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Utilization. It isn't sitting empty 325 nights a year. It helps sell U of A campus life to touring students. It make the whole building an easier sell to the university, contributors, and the state. Using it for rec and fitness puts part of the cost on the students through facility fees.

Then how do these other arenas in cities the same size or smaller get built and stay open? Without D1 college basketball? Since nobody else apparently has the skills to use Google, here are some arenas in similar size markets with similar seating capacities. Explain to me why this type of calendar wouldn't help us pay for a great, modern place to watch the Zips and make other schools jealous. http://www.erieevents.com/about/tullio_arena.htm http://www.covellicentre.com/ http://www.huntingtoncentertoledo.com/ http://wesbancoarena.com/ http://www.haracomplex.com/ http://www.bluecrossarena.com/ http://www.charlestonwvciviccenter.com/

A student sitting in a section with folding seats has something to bang open to make huge amounts of noise at opportune times during a game.

Including open skate nights, intramural and pickup soccer and lacrosse, year round football. Some students don't want to play basketball and bowl all winter long.

The additional events you could host (not just the one example you pinpoint on) would help pay for the building. Would you loan money to an organization building a new building that will sell tickets to 20-30 events a year? Or to an organization building a new building that will sell tickets to 80-100 events a year? Which one is easier to be pay off?

You can't get Akron Zips basketball anywhere else. Why would a multipurpose building change the basketball atmosphere in any way? It would have the same signs and the same banners as the JAR, the same floor, better seating and amenities, it is the same experience you would get in a basketball-only gym.

So 20 games a year is going to pay off then building. Interesting. And the U isn't looking for ways to bring potential patrons onto campus. Or new ways to sell student life to potential students. Yeah. If you actually read my posts, you would have your answer to this. Have you gone to websites of arenas in the other small cities I listed? Again, if you want to have a conversation, at least try to see where I'm coming from. Never mentioned that. It's not a rink, it's a multipurpose arena. If it were a rink, it would be booked solid (the first couple years the hockey team played they had to take 10:45 pm start times and the famous 4am practices). But it's not a rink. It's an arena where hockey teams would play in front of paying fans. A couple thousand more seats drastically changes who you can bring in. Again, look at other arenas in similar or smaller cities. Waste of my time. You won't read what I write, or look at my examples, so there's no point in discussing it any further. I don't know what university program you graduated from, but mine was heavy on keeping an open mind and investigating new innovative concepts. Thinking outside the box.

The basketball program isn't paying for a new arena. A big chunk of the money comes from contributions. Then there are the loans. And minor league teams are only one angle to look at. Under my concept, the students would be able to use the building for fitness/pickup/intramural games, skates, etc. So, the university would be paying for part of it out of fees like the health and fitness building and other faciltities. Being a Wayne College student that transferred (kicking and screaming) to main campus for the final 3 years of my degree, that is a substantial addition to your costs. I don't know the additional cost of a bigger floor, dasher boards, turf, and possibly ice making equipment. But I do know cities much smaller than Akron have them, they're sustainable, they have big events, and they have sustainable minor league sports teams. These events and games pay for arenas in Wheeling and Youngstown and Erie and Toledo and Dayton and other cities in smaller metropolitan areas than metro Akron. I'd kick in on a more functional facility.

Usually... All Pro Freight is a beautiful park, and has the new turf. It's where the MAC Tournament is played, and where Cleveland State played until they pulled the plug. Seats about half of what Canal Park does. Other than being 60 miles away, it's a nice alternative.

I have a leaked photo of the new ballpark design. Check out these sight lines...

Very much so. And there's a reason the sport is not big in these parts. The season is almost half over, we haven't had a home game, and there's several inches of snow on the ground. But yes, winning cures anything.

