Balsy

I completely agree that GJGood. I'm surprised the Bahamas Bowl sponsors wouldn't want a bigger named school? Don't get me wrong...I'll take whatever bowl invites we can get; but perhaps there should be more flexibility with scheduling. The NCAA is obviously rigged in favor of top-tier programs.

As for a complete list of 2014-15 MAC Bowls you can view this here. This is Bowl games that the MAC currently has contracts with, perhaps more if enough teams do well to get an invitation to a higher Bowl? GoDaddy.com Bowl MAC Champion? vs Sunbelt Champion? Idaho Potato Bowl MAC vs MWC Camelllia Bowl MAC vs Sun Belt Boca Raton Bowl MAC vs C-USA Bahamas Bowl MAC vs C-USA Going by this: The Zips goal for the season should be to win seven games, and finish in the top-5 of the conference. Both of those I believe are 100% possible.

IMO The MAC needs to take care of business in lower bowls, and then shift the focus to larger ones. NIU frankly was not good enough to compete in the Orange Bowl. I know that might seem a little short sighted to some of you (by keeping the MAC irrelevant) but we've got to make the best of our niche. Having record setting years of Bowl invitations, and then losing nearly all of the games is beyond embarrassing. I have a feeling Bowden would be a remarkably good Bowl coach...hopefully we can make one of those lesser bowls this year.

Perhaps he was so engrossed in his dream of turning Akron into the "Auburn of Ohio"

Financial Information from the 2012-2013 season. #84 out of 220 institutions. I thought it'd be an interesting discussion to bring it up...74% of athletics is subsidized (I'm presuming by the student body/other sources of money that are not ticket sales/merchandise. Now Subsidization seems like an awful dirty word, but I wonder how those expenditures break down. I'd imagine a large portion of those expenses are scholarships for athletes? MAC that ranks lower to us on total income: Rank (subsidiary) Can't State #94 (74%) Ohio #90 (66%) Ball St #112 (74%) Toledo #106 (48%) CMU #85 (80%) EMU #86 (67%) BGSU #105 (60%) NIU #97 (66%) Those who rank higher: Miami #79 (64%) UMass #73 (81%) WMU #80 (74%) Buffalo #77 (76%)

What a joke.

IMO there is a very disturbing fact that often gets overlooked: It's criminal for students to be paying that much for season tickets to THEIR OWN TEAM'S games. Ridiculous. I'm so glad it's much easier to be an Alumni of a smaller D-1 school. Wake up people, you're being hosed.

Take the money and run...with a win.

I agree...what a horrible idea. Spring FB will never work...especially on a college system. The vast majority of the Spring will be cold not-good weather for football. You'll be competing with the Superbowl and then baseball for "sub-par" football. Not to mention the "Big Five" will eventually be begging to have access to the "sub-par" teams again to get wins.

Actually I'm glad people finally noticed this. It's been a problem with the system for a long time, and there have been thousands of students (not just UA) whom have exploited it.

Hah, they can lay as many turds as they want...if it means we go 4-0...

How much more would it take the Universe to implode if Akron went 4-0 in OOC

Those are all great points GP1...but my only question is: How much of that $14 million budget is building maintenance/paying off Incision...is that included? I simply can't see turning any sort of a profit on a new stadium if we were to burden the entire cost of building/operating. I think the best deal UA can get is the one that is being presented here. Infocision certainly isn't turning a profit, why on earth would we think that a basketball stadium owned by UA would?

Knowing what DiG just pointed out, there is less of a reason why there would be a huge push against it. By the sound of it, The City/County would be getting an arena, and the potential economic impact it can have, without shouldering all of the risk. UA shoulders some of the Risk of operation, without all the Risk of construction. It's a win, win, win scenario. The only thing that absolutely has to be well planned, is those in charge of planning. You do not want to necessarily compete with Civic Theater and EJ Thomas hall performances. However, I have doubts that would be a problem; because each venue is uniquely different...serving different facility needs. @GP1 You're right..."given" was a poor choice of words...but I think you get what I'm saying By "given" I mean has prime access...first come first serve basis. So change "given" to "having" access.

