I actually thought about this thread while at the hockey game Friday night. Is that sad or what? A W E S O M E short-handed goal to win in the final minutes of the game, BTW, one of my favorite Zips moments of the school year!!! I hope that video makes YouTube.
Best case scenario would be separate basketball arena and smaller rink on campus. Hoops fans get all that they want, and the students get a facility that will actually be open to them for fitness/recreation. A multi-purpose facility, on campus or downtown, would not be open for public skates, rec and intramural indoor soccer, football, and lacrosse (to name four examples). The hockey crowds, while drawfing most other sports, would fit in better with a facility bigger than Center Ice, but 6,000 seats may be a bit much. Think "atmosphere", as several basketball fans have brought up. 600-1000 would work better in that regard IMO. Could the JAR be reconfigured to a full-floor rec facility, sacrificing some or all lower level seats?
How to pay for it all. We've seen several facilties paid for by alumni. The last two athletic projects we're done had multiple naming rights sponsors, and an increase in sponsorship because of the better facilities. The rec facilities are paid for in part by facilities fees on main campus students.
I wonder what the cost savings of a multi-purpose facility compared to separate basketball arena/large rink combo would be...
Oh well, I can dream. That's how big things get done.
Second best scenario is an on-campus basketball arena and city owned downtown multipurpose arena. This would help revitalize downtown Akron, benefitting the community and the university. Not necessarily all of the alumni. Would the downtown public arena be open for rec purposes? Maybe, but for everybody, not just students. That would be very crowded, and cost money students might not have.
Third best, an on-campus multi-purpose facility. Probably not open for student use. But better than nothing.
Or, we could just concentrate on basketball, ignore the recreational facilities (and a very nice student recruitment tool) we could have, and the potential revenue-producing sport that draws multiple numbers of paying fans compared to sports like softball (which has great facilities and less than 1/4 the spectators).
All just my opinion...