akzipper

Of course on ESPNU this pointless Penn State game isn't going to end on time...

This was exactly the problem when I was in school. Sat with the Rowdies for one basketball game as a freshman, and decided after that I would never again. We have the best student section in the MAC, but it has a lot of room for improvement

I agree that around 7000 would be perfect. When I hear "small arena" I tend to think of 4000 or below, which is what I thought you were suggesting. I think we would easily average over 4,000 in an arena that size. The "draw" of Infocision wore off because the team was so awful and almost painful to watch. A new arena draws fans, and winning basketball will make them come back. This is the main reason I think UA needs to hurry up and get something done while our program is at it's strongest.

Sorry I have no interest in watching our zips play in a glorified high school gym on tv. There is nothing more embarrassing than a school like Akron building an arena of 3000.

There's nothing to do in Athen's anyway, so yeah I'm not surprised they go watch basketball.

We need about 21 other players like this and we'll be in great shape to win the MAC!

Exactly my point. No big time program would have below 6000. And I agree with the other post about no decent mid-majors below 5000. But hey 3000 at Akron is totally acceptable!

"Under 800 students? we only need an arena that seats 800" -ZipsLogic

Building a small arena will destroy this basketball program. Name a big-time basketball program with an arena under 6,000.

Maybe I'm remembering the story wrong, but weren't some of the new UA residence halls financed in a similar way? They partnered with a private organization to build them, but UA owns the lease?

The $102 million is what FirstEnergy paid for the naming rights for Browns Stadium and the lease is over a 17 year period. I wasn't suggesting that UA build an arena costing that much, nor saying a company would pay UA that much. That's not realistic for us. I expect if an arena is ever build it will cost less than the $60 million Infocision.

Hopefully it was some sort of misunderstanding like this. Cutting corners is what got us stuck with the JAR to begin with. If they can't build it right this time, there's no reason to waste anyone's time. The $102 million is over 17 years, so it ends up being $6 million a year. Also, FirstEnergy hold the naming rights to 3 other stadiums, including UA's soccer field. It's tough to guess which companies would be interested. I will say that we can rule out Lebron James.

Well hopefully you are correct. I think the 7,500 range is perfectly acceptable especially when hearing 3000 mentioned. Would be one of the top-5 arenas in the MAC size-wise. I've always supported TW, except for the Ianello hiring. His legacy at UA to me rests on the future. The arena, conference realignment, Bowden, keeping Dambrot and the new soccer coach. I'm not sure if this has been mentioned, but I really like Northern Kentucky's arena. Build for $64 million and seats 9,400. It has a great combination of chairbacks and bleachers, "big-time" feel, and most importantly suites close to the action. The bleachers located at the left would be a great place for the Rowdies.

Yeah, this would be an embarrassment. You do realize that our Exhibition games almost draw 3,000 right? Coastal Carolina is a school of only about 8,000 from the Big South Conf., in a City of only 16,000. You can't compare that to Akron, even if we did lose a fluke game to them this year.

I feel like this has been the case for the past few games. Very uninspired basketball. Historically though, teams will "look past" games like this. Weak opponent at home when rival Can't is on Saturday. I really hope that is all, and they can play strong next game!

Anything under 5,000 to me is embarrassing, just because the JAR holds 5,500 and we are becoming a successful program. The Stroh Center is a perfect example of what NOT to do, yet that "proposal" is actually worse than the Stroh.

They need to come out with some concrete designs and release them to the public. How do they expect to get any money if nobody is even aware of the plans. Showing a rendering of a nice arena, with a decent amount of seating would impress people. When people are impressed they will be willing to put money forward. 3000 doesn't even sound realistic. We have been the best MAC program over the past 6-7 years, and have potential to get even bigger. Why would UA want to mess with that. Football is awful, soccer is on the decline, and basketball is all we have left. Even tonight with freaking Ball State in town, we had over 3,000. Anything under 6,000 would be pointless. Why build a new arena if it's not going to be an improvement?? dumb. This isn't football where you can expand seating if needed. Once you build an area, you are STUCK. Someone mentioned the OVC? Average arena size in that conference is 7-8,000. Anything under 4 is pushing Division 2 status.

It's more embarrassing to see seats closed off than empty seats. That's UA saying, "well no one is going to sit there, so why bother". The inflatables don't add anything to the game, because people should be going to watch the Zips.

I think that right there is a reason why we should not do this. These are college sports, not minor leagues. We shouldn't have to rely on cheesy gimmicks like that to get people to the games. Football is one thing, since UA is encouraging fans to show up early and tailgate. But during basketball games it just gets annoying and defeats the purpose of those families attending games.

Draw more people to the game, by closing off seats?? That doesn't make any sense.

That's what people always say...then the new season starts and we're watching another 1-win football team. Nothing about this team makes me think any differently

"Send it in, Jerome!"

Wow that is impressive. But with most early drawings, it's tough to really know what the finished area will look like. I heard that the Odd Corner was going to be forced to move yet again. Not sure how much truth to that, but maybe they can offer them one of the small storefronts in the new buildings. Basically it looks like these building will take up the area between Brown and King St. Meaning the building on the far right is the first development being built between King and Sumner? Sure wish I was still at UA to see all of this being built. Exchange Street is really going to be an awesome place (never thought I'd ever say that). Just hope it becomes the "place to be" on Saturday gamedays!

There isn't much to get excited about next years team. Is it possible to be worse? We are losing a lot of players, and not adding anything special.

All of those are okay if you are a diehard Zips fan. If not, I highly doubt a casual fan would recognize any of those names. And like I said how many of those athletes have multi-million dollar foundations/sponsors to work with? Other than JT, none of them do. I feel like UA could hand out $100 bills to every fan that attends a Zips game and people would still complain. "Why is Benjamin Franklin on the bill, he didn't go to Akron?!" "Only $100, wow cheap we deserve at least $200"