The first step would be a cost analysis of the cost of a building with a 4700 square foot floor compared to the cost of a 17000 square foot floor. Next would be to poll the student population to determine the usage of a fitness/recreational facility of that size for those activities. Then study the income from various arena shows. They pay well in Wheeling, they would work here. Then you look at the stage events you could bring in an additional 1500 +/- people. Which could be the difference between a dart tournament (LOL!!!) and Kid Rock. Then you can do your market study on minor league sports teams, if you want the extra revenue. The Canton Invaders and Ohio Vortex were/are sustainable in Canton and Medina, why wouldn't it be in Akron? Same with the Wooster Oilers. And Marion, Ohio has had arena football forever. Really, Marion?? Anyway I'm just thinking out loud, hoping someone important is listening. I know the usual naysayers and narcissists are going to poo poo anything not related directly to them. And I also expect the University to act like a university, and build only for what it perceives it needs today, and not at potential revenue producing events that could help pay for the facility.

That's alright, as you're behind dasher boards anyhow.

Think a step lower. Wooster, Erie, Youngstown, Toledo, Wheeling, Dayton, and Columbus (LOL!!! sorry) have minor league hockey. Marion (for crying out loud), Wheeling, Cincinnati, and Dayton ahve arena football (Canton had one but the arena is not interested about anything but the Charge now) Cincinnati, Dayton, and Oberlin have indoor soccer Check out all the other events those arenas have. Don't think about events you want to see, think about events that would bring revenue to the University. Picture students with access to intramural and pickup arena soccer, football, lacrosse year round. Picture 10 years from now an AD who wants full floor sports. Think outside the JAR.

Think beyond hockey. That's just one of many uses for a full sized arena. Not looking at the bigger picture, and not planning for the future is how we we got stuck with the JAR.

You're not building it for the club sport. You're adding capabilities to use that building a LOT more often. The hockey team is just one example of what can be done with a REAL arena. Just think of the entertainment events you can add with a REAL arena. It would allow for a bigger stage and a couple thousand more seats on the floor (for end stage events). Look at all of the events that are at places like the Covelli Center right now. The circus, Sesame Street on Ice, monster trucks, rodeos. Those all bring in money to the arena owners. Then look at the minor league sports that you could bring in. Those all pay rent. Whether you want to watch arena football or minor league hockey or basketball, those are revenue streams. And there are arenas in NE Ohio right now making money off of those people who do go. Now let's look at what a real arena can do for the students (and more important, prospective students) (again, more money). Skate night and intramural indoor soccer (a very popular sport in that demographic, when there is a suitable facility) are two examples. A real arena could be used several nights a week nine months out of the year. It is a building that helps pay for itself. It brings people to campus who otherwise would not come. It would help revitalize the area much like Canal Park did. Which would make the area around campus safer. All that ties back into the prospective student. Money. Growth. Everyone is wondering how to get a new arena paid for. How to justify it to the people with the money. How to bring money people onto campus that aren't basketball fans. You have to think outside the narcissistic box of "I don't like full floor xyz, so nobody should be allowed to watch it".

Akron's "club" hockey outdraws almost all of the varsity sports. I get it. You want us to build you a building that's only used for what YOU are interested in, and nothing else. Let's blow millions of dollars on a building that will only be used 20 times a year.

The Cavs built one for LeBron. Worked for them...

Call it what you want, it's how some of us feel. And that's one of the reasons the forum is here. I've been through 47 years of disappointments with the local college and pro teams, besides soccer. Some of us longer than that. We don't need you to tell us how we should feel right now. Maybe tomorrow or next week things will look different, but right now, I feel like I feel. Get over it.

Yeah, no negativity allowed here. It's been a great experience.

Maybe embarrassed (again) is a better description.

On his TV show Coach D said that they are supporting AA and are not turning their back on him. He said if anybody knows about making a mistake and getting a second chance it is him. So if there were any way the U allows him to stay there, and eligibility to play, KD will welcome him back.

I was just saying I remember it. And the Tuesday thing was just a dig at the extremes the Junior I-A conferences go to to get some pub. The Tuesdays don't work, nor does putting the best teams against the worst during the conference season (the coaches quit, and you get smoked in the BCS bowl anyhow). I am the one saying we should drop to I-AA so we can contend with our budget, and have a snowball's chance in hell of making the playoffs if the program makes something of itself. A tweener division might be better. And your idea of putting football in the spring is worth thinking about for sustainability.

I remember it. The MAC and the other non-BCS D1 conferences should play in the spring, where it can have a wider audience. But I thought that's what Tuesdays are for...