GP1

That is one of the most cynical statements I've ever heard. The fans you've just insulted will support a winner. Getting fleeced should not be part of the equation. Telling anyone not to take themselves so seriously is hilarious. Doctor, heal thyself. I don't think it's cynical at all, it's the truth. When free tickets were no longer given out, people no longer went to the games. Will the fans of NE Ohio support a winner or do they just support a team when they get free tickets? When I was in HS in 1986, I came up to an Akron game late in the year when they were playing for a spot in the I-AA playoffs and there were about 6,000 people at the game. Where were all the people supporting a winner in mass then? If people who want free tickets are insulted, let them be insulted. I could care less because they are doing nothing for the University by free loading off of it or Acme or any other business buying the tickets and giving them away for free. The businesses are doing much more for the University than the fans at that point and they should get the special perks associated with big giving. Giving away tickets has not created a paying fan base in Akron. It has only created a fan base that expects a free ticket and won't go to a game if they can't get a free ticket. I apologize to anyone who takes offense to this, but every bit of evidence points to the fact that it is the truth.The question is still out on the table....How much should it cost to go to an Akron game? How much should it cost to park in Lots 1,4 and 5?

It costs $5 to park at a game. Is this really an arm and a leg? If someone tells you they will not go to a game because it costs $5, please call that person a liar and ask them why they really don't want to go.

This is money they use to eat and pay bills. Stupid suggestion, period. It's a joke....don't take yourself so seriously.

Good responses UADavid and ftbr. Here is the reality of Acme Zip. Acme Zip was a give away program where people received a free ticket for buying a lightbulb. My freshman year we had the fourth largest crowd in history for an Akron home game the second year into Faust's time at UofA. Can't moved the ball up and down the field that night with Wilkerson at RB and Mason coaching them. Fan support did not die with Dennison beiing let go, it died when free tickets were no longer given away at games to the bitter, chaep bastards who live in NE Ohio.Nobody is answering the real question. What should it cost to go to an Akron game? From what I can tell, it costs a family of four $39 to buy tickets and park at a game. This is more than reasonable. It's only $60 for the same family to sit in reserved seating. I'm still waiting for answers. Does anyone think it should cost less? If so, do you want to be able to afford a stadium some day with people paying less than this amount? Do you think they can support a new stadium with the amount of money they currently bring in with tickets?

Please no more fireworks!Anyhow, your economic analysis assumes the value of the product Akron is offering is equal to the value of other commodity products of the same type, such as drywall or lumber pricing. If there is a perceived increase in value of a product, people will pay more money for the product. Akron football is a speciality product that should be in demand because of the success of the season last year. Now is the time for them to raise prices. The real question is how much? I don't believe that if Akron sold tickets for $1.00 each that any more people would buy a ticket than they do now. If Akron sold 30,000 tickets per game at $1.00 each, they would make exactly $150,000 in ticket sales this season. Just enough to almost pay JD's salary and nothing left over to pay for maintenance on a new football stadium. If they sell 12,000 tickets at an average sale of $10 then they will make $600,000 this season and then add the walk up sales and it becomes much more than what you get at a lower price. Don't apply the laws of supply and demand to the seats in the stadium, it must be applied to the product within the stadium and that product is a damn good one that deserves a higher price.Here is the question I ask all of my customers when they complain about the price of something my company sells.....How much should it cost? So I ask everyone on this board, How much should it cost to go watch a D-1A football game, sit close to the field, watch kids play hard in a good conference, get a chance to watch UofA have a good team, enjoy an evening with your family and friends and spend time watching a sport you like at the University you went to school? I'm of the opinion that UofA does not charge enough for the product they offer.The minimum the school is asking to park is $5.00 per game to park in the general lot which is $2.00 more than you had to pay last year. There is absolutely no place in that letter that says you have to pay $500 to park to go to a game. You guys have a lot of nerve to complain about the cost of parking when hardly any of you probably had any intention of parking anywhere other than general parking. I agree with Z-P, this was a simple fundraising letter that has been completely blown out of proportion on this board. I'm ashamed that graduates and students of my University are unable to read and decipher a simple letter such as this. Shame on most of you.

Cincinnati is a sinking ship and it will never get better. They will never be able to compete in the Big East with the big football or basketball powers. Why would JD leave to go to that place when if he plays his cards right and has success, he could go somewhere that pays a million dollars per year?Mike Thomas will reign over eight to ten years of misery in Cincinnati. He will fire both the football coach and basketball coach before he gets fired himself. The next guy will do no better. In the mean time, he will make a ton of cash.

