TennesseeZippy

I had the same question myself in the other thread. Never have gotten an answer on it, let alone if it will be AstroTurf brand over FieldTurf. FieldTurf is the most respected brand in the synthetic turf business, but Akron has historically used the AstroTurf brand.As an aside, AstroTurf just installed a GameDay 3D field in our town last year (Greeneville, TN), and the school loves it. I would imagine Akron would install the 3D w/the root zone if they go with AstroTurf.

Summa Field’s Playing Surface:Synthetic (similar to Rubber Bowl, Stile Field House and Schrank Field).In other words Field turf.No one installs Astro turf anymore.Actually, there is an AstroTurf Brand of synthetic surface. Similar appearance to Field Turf, but made by the AstroTurf brand. This company (AstroTurf) resurfaced about a year or two ago, and the new AstroTurf company has installed fields in multiple locations. They put a high school football field in the town that I live in, Greeneville, TN, last year.http://www.astroturfusa.com/Multiple companies make synthetic surfaces, including FieldTurf, Sprinturf, Sportexe, and AstroTurf. Most synthetic companies make a similar type of surface to FieldTurf now. If you're saying that no one installs the old carpet/astroturf substance for football, you are correct. Some schools, however, will still install the old astroturf-type surface for field hockey, but not for football.More than one manufacturing company produces the new synthetic-type surfaces for football. Which company will get the contract for the Info turf project? That's the question that I'm asking.

Anyone heard which type of artificial turf they are going to put in Info? Will it be FieldTurf, Momentum, or the AstroTurf brand that is currently in the Rubber Bowl and the athletic fieldhouse. FieldTurf is probably the most respected artificial turf product, but we have historically went with the AstroTurf brand? Just curious.

Can the stadium really be seen from I-77, or just from Route 8? I could see the top of the upper deck framing and the press box when I was going north on I-77. I was surprised, as I thought that it could only be seen from Route 8. Pleasantly surprised, however, as I didn't get to drive over to Route 8.

I visited Akron last weekend, and was just amazed at how you could see the new stadium from I-77. The pictures on the site don't do it justice when it comes to demonstrating how large the new stadium is.

Cowher is a pipe-dream for UT. If they hire a big-name, it will probably be Butch Davis (god forbid!!!). Don't think that's going to happen, however. Jon Gruden was initially mentioned due to his Knoxville connections, but that's also a no-go.The three hot names in Knoxville right now are Kelly, Lane Kiffen and Troy Calhoun (coach at Air Force).

Living in the Knoxville area, Kelly is definitely on the Vols' list. I don't know what to think about the Knoxville News-Sentinel article, however, saying that Kelly is THE leading candidate, however. News is hard to come by about the search because the UT AD (Mike Hamilton) doesn't want anything to leak out in fear of accidentally sabatoging a possible hiring. And, the newspaper in question, the KNS, is the same newspaper that got scooped by other internet sites and newspapers about Fulmer's dismissal even though it's the hometown newspaper. Other places broke the story of Fulmer's dismissal, but the KNS didn't even report it on their site until several hours after the fact. The journalists at the KNS are lazy, unprofessional, and MANY times inaccurate. Being a UT fan, I kind of like Kelly as a candidate, because he's won wherever he's been, and he's won big. Having someone with a little cockiness as a HC would be in this case a welcome change from Fulmer's conservativeness. And this is coming from someone who respects Fulmer and has supported him over the years. It's just time for a change in Knoxville.If JD leaves or not, Akron should be fine. I think Infocision will be the catalyst for this program taking off and moving to the top of the MAC for years to come. Recruits look a lot at facilities now, and between the new stadium and the new indoor facility, the Zips don't have to take a back seat to anyone in the MAC. They are leading the facility race in the MAC, and this will help immensely.

When it comes to football, one program has stood above all the others in the history of the Akron City Series, and it's Garfield. It was very appropriate that the last City Series game in the Rubber Bowl was Garfield/Buchtel (arguably the two best City Series' programs), and it was nice to see the good guys win another championship. Nice to see the Beacon get one thing right, as they don't get much right! Go Rams!

As an aside, his brother, Devon, is spending his summer here in Greeneville, Tennessee (where I live) playing Rookie League ball for our Greeneville Astros in the Appy League. Not quite the stir through town about Devon as there was a couple of years ago when another minor league came her to Greeneville. The minor leaguer, Koby Clemens. Roiger would come into town here on days that he didn't pitch and hang out in Greeneville with Koby. No noticable syringes at Pioneer Park, home of the Astros.

