Spin

GP1, you'll like this slideshow of Division 1 football. http://www.goducks.com/PhotoAlbum.dbml?SPS...p;PALBID=970348 Go hard or go home.

The anti-arena people are forgetting a couple things. Corporate sponsorship. Naming rights was a big factor in the decision to build the Summa Field at InfoCision Stadium and First Energy Stadium-Cub Cadet Field. Renovation costs of the JAR, to have a nicer gymnasium. We make fun of the idiots who are trying to renovate the Rubber Bowl. But some of us want to do the same thing to this newer, but equally as outmoded a structure. It was outmoded the day it opened. Then there are the contributors. People who would donate their own money to see this happen. Just like the Info. Just like other projects around campus. If a new arena could be built, using these sources of money, at a cost lower than putting lipstick on the JAR pig, what the hell's the problem? A lot of people get their panties in a bunch over talk of football dropping down to I-AA. But they're the first to poo-poo any idea that would make Akron LOOK like a friggen D1 school. Do you want to be Division I or not? And about Cameron Hall and Rupp Arena. THEY ARE NICER THAN THE JAR. THEY ARE MORE COMFORTABLE THAN THE JAR. No comparison. And THEY HAVE A STRONG LEGACY because of the history of the programs there. They are the Fenway Park and Lambeau Field of college basketball. Both of those facilities were kept modernized and blew the shit out of the newer Cleveland Municiple Stadium in every way as a fan experience anyway. We're beating a dead horse with some of these stiffs. Like I said, if the people running the U had this foresight, all classes would still be in Buchtel Hall. With black chalk boards and coal heating. The football team would still be playing Western Reserve University and Kenyon in a field in Hudson.

So a new arena would have NO value to improving the program??? That's where we're at now? Ever hear of "recruit visits?" Terry Bowden, the guy who started this thread with his comment, came to Akron (in large part) because it had first rate facilities to woo recruits with. The past several years we seem to be that one player away from taking the next step. New arena=better recruits. Would you attend Akron today if they still had chalk boards and a cafeteria? And everyone else had modern technology? Nicer facilities + bigger capacity=bigger crowds. Could we bring in a big program (or even a school with a famous name more from football than basketball) with a bigger arena? If the university had the forsight of the people on this forum, we would have all been squeezed into Buchtel Hall for class.

When's the last time you saw tOSU play at a gym similar to Kenmore high school's?

This can't be right. http://www.ohio.com/editorial/joseph-yeado...duates-1.416007

I don't see that as as big a problem as some. The Force was completely ignored by the media, they HATED soccer and laughed at indoorsoccer. Yet they drew 18,000+ for big games. They were the only profitable team in the sport. Probably still are. The Aeros are never on radio and TV sports, but at one time ranked 5th in all of minor league baseball and broke AA records. The best example is right across from the Student Union, alongside the baseball diamond. If you want a seat, you better go early. Or wear pants that don't grass stain.

Interesting study conducted by an alumni/baseball fan. Me. Even considering the early season games played in bad weather at the Canal Park (because Lee Jackson was unplayable), attendance at Canal Park was 17% higher at the off-campus site. The three best attended games were at CP. Same team. Same season. Same record. The numbers are skewered a bit because of the distance CP is from campus. Imagine if CP were on campus how much the needle would move. We had 60,505 fans at mens basketball games last year. Using that figure, a modern arena downtown would increase that by 10,286. Factor in the increase by being on campus, and you have another nice increase IMO. Comparing the popularity of college basketball to college baseball in this region, and IMO the increase could be a multiple of that figure.

I can't believe we wasted so much money on the Student Union and the Rec. And we provide FREE Wifi. Kids these days are so spoiled. Back in the 1930's when I went to college there, we didn't need all that shit. We walked 8 miles a day, uphill both ways.

It rang true for the soccer stadium just fine. Perfect example of what a suitable facility AND a winning team can do. I don't invite friends to come sit in the JAR because I don't want them to get that impression of my alma mater. I take them to real Division I facilities on campus. Not the JAR. Not the ball diamond. Football has a good venue. Soccer has a good venue. Softball has a good venue. When is it mens basketball and wonems basketball's turn? Look I'll do you one better, Buckeye fanboy. If they ask for benefactors for a new arena, I will put my own money on it. And I know others who will as well. And when we help build it, we will throw you off the bandwagon if you get anywhere near it.

