsomemaction.com/news/2026/8/12/mac-announces-2026-27-mens-basketball-conference-schedule.aspx

Yes, I received something in the mail about it a week or two ago. I pulled this from the UA Alumni facebook page for those who might not have seen. https://calendar.uakron.edu/event/27641-3rd-annual-greek-alumni-and-student-tailgate?fbclid=IwdGRjcAToqKtjbGNrBOiomXBkb2YFZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMzUwNjg1NTMxNzI4AAEeb5cZsvSO2-LUX8xTXKFQSxq7h9lPxstSkVH5BF1r4jxBQMoWUZdtTmPo6Q4_aem_v-D-y1dSCnyCBm-GiVUShw

Anything basketball and definitely soccer related isn't going to generate the same buzz as football. The football program has been one of the worst in all of FBS over the last 10 years and it still averaged around 3x the attendance of MBB. It's probably too late for season ticket sale promotion for soccer given I think the season starts next week. We'll have to wait and see what they have brewing for single match events. I did see the Crew is hosting an UA alumni night. For basketball even if they found a way to sell another 500 season tickets and attract an additional 100-200 students/game it would improve the game day atmosphere tremendously. They really don't need a national viral promotional gimmick to achieve it. Just need to get a bit more community buy-in. Perhaps convince some of those football season ticket holders to get basketball as well. Edit: We see 5k+ Zips fan show up every year in Cleveland. We just need to convince some of them to go to games in January and February instead of only going to 3 games in March.

I hate to be that guy, but I feel Goodrich and some others might be on borrowed time at Akron. If I'm an AAC school or a bottom tier P4 and I see all this publicity I would at least consider a marketing job for them due to their ingenuity. Even if I didn't plan to implement the same promotion. It's not just this promotion either. I feel the athletic department has done a lot of great things over the last year or two. This is just one of those things where you can point to and say my promotion sold x-thousand more season tickets, sold out suites, and brought in x-number in new sponsorship dollars.

I would be interested to hear how many season tickets got sold last week. I wonder if they will ever release those figures. All I've seen is we now how season ticket holders in 38 states and 2 foreign countries.

Wisconsin

Woolfork is returning to Miami. That's a significant addition for them. https://x.com/i/status/2086482973264658596

If Robert Morris was smart they would have countered with a promotion allowing a season ticket holder to serve as honorary defensive coordinator for the first drive. Benefit would include travel and hotel stay with team.

A coach that has never made the tournament in his 24 years as a D1 coach who coaches at a program that hasn't went dancing in 46 years. Loser mentality by a losing coach at a losing program.

Jon Gruden is entering the sweepstakes. https://x.com/i/status/2086203296415428906

It's only a 3 day event. A group of 3 round robin would take 3 days to do as one of the teams would have a bye each day. Add in the final where you face the winner of the other group and it would require 4 day tournament to complete. We might have to just wait and see what they decided on.

I would guess St. Bonnie would be one of them. It's anyone's guess on the other.

I don't think it should be rigged. I also don't think they should make one of them a co-coordinator as that takes away from the real winner. They should do what they can to get them to campus. Whether that be having the press conference live on one of their podcasts or whatever. One would think interviewing the winner before or after the game to talk about the experience would be decent content for them.

I would guess $300K-$500K/yr based off what other G5 programs have signed. New Mexico State, which is kind of comparable to Akron in regards to having a fairly high level basketball program, but historically not great football signed a 3 year $1.05 million. Time will tell.

You mentioned before that you're a former Akron football player. How would you feel about this as an Akron player? Would you think you're being treated unseriously or would you appreciate the extra attention this would generate?

This landing a jersey patch deal would be insane. I think that would make us the first in the MAC.

Yes, unless they got carried away and bought like a 1,000 tickets, the odds of them winning are going to be insanely low. I actually think someone from Barstool winning is more likely as they're degenerates and have a much larger staff. Big Cat bought 8 and said he was thinking of buying more. Someone like Dave Portney I could easily see buying a chunk. I wouldn't be surprised if the company employees as a whole bought 200 or so.

With Pat doing College GameDay one would have to think it would be a scheduling conflict for him to actually do. With OSU/Texas playing there is no way College GameDay won't pick that game. Maybe they would let Pat off that week or have him join remotely.

Doing some napkin math. It was said that Akron sold out it's suites for the first time in program history. The stadium only has 16 suites available for public sale and one has to assume a number of those were already sold. Let's assume this promotion sold 4, which would be conservative. Let's also assume it sold 50 or so Club Seats. Very possible it could have been more as this promotion brought attention to the program. It's obvious the biggest jump is the GA tickets as people are treating this as a closed $75 lottery. I don't think it's unrealistic if 2,000 "entries" were sold. Suites 4 X $15,000 = $60,000 Club Seats 50 X $515 = $25,750 GA 2,000 X 75 = $150,000 All totaled that would be ~$236K in direct additional revenue. That's about half of the $500K the school said they wanted the athletic department to erase from the deficit. That's not even factoring in any increases in merchandise, sponsorships, or donations from alumni who now feel more positive about the school and/or program. Not to mention a chunk of those 2,000 are actually alumni or locals. Some amount of them could be persuaded to renew. Not to mention all the free advertising for the school at a time where seniors are deciding where to send their applications. Not saying anyone would pick Akron based off a promotion, but it might lead a few to give the Akron website a look whereas they didn't consider it before. Then a few of those stumble on a program or something they like.

Joe said he hasn't really seen any reactions from players regarding this. It said its been business as usual. Whether that's true or not who knows.

Last year the adventure bracket was 8 teams and consisted of 3 games. Not sure how the format will he this year with 6. Perhaps they're still 2 TBD.

I don't think anyone bought a suite to specifically enter the raffle. The stadium as a whole has 17 suites and I imagine the University keeps one of those to themselves to whine and dine. That means really only 16 are available. Some amount of those were already filled. I don't think it's unlikely that 3-4 high networth alumni or area businesses got caught up in the excitement surrounding the program and decided to buy a suite. $15K to a Cleveland-Cliffs, Goodyear, Timken, etc. is immaterial on company financials.

I shared a more in detail article that I copied and pasted. It was behind a paywall, but I worked some magic to get around it. I shared it for those that might not know how. Something worth calling out apparently Akron staff plans to be on The Pat McAfee Show and ESPN Radio today. Also, Big Cat plans to attend an Akron game. Barstool will probably try to make a spectacle out of a random mid-week matchup if it happens.