I hope the Zips can have a nightmare season like that one!?!OK, I was off a year. My bad. I was thinking UT and UA played in '88, not '89. The memory's going on me. The year before (1988) was the nightmare season. I guess that I've opressed it all these years. 1988 University of Tennessee season

This is a very interesting discussion. I certainly understand those who only want to schedule home and homes and not travel to upper echelon BCS schools. You want to continue to build the program, and I appreciate your zeal in supporting the Zips. And, yes, with InfoCision, the quality of the home schedule should be improved, and more home games are needed.My only argument was that I didn't think we should rule out playing one upper tier BCS school a year for a good payday. Most MAC and non-BCS schools do this, and the financial gain can benefit the program. I don't think that you should schedule more than one per year, and that's the fault that I've seen in recent scheduling. It's not that we are playing upper-tier BCS schools -- it's that we are playing 2 or more of these a year, which dramatically decreases our chances of becoming bowl-eligible. It's like having a couple of guaranteed losses, and then having little room to slip up the rest of the year. And the year that Akron played Tennessee, it was actually the Vols' worse season in twenty-some years. They lost their first five or six games if I'm remembering right, and it was a nightmare in Knoxville that year. Although the Vols won that game in Knoxville that day, it was a nightmare season overall.

My personal opinion is that you can have the best of both worlds. You schedule at least 6 home games, but also play one "biggie", an OOC game against a BCS school. You get the payday, and you get these youth the opportunity to play against a BCS school, making Akron more attractive to recruits. What if Appy State didn't schedule MEEEEEEEEEEECHIGAN last year? Even if they don't win the ballgame, they get a heck of a payday. And those kids will remember forever the chance they had to play in the "Big House".Realistically, despite having the new stadium, you are going to have a VERY hard time getting a top-of-the-line BCS school to come to Akron on a home and home in this day and age. Top schools aren't going to risk blowing their BCS chances playing tough non-BCS schools on the road. I don't personally agree with this scheduling philosophy, but that's the thinking that BCS schools follow.

GoZips.com doesn't even have last year's "future schedule" right. The only ones who would know anything would be the Mack Rhoades or someone in his office.I wouldn't count on that. You know folks in TN have their own way ah speakin. Maybe they meant Alcorn State.I know it's been awhile since this has been posted, but I did see this tonight on the official University of Tennessee site. Apparently, there was an agreement for a 2010 game w/Akron, but the game has been changed to a later year.http://www.utsports.com/football/article.aspx?id=60480

From the club seat sales video posted above, it appears to me one only gets that luxury for at least $1000/seat; the rest of the seats appear to be bleachers only.That's what I thought as well from the video, which is why I asked the question. This would be disappointing, as I know that Stanford's new stadium has the benches w/backs, and a lot of other new facilities have the benches w/backs as well. Thanks for the reply.

Curious, will the seating in the new stadium have the "chair backs" like the bleachers at Progressive Field? In other words, will the seating be a traditional bench type seat or a bench with backs added?

You know, I've always thought that we should have painted a big prophylactic at midfield at the Rubber Bowl!

As much as I love my hometown, seeing those early pictures of the project with all that snow reminds me of why I live in Tennessee.

Word on one of the University of Tennessee premium sites is that Akron is asking out of it's 2010 game with the Vols. These are my two favorite teams. Akron is where I grew up, and Tennessee is where I now live. Anyone heard anything about this up your way?

Just voted and Zippy has taken the lead by about 250 or so votes!

Just voted and Zippy is only up by 19 votes now! Get a voting!!!

Hadn't thought of that possibility.Now that the guy mentioned it, however, it's not a bad idea!

Mike,This picture is close to two years old, and surely not the latest rendering of the plans for the new stadium. If you do a "Google Image" search, this comes up first thing.2005 New U of A football stadium image

You hit the nail on the head with that point. That's the issue with going to a playoff system that many people fail to recognize. Your alumni even at the big schools will not travel to 3-4 locations with a playoff systems because it's not financially feasible. The 1-AA system cannot work with the big boys because of this. For example, say the University of Tennessee makes it to a 8 team playoff. They would have to play a first round game in Orlando, a semi-final game in New Orleans, and a national championship game in Arizona. Even some of the most loyal fans wouldn't travel to all three locations due to the extreme cost involved with this. Air fares would be outrageous due to short notice of whether or not your team would advance in the playoffs, hotel rates would be jacked up sky high and ticket prices would be outrageous. These factors don't come into play with a 1-AA playoff system because all games are held on-campus. So, why not hold games for a 1-A playoff on campus? Because the home-field advantage would be determined by a flawed and biased selection process, and this would give too much of an advantage to higher rated teams. I know that it's a popular train of thought that there should be some sort of playoff system for Division 1-A. I just haven't found a proposal out there that legitimately addresses the financial and seeding issues that would be involved in such a scenario. And yes, if a playoff system is adopted, I think that you would lose the ability of smaller schools in lesser conferences to go to bowls, and this would only hurt student-athletes in the long-run.

I'm new to posting on this site. Haven't heard anything lately regarding the new football stadium's status. Any updates would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!