But that's what we're trying to say. Fans aren't interested in going to a high school gym. You've heard several of them right here. You can't build fan interest NThe Canton-Akron Indians and the Canton Crockodiles and the Canton Coyotes lost money in that high school stadium. They moved to a nice facility, and despite being in the Indian's shadow, we broke attendance records. There are FIVE profitable minor league teams in the Indian's shadow. That's not an issue in this market. We broke attendance records in indoor soccer, in the same building the Cavs were in season. You have to win. And you have to have a decent building. College basketball is a more popular sport than minor league baseball or indoor soccer. They've been to the dance. Going rounds would help. But as far as attendance, the potential is there. Squeezing people together in folding bleachers just doesn't cut it. We can't build enough stands to hold all of the Zips soccer fans. Even with Ohio State in Ohio. The university continues to upgrade facilities and student services. Why? Because you have to today. Today's college student doesn't want to go to a college stuck in the 1940's. Sports fans are the same.

I know there's more to it than that. We've been talking about all of the aspects for over a year. Welcome to the conversation. You said you wanted a study. I spent my own time putting one together for you showing what happened to attendance when a better facility was built. You didn't even take one look at it because it proves you wrong. Now you're claiming that we think that's ALL we need, and throwing all this other crap out. How much students pay has what to do with attendance going up with tenable facilities? I'm done.

Yeah who could ever believe the word of an OSU football alum. Oh wait. That was anti-Buckeye, wasn't it. I'm sorry.

If you won't even consider that basic data, you're not going to listen to anything anybody says. And we talked about how to finance it ad nauseum. READ.

There are plenty of OSU honks that act like that. Whether someone hasn't been subjected to them or not is irrelevant. Even Je'Rod Cherry mentioned it last week. Those teams DO belong in the MAC, and have a hard time beating MAC opponents. What's wrong with saying that? The Zips are down right now, but a few short years ago we were the conference champions.

There it is. Half of the Big Five teams are below .500 in conference. Some of them have a tough time beating the MAC teams as it is. They're not going to sign off on that. What would really work is a restructuring of the conferences, taking only the top 20 or 30 teams in the country to play in the super league. But the conferences won't sign off on that, because they are raking in money by the truckload now. If you cut the conferences in half, with the top half playing in the 30 teams playing in the super league and the rest playing in the current division, then the teams left behind lose their big payday from having the super teams at their stadium. So they're not going to like that. I don't see an answer.

Brian Robiskie

I'm not dwelling in the past. I'm explaining why attendance hasn't shot up at the new football stadium like it has all the other venues I listed.

If the basketball team went 3-33, you might see attendance drop like a rock in the second half of their season too.

Cherry pick??? I used the new facilities in NE Ohio as examples. I left the two football stadiums out as the teams have sucked over the last 5+ years and teams that suck in a bad economy generally don't draw many customers. A concept most people understand. Those numbers came from the best years at those venues. In fact I used the artificially inflated Cleveland Stadium attendance figure from its last year there where the team played on the fans nostalgia and told them they wanted to come back and say goodbye to the dump. It worked, attendance doubled over what it was the previous 5-10 years. The Aeros attendance is particularly telling, as the team moved from a high school quality stadium with bleachers and poor facilities to the more modern, more comfortable, more suitable facilities. The Cavs attendance should have gone down with the move from downtown to the woods of Richfield. You couldn't even get to it from Cleveland without doing a U-turn on a freeway exit ramp. The first year there, with still a losing team, attendance doubled. If you don't like my numbers, get off your ass and do your own study. You got what you asked for. I've wasted enough time trying to convince you that people are more apt to lay down money to sit in comfortable seats and have food and beverages and restrooms readily accessible than to sit on bleachers in a middle school gym.

Canton-Akron Indians attendance: 204,000 Akron Aeros attendance: 309,000 Cleveland Stadium: 2,177,908 (farewell season) Jacobs Field: 3,468,436 Cleveland Arena: 214,119 Richfield Coliseum: 753,686 Do I need to compare Rubber Blow attendance to InfoCision?

Might be a silly question, but could baseball play at Firestone? I know for softball they put up a temporary outfield wall. That would be a nice lighted venue that would be a huge improvement over the retention basin, and it wouldn't look so empty as when they play at Canal? And more important, do they sell the Three Dog Night during Zips games at Canal???

Is it true the university looked at the cost of renovating the Rubber Blow (in much worse shape than the JAR), funds from the state, benefactors, and what they could get for naming rights and sponsorship, and paid for the Info with that?

Acme/Zip was a tradition I wish was still around. We could sure use someone to step up like that again and get people down to the new stadium.

There are still area fire departments that use "Akron" threads on their hose couplings. Which was developed of course by Akron Brass. Everyone else uses National Standard Thread, the departments with Akron threads have to carry adapters for mutual aid calls. Ironically Akron Brass has been headquartered in Wooster since 1921.