GP1

I don't think he's a negative. I just don't think his influence is as great as people think. The second he retires from the NBA, he becomes less relevant and that doesn't get better with time. I don't think he sit around thinking about how to get an arena built in Akron. In fact, it would probably create a nightmare he doesn't want in his life. Here is the other problem. A rule of thumb in facilities management says the cost of constructing a facility is only 20% of the cost of maintaining the facility throughout the life of the structure. Who is going to pay for the maintenance alone on the facility? Assume the arena lives for 50 years and is constructed for $150 million, the annual maintenance alone would be around $15 million if my math is right. It's also an average so the climate on the building in Ohio would create even more maintenance. Is LBJ going to pony up for the maintenance also? What is Akron can't draw high dollar events like quilting convention? See the problem here? They could prempt time and just start out calling it The Interbelt Arena.

Jordan owned a team. There is no arena named after him. He grew up in Wilmington. Not a great place but getting better. All without the help of Jordan's money. This isn't a knock on LBJ. It's a knock at those in NE Ohio who believe that LBJ or some.other savior is going to come along and improve things. People will be waiting around forever.

Barely. Building and arena would take him from being a billionaire to a millionaire. I've been confused about this for years. Why do so many around Akron think LBJ is the solution to the problems around Akron?

You could have at least lied and said you were attending a heavy metal concert.

How much do you think LBJ really has and why would he spend it? His prime earnings days will be coming to a close in the near future.

When I still lived in the Midwest, Grand Rapids was one of my favorite places to go. I was there recently was there again and it's even better. A big part of the start of the revitalization of downtown was Van Andel Arena. Akron doesn't need something this big, but an arena would help. The Van Andels are the family that started Amway. There isn't a business around Akron that would pony up the money for an arena. In 2025 dollars, Van Andel Arena would cost approximately $160 million.per Wikipedia. Goodyear or Firestone could pony up some but they won't. LBJ is rich, but he isn't Van Andels level rich. Gary Taylor wasn't Van Andel level rich. Akron is really stuck with the JAR. https://www.vanandelarena.com/

Pirates fans chant, "Sell the team!". It's the wrong cheer. Small market teams should be chanting, "Lock them out!". The only way for small market teams to compete is to institute a salary cap. That can only be accomplished by locking out the players and force a renegotiation of the labor contract. What does this have to do with college athletics? Easy, lock the players out and refuse to pay their nils and scholarships. Make the bet that the players will cave. This would force the players to the bargaining table and provide some order to college athletics. Lock them out!

Wow. That looked like a team well primed for a championship run.

My thought about the chaos is this. It seems to me that P4 conferences are benefiting from the chaos. They are making money hand over fist and opportunities for success in P4 have increased. Indiana vs Miami seems to pretty good evidence. The transfer portal and player payments don't seem to keep people away from attending or watching games. I don't know why the P4 schools would want to reign any of this in given money is their driving motivation. It seems to me that pushing the greed to see what the breaking point may be is the most logical course of action.

Maybe. Syracuse is an awful place most of the year. Summit county is more desirable. Syracuse needs a coach who could reach into the deep recruiting pool that is NYC and get that program going.

At what point do anti trust laws apply to P4 conferences? My guess is it's more likely to give them an anti trust exemption, see MLB, than not. What role would a collective bargaining agreement have in an anti trust agreement? I don't know these answers, but it seems as if we are approaching this point fast than I ever expected.

I don't think they are waiting per say. There is a leadership void preventing them from moving forward.

5 years is enough for someone to be AD at a mid major. Things change at mid majors faster than P4 so the skill sets of those working there have to change as well.

Yes

Kent is terrible. I can't stop laughing.