Interesting posts. One item on the letter sticks out to me and it is on the "Priority Parking Application". It says, "__My Z-Fund contribution of $500 or more has been submitted previously." There is no line to write in an amount. There is a similar line toward the bottom of the same form. I wonder if a person gave $500 over the past year if they automatically qualify for the priority parking? If that is the case, it should have been more clearly stated. If that is the case, many on this board may already qualify. $500 is only $41.67 per month (or $1.37 per day) and it is a tax deduction. Some of you college students and younger alumni could easily take $41.67 in tip money off of bars in a month period and contribute it.In any event, many corporations give thousands of dollars and will qualify for at least three passes automatically based upon how I read the form. I don't see how this change is going to impact the average fan or even if you will notice a difference when you are at a game. Most of these spots will go to corporations and may or may not get used like you see at an Indians game, or any other big league sport in the country, in the parking decks. My guess is that all of these priority parking spots will be taken by the first game. There aren't that many spots. If they are all sold by the first game, some of you should come in here and apologize for statements about the current administration....... and then when you are through apologizing, start to bash them again for not pricing the spots at a high enough price.What we are seeing is just the nature of sports today and Akron is far behind the curve in increasing the revenue flow with sports. Just look how far behind we are with teams like Toledo and how we were with Marshall. Our falling behind didn't start with the new AD or even with Thomas and UAM. We started out behind and it's been going on for years and has been a slow crawl. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but at some point it has to change if everyone wants a new stadium and a big time program. Giving tickets away didn't work, strange festivals the weekend of games didn't sell tickets, Acme Zip didn't really sell tickets in a meaningful way. At least the new AD and staff are asking for the money.There is plenty of parking in the General Public Parking and if you drink five or six beers without going , you can pee from the general parking lot into Lots 4 & 5. If parking in general parking more closely fits your buying range, park there.

Thanks for the recommendation. However, my day of going to college bars have long since past.

For each Zips away game this season, I will provide ZipsNation with my personal review of places to go when traveling to an away city. Since some of you are already talking about what to do at the Penn State game, I'll throw in my opinion on places to go while in town. Mostly, the reviews will be for people spending the night.In terms of places to eat, I would recommend four places (one I can't remember the name of). The first is a place called The Tavern (or something). This is an old place in the downtown area of State College. Good place, good old style atmosphere. The food is good, but they don't give you a lot. They do have about eight side dishes on the menu and you can get all eight with the cost of your meal if you wish. This is my second favorite place in State College. The food can be a little bland and served in old lady portions.Another place to eat is a place called Champs (not the same as the Champs chain) west of town on the street called Atherton or Allerton or something. This is a great sports bar with outside seating. For those of you wishing to do some drinking before the game and watch football, this is a great stop. Outside seating is good also. Get the macaroni and cheese as a side dish.There is a place in town called Broadway Deli, or maybe Boardwalk Deli. This is a good place for sandwiches, etc. Good beer selection. This si the one I can't quite remember the name.The best place in town to eat is called Spats. Good food selection with prices ranging from reasonable to expensive. They do some Cajun cooking which is good. Good wine list. Not a dress down place. You will be satisfied with your meal at this place. Make reservations.If you are looking for a place to drink at night, there are a thousand places to drink in a college town. GP1 will be hanging out at a place called The Pickle Room after what will most certainly be a grotesque display of eating at Spats. It's clean, they have good beer, they have sports on TV and they play good music. That's good enough for GP1. Students come to this place, but they tend to be older and they don't come until after eleven when most of us old farts are getting ready to turn in. If you are looking to get a load on, taxi service is pretty good in State College.If you enjoy golf, the Penn State Golf Course is top notch. PSU offers a Golf Course Management Degree and the students help maintain the course. It is great to play and is a good value. I played with two other guys and we had two carts and the round cost a total of $125. There are two courses, white and blue. The White course is what most golfers should play as most golfers are not very good. The White course is comparable to playing a good public course. The Blue course is the Big Ten Championship course and is difficult. In addition, PSU is changing the Blue course in order to hold the NCAA Championships there in 2007 or 2008 so it is currently under construction, but it can still be played. The Blue course is like playing at a good country club.Let's see....eating, drinking, golfing, sports on TV........that about covers it. Enjoy your trip.

No.Who else would it be? They've been rivals with that team for decades.

In a really good sports town, fans don't think like this. In a good sports town, like Pittsburgh, people say, "I would accept losing twice to the Browns as long as they were the only two loses and we ended the season 14-2 with home field throughout the playoffs and a chance to win the Super Bowl." That's how winners think. I'd be miserable if the Steelers only won two games in a single season even if they were against the Browns. By the way, the Ravens are the Steelers #1 rival, not the Browns.

http://www.databasefootball.com/players/by...e.htm?sch=AkronI was looking something up today and I ran into this web page. I find it interesting that Akron had a few guys play professional football in the early 20th Century and then a long dry spell until more modern times.

At this point, I normally throw in a nasty point like......enjoy another 6-10 season Cleveland, but I won't. After what happened yesterday, I just can't do that. So, I'll leave all you Browns fans with this comment. Enjoy another 5-11 season Cleveland.

You can buy tickets to every away game with your season ticket form. They are all listed along with prices.

