Spin

Care to support that with attendance data comparing old and new sports venues? You can start with examples from this region, including Canal Park, Jacobs Field, and the Richfield Coliseum. I'll even let you try to rationalize the Dialer, without mentioning the 6-42 record of the program in the first four years there.

What would engage the student population? Win some tournament games. It worked for soccer.

Coach D chimes in http://akronnewsnow.com/wakr/ray-horner-show/item/155693-audio-summit-county-council-members-discuss-changes-in-sales-tax-issue

My point exactly. They have never explored the idea of benefactors providing at least some of the funding for a new building. One issue would be whether or not to have non-Zip events there that would result in it breaking even. A lot of alumni and university officials are dead set against having any non-Zips events there, They would rather see it sit empty 330 nights a year, and be another financial drain.

It had to help break the "community college" stigma with a lot of people.

Heck, duing January February and March, play indoor soccer!!!!

Read again. They want soccer to play fall and spring. I think it's a great idea. I assume in the north the season would take December January and February off, with the teams playing once a week (which would allow more time for school, and make the game crisper. The pros don't often play twice a week very often). Play non-conference in the fall and conference play in the spring. It would also open up northern schools being able to host the College Cup. The south wouldn't always get home field advantage.

Those who wonder where the U could get the money for a new arena, have you received requests for a donation as alumni? I haven't.

Or could they be "once bitten twice shy"?

Summer seems like a big dead space for sports, with nothing but major league baseball and hours of coverage of NFL training camps Too bad it doesn't fit into the academic year.

IDK if it's the site or the forum software but this forum can be a real PIA sometimes.

I had classes at the JAR well after the Dialer was built.

Funny you should mention that as the CCC has a full sized floor. Yet the crowd looks closer to the action than at the JAR, I was there for many indoor soccer games (a different sport from futsal) and arena football. The stage makes it a poor design for sporting events, if that wasn't there it would be very close to the capacity Akron needs. it's also showing it's 63 years if you look past the renovations. One unique feature of the complex is the performing arts center "attached" to the civic center has a parking deck as a roof. That is very convenient, but would probably be cost prohibitive today.

I was looking at pics of "arenas" and this one looks earily similar to the JAR. Maybe less people in the bottom section, but more in the top. Welcome to Orrville High School

OK I see what you're saying. Take your expected crowd and figure that to be 70% of what capacity your building should be. That might be a good way to look at it. I just think we're going to see a big increase in attendance the day we move out of that band box. Even in the JAR attendance increased 10% overall and 15% in conference games last season. Cavs attendance increased 26% when it moved from Cleveland Arena to the Richfield Coliseum.

Comparing college basketball to NASCAR (which has been run into the ground by Brian France) is ridiculous. If a new venue doesn't get more fans in the seats, then explain the huge attendance growth when the Cavs moved to the Richfield Coliseum. When the Indians/Aeros moved to Canal Park. When the Tribe moved to Jacob's Field. And going by attendance percentages in the SEC means nothing without either attendance figures or seating capacity. How about some real figures? This is the same market that had (not one but the only two profitable) indoor soccer teams in the 80's. We broke AA baseball attendance records and drew more fans than all but 5 AAA teams. Broke Arena Football records (and was the only profitable franchise in the AFL-AFL2 era). This market will support a winner. You just have to reach them, and you have to give them a suitable place for adults to go watch.

Attendance has gone up over the Rubber Bowl era. The problem was I-a-don't-know Ball. You have to have an entertaining product in your venue. Perfect example, during the Ted Stepien era I was at Cavs games when there were 1500 other fans there. A week later the Force had 18,000. Those Cavs games were classic, we sat in the loges, and the security guard came over and shot the shit with us. He was lonely. We sat with Howie Chizek. Try that now... Anyway, there is no lack of Cavs fans now...

To do that you would need to know whether the superleague is made up of the top 32-36 programs, or entire conferences (no matter how shitty half of the programs are). I gotta tell ya, I'm excited about the whole thing if the first option happens, and we wind up with the Pitts, WVU's, Cincys, and Indianas. Spring or fall.

The biggest reason for bad attendance IS the JAR. For any number of reasons.

Good video. I missed it when it was out. Funny watching the end zone celebrations, knowing the No Fun League has clamped down even more on them. And after watching that, Trump is still a doush nozzel.

At least it didn't get you in the nose. That was the first and last play I ever made as a goalie. It still hurts to think about.

Hmmmmm, then Freshmen could get in...

The USFL did have teams go out of business. I remember specifically the San Antonion Gunslingers having their jerseys repossessed and they were sneaking into a high school training facility after dark to practice. Several teams had trouble making payroll. But like you said, all start-up leagues have those issues. The NFL has lost something like 60 franchises maybe? Including Akron (the first champs), Canton, Portsmouth, Hammond, Rochester, Dayton, Muncie, Rock Island. The Chicago Bears started out as the Decatur Staleys. Green Bay was independant until the NFL's second year. What killed the USFL (the same thing that kills most leagues, including the NHL almost) was rampant spending on player contracts. A couple owners decided to go into a bidding war for college grads and then NFL free agents. The same thing killed otehr leagues like the NASL, WFL, ABA, MISL-1, that and overexpansion killed the IHL (home of the Cleveland Lumberjacks). If you go back to the Federal League, it's killed leagues in every sport. The decision to go to the fall was the last straw. Attendance was increasing in most markets, ratings were edging upward. But the attendace didn't jump with the player salaries. Some, like Donald, thought going head to head with the NFL would force a merger. it worked for the AFL, ABA, and WHA, right? Wrong. They did win an anti-trust case against the NFL and was awarded $3.76.

I see college football heading more and more toward a 32 team league, probably with paid players. Traditional bowl games will be gone. So will the conferences (seriously, does anyone really believe the Indianas and Kentuckys and Colorados are REALLY going to be allowed in just because they were in a legacy conference???). There's going to be mass realignment when those left out are going to finally look at geography and travel expenses when the big boys leave. I think it's kind of fun thinking about a conference/division made up of Akron, Can't, Miami, Ohio, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Marshall, BG, and Toledo. Dang that would be fun, something Akron could grow into and one day seriously compete for the whole thing. Hell we might even play on cable systems other than TimeWarner To the east there would be about 10 schools to make up another conference. To the west, a midwestern division amde up of the remnants of the B1G and MAC. I would guess tOSU, Michigan, NWern, Nebraska, and maybe Wisconsin of Penn State sucked up into the superleague. That's how I see it playing out. The moral of the story is there are several ways this brave new world could work out, and none of them include Akron or any other MAC school being invited. If you're building for bowl games and the money schools lose at most of them,. and an invite to a legacy conference someday, that's all going to be gone. What will be left are the real college football programs, without the professionalized "college" football programs. The real college programs are going to pick up a lot of fans turned off by the NFL's minor league. If that's the scenario, a 32 team superleague (minor league NFL), then I don't see any reason to jump to spring football. If they do keep the conferences intact, including the ragtag Illini and Demon Deacons, leaving the MAC, WAC, CUSA, and Mountain West, that would be a different story,..

That's a whole different angle there. How about I build an arena off campus, and I let the Zips play there and schedule whenever they wanted. But the university has to pay me if it's otherwise a money loser? Hell yeah I want in on that deal!!!