I think everyone is over simplistically characterizing the fact that there is a downtown arena. First thing: it needs to stop being said that this is a taxpayer funded arena for a college basketball team. No, it's a taxpayer funded facility for the City Of Akron/County of Akron (of which Akron is the seed of the County) for which the City and County will give access to the local college (which happens to be a large contributor, and to be an important part of the county's economy). Change the narrative. This is not because the local basketball team needs a new arena. It's because the city/county would like to maximize the tax dollars brought in by a sales tax to complete several needed city upgrades. A downtown facility has been a long intended upgrade to the downtown infrastructure that opens up the potential to complete many downtown business ventures that cannot be explored further without such a facility. Other parts that are being funded by this project, were also essential upgrades to the city/county infrastructure in order to move forward. The media has been portraying this as a project that is most about the arena with some other stuff attached...and we keep referring to it as if it was that. It is not. Second thing: I brought up the past election for which there is data (including schools) to paint a picture that it can pass. Yes, everything needs to be timed correctly...and it might take several election cycles to pass...but I do believe sales tax increases pass at a far higher frequency than levies. Medina (where I am from) took decades to pass a new operating levy. However, despite not passing a new operating levy for nearly 15 years (which is leaned against property value), they passed a sales-tax increase for building on the first try. Medina, if anyone is keeping score here, is a rather conservative city/county.

..or how many police officers who work at the jail live out and about int the community. The most important factor in getting anything done in politics is building a coalition. It seems, that we already have our coalition of community members: Zips fans and Alumni, Police officers, those who have had a stay in the prison, Downtown business... For those doubting it could pass due to the rural areas in summit county...here's the data for the 2012 election pertaining to tax levies. I think everyone is over thinking this. After looking at the data, I'm convinced it can definitely pass as long as there is good campaign to support it, by that coalition above. In 2012 every single levy in the ballot passed in summit county. Those pertaining to Fire, EMS and Police (percent for): Norton (57), Copley (69), Coventry (72), Northfield (70), Richfield (51). Those pertaining to mill raises for county/school/city operations (which are levied against property value, which would arguably impact people more than a sales tax): Clinton (66), Penninsula (54), Sigamore (55), Akron (60), Auora (53), Barberton (54), Hudson (65), Nordonia (59), Norton (53), Stow (57), Coventry (60), Woodridge (56), Summit (69), Twinsburg (53). If properly marketed and campaigned to the people of Summit county, I really believe its passable.

First time I've been excited about Akron football since I've been a Zip!!

Agree with both of you. There are players on this roster who need "seasoning"...they're mostly freshman. Those that haven't been producing who are upper classmen, are simply never going to. OSU and all the other big schools get that, MAC should too. The improvement that we should expect to see is that more dynamic playbook we saw from Bowden's first year.

Than you would have to get into the equally painful discussion about shared profits...because if the taxpayers are shouldering the burden, then all counties should benefit from it, which I'm sure the city hosting it would object to. I'm actually an advocate of this when it comes to funding of public education, or anything public. However I'd like to bring up the post I made earlier about the cost it would have on average families in the county...roughly $59 a year. People get up in arms about tax increases because of principal, rather than impact. I'm not entirely sure what the Georgia situation is...a sin tax, sales tax or income tax...but if it's not an income tax, everyone really needs to calm down...it really won't have much impact on them...period. Income tax, or property tax probably would...so I'd understand the the outrage if that was the case. I also don't think it would become a "White Elephant" because it will be used By the Zips for a good portion of the year. Hell, it'd be getting more use than the Big Dialer!

That'd be fantastic! Go get 'em Terry!

Balsy Prediction: (and it is a little Ballsy) East: Akron, BGSU, Ohio, Buffalo, Can't, Miami, UMass West: Ball St., NIU, CMU, Toledo, WMU, EMU I do believe Ball St. and BGSU are the best teams in the MAC going into the season. But in the MAC, anything can happen. GO ZIPS!!

:gun: :gun:

I agree with that Keener. They have first team LBs: Ike Spearman (EMU), Gabe Martin (BG), DJ Lynch (BG), Jamaal Bass (NIU). But like mock drafts...I don't put stock in "All-Team" predictions. They're useless. I do agree with Hackenburg comment...however two things we need to exploit: PSU lacks depth at the LB position, and there were several injuries in spring to the OL

Against my best judgment I picked up one of those College Football rags today at the store...I was interested to see how their reporting on the MAC was, and I have to say it was pretty good. I was pleasantly surprised. It's Lindy's Sports College Football national edition if you want to pick it up and read for yourself. A few excerpts from it: They have Akron ranked No. 89 overall nationwide. Description/analysis of the team was spot-on. ALL-MAC team predictions: 1st team Zach Paul, 2nd Team Cody Grice and Justin March. They pick the MAC as follows: East: 1. BGSU, 2. Akron, 3. Buffalo, 4. Ohio, 5. Can't, 6. Miami, 7. UMass West: 1. NIU, 2. Ball St., 3. Toledo, 4. CMU, 5. WMU, 6. EMU

@Zach That's what I've been trying to say...this is the BEST opportunity to sneak a win against a BIG team. New coach, sleeper between two bigger "more important games"...they have to return from London, while we have 2 more days of preparation after a win. PERFECT!!