Akron WILL beat Miami at the Rubber Bowl this year after a week off to rest. The other two schools are in the MAC West and Akron will split those two games. This is going to be a good year for Akron.

The schedule is what it is. As far as I am concerned, the most important thing the Zips have to do is win the MAC East. This schedule is favorable for them running the table on the MAC East, which helps with tie breakers. It starts the heart of the MAC schedule with a a week off prior to playing Miami and then a series of home games with traditionally good teams and bad teams on the road. It's all about winning the MAC East.If we are going to have a difficult schedule, let's have one in a year when we have a lot of veterans who can rise up to the challenge of a tough schedule. Historically, veteran teams do well in the MAC and I think our experience is going to benefit us greatly.As far as Pluto, he write three types of articles: 1) The story about the little engine who could, 2) A feel good story about a crappy team/player we should all like because they are good people, and 3) A column where he babbles on and on with himself trying to talk himself into liking a team or player that falls into story 1 or 2. Since the Zips are no longer a crappy team and he was not having a fictional conversation with himself, this story falls into category 1.

It depends on how you frame your marketing pitch. If it is framed in the purpose of buying books, you would be right in saying that it will not work. If it is somehow framed in the purpose of helping students graduate from UofA, then it has a shot of producing good results.

That's the spirit zippy42! One of the diffculties UofA faced in the past was summer scholarship money for the student athletes (Frye even talked about this at the golf outing). I don't know if this is still a need or not, but don't think for a second that an inability to fund summer scholarships, or any other potential need, could not be used against Akron come recruiting time. Competition is tough out there and we need money to compete.You're exactly right! The Athletic Department runs on money and this is a great way to help raise it. Residential fundraising campaigns traditionally have done very well for charitable organizations. For years, The March of Dimes has had their number one fundraiser being the Mothers March, which is this type of campaign (assuming this is the same type of residential campaign). Some of you may have participated. It was so successful that many other non-profits successfully attempted these types of residential campaigns. I like the idea of changing the name. If people know exactly what they are giving to, they are more likely to give.Please participate if you can.Hats off to the Athletic Department for trying something new. I have a feeling this is going to work out.

Who thinks this way? The season hasn't started and a fan doesn't want to win the MAC championship? The MAC champion plays in the MCB and the GMAC gets a MAC or WAC team to play a CUSA team. There could be a scenario where the MAC champion plays in another bowl but has that happened? I want Akron to play in the MCB untill the league kicks us out from sheer frustration. msopher has had too much atmosphere, someone give him oxygen. ps. Why doesn't the mac champs emoticon work? It sends out errors. Are you sure the MAC Champion automatically gets the MCB? I thought they did not send a MAC team two years in a row, but I'm not certain.

Jackson, MS? Why not just rob a bank and go to jail? He would be in a better place.The only thing worth going to in Jackson is a restaurant called Schimmel's. It's a really nice place right next to the Egg Bowl. Second best red snapper I have ever eaten next to Earnest's Orleans in Shreveport, LA.I should start doing a restaurant review for the cities UofA travels to so the fans on ZipsNation know where to go to eat a good meal. I sure do like to eat a good meal.

We need more fans like you Capt.

OK, you guys are starting to sway my opinion. My biggest problem is that my wife is an accountant and it is almost impossible for her to take time off during year end. I'd still rather play in Detroit or Toronto anyhow.I don't know how much interest there will be on NFL Wild Card Weekend. The NFL seems to suck the air out of anything going on around it.

I didn't know that we had such powerful people posting on this board, but I understand with us playing 2 games in Detroit this past year. It is obvious to me that GP1 is really Bill Ford Jr. Let me extend you an invitation to the Michigan Chapter of the Akron Zips Fan Club! If I was Ford Jr., I would say something similar to "We are now going to build cars people want to drive."(I'm not sure if he said that or the GM Chair, but either could have said it.)It would go something like....."We are trying to build a football team people actually want to go see. So pack your bags and move to Cincinnati and help build the next Gremlin."I'm actually getting warmed up for my post following the next person to leave for Cincinnati. It will be particularly mean spirited.

They're after everything else we have around here. Oct. 7 we'll have something for them! My advice to anyone working in the Athletic Department that would rather be in Cincinnati than Akron is as follows. It is the same advice I give to the people who work for me.On Monday.....no, today, polish up your resume, pack up all of you sh!t in your office and get the Hell out. If you don't want to be here, we don't want you here. Those of you who want to be here, thank you for your dedication.

It would be easier, but far less gratifying. Besides, I think it is considered a mercy killing. Going to K ent is like being hooked on cocaine. It will kill you eventually. But I suppose the coke head will at least have his/her pride. Mercy killing is good.....I was thinking more in terms of anticipating the punch line of a good joke. You know, the Can't student/graduate is walking down the steps one by one slowly, thinking this may be the one time it really makes it without falling........and then BAM......it falls and cracks it's head on the steps.