GP1

All you need is a clock, two teams, referees and a scoreboard for a game. They will have all of these items there. They will absolutely be games since there are really no rules around these practices.

Let me play Devil's Advocate. Explain the rest of college basketball because I see empty arenas all over the country. Are all colleges this bad or has our culture changed. I'm starting to lean towards cultural changes. Throw in lack of money in budgets and marketing falls off.

This problem can be fixed without a new arena.

Exposure!!!!

Thanks for posting. Attendance is the problem. A new arena is not the solution to the problem.

I come from this as I do from every angle. How would it directly benefit the athletes, students, alumni, fans and general communities around G5 schools? My assumption is, like all decisions G5 schools make, the driving force behind this is to pad the resumes of athletic directors and conference leaders at the expense of their employers. They will do this by whoring themselves to P5 schools and ESPN. The ESPN part is easy. They have plenty air time to fill in August. There is no doubt in my mind this will result in every one these practices being played at a P5 school. So, back to my five pillars. 1. Plus. Athletes would benefit from the break up of training camp. For a day for 45 minutes. I'll stick with the plus. 2. Minus. Students will not be attending these games. 3. Minus. Benefit to alumni. Games played on the road in August cuts into vacation time and budding school activities. Besides, this is even worse trash entertainment than the college football playoffs. 4. Minus. Fans get fed crap and really can't attend the games. 5. Minus. General communities benefit. Since games will not be played at G5 schools, the communities can't benefit. Plus = 1 Minus = 4. This is a terrible idea that solves a non-existent problem for G5 schools. Further, it is a distraction from real problems.

Playtime is over. Akron needs a new basketball arena like it needs a hole in the head. Half full arenas have become the norm everywhere except for a few elite programs. Akron is half full and that isn't going to change because our society has changed. Wake has a 15,000 seat arena and I don't care what was published, there weren't more than 8,000 people against second place Notre Dame. The disaster that was the NCAA facilities spending is over. Make the best of the current arena. The City of Akron needs an arena like it needs two holes in the head. It needs to attract taxpayers living in the City and jobs to the City. This is where the real money comes from. Arenas never cover their costs and are almost guaranteed money losers. Basically, they are empty buildings costing taxpayers money for their entire life. This isn't a difficult decision. Akron doesn't need another public works project. Finally, it's been a while since I've been in Akron and the Main Street project had been ongoing for a while. I can't believe it's still going on. What a disaster.... Does anyone think the idiots who brought you this disaster will turn a new arena into anything other than a bigger disastee? WAKE UP!!!!

I am a donor and found none of this to be true. Communication has been excellent and I have been kept up to speed with everything they were doing. Never once did anyone not get back to me after a voicemail by the end of the day. There has never been a single time where they didn't do exactly what they said they were going to do. I think people mistake rigidity for being slow at times. The Foundation moves slow because it is a state run foundation and laws of the State of Ohio make it seem as if it is moving slow, but they are really moving as fast as they can. I have found them to be very good and not the average you describe. However, I have no basis of comparison. Finally, I'm not sure why it is the job of the Foundation to meet the desires of major donors. The employees of the University are there to do what is in the best interest of the University. I don't donate because I expect anything from them. I donate because I want to give back. My only benefits are a tax deduction and a feeling of doing the right thing. Want an example of a school that allows itself to be bullied by major donors and I will point you to the Auburn Football program. A major donor is basically hiring and firing coaches out of his own pocket and the program is a disaster. LBJ does not run UofA. It is owned by the taxpayers of Ohio to benefit primarily the State of Ohio. If his decision making as it relates to the assembling of the Lakers is an indication of whether or not he should make decisions for UofA, I would say it's a good thing UofA did not hire a high school coach in place of Groce. The Lakers are terrible and the team's acquiescence to his opinions has put it there. I am not sure why anyone might think LBJ is a particularly smart person capable of making these decisions. He is basically a high school drop out who was handed a diploma from St. V-M because he played basketball there. I'd love to give the guy an IQ test. I bet he's a dumb as a stump. Let's not fool ourselves by believing there is much going on there between the ears. If the school let this guy make one decision, it would open the door for him to making more while holding money over UofA's head. Does anyone really think that's a good idea?

I love armchair coaching because it allows me to make judgements about coaches who know vastly more about their jobs than I do from the comfort of my house. I'm guessing the reason they are losing is because the other teams are scoring more point than them.

Anything would be better than inviting people from Greensboro.

Lastly, I don't want to see a silhouette of the state of Ohio behind it with a star showing where Akron is in the silhouette. It's cheap and lazy. We are not the Ohio Zips or Akron, Ohio Zips. We are the University of Akron Zips. I hate to keep using Wake Forest as an example, but they do a great job marketing a school's athletic programs for a school not really known for athletics. Below is a silhouette I could live with if Akron could incorporate it into their marketing. They have this Deactown theme in their marketing and if you look at the bottom of the illustration, the silhouette is the skyline of Winston-Salem (where WF is located). If you are driving down a main street in W-S, you will see banners hanging with this theme and silhouette on every light pole. It's everywhere. 3-4 years ago, they mailed out season football tickets wrapped in a banner (2' x 3') you could hang in your yard with the silhouette and the words "I'm A Fan" on it. I don't know what they spend annually to do this around the city, but it has to be a lot. As I mentioned, the sports teams have to benefit the athletes, students, alumni, fans and general community of NE Ohio. Start with Akron and making the people of Akron feel part of the program by including the skyline of their city in advertisement. This really isn't difficult. I don't know how invested they still are in the "Roo" theme, but Akron is not the Roos. They are the Zips. It's our name. Own it and use it.

I really like the "Z" logo. Before deciding, I would like to see something like that using "UA". It's the University of Akron, not Akron. Akron is a place. UofA is both a place and a thing. If UA doesn't look good or isn't as good, go with the Z. Lastly, the colors are blue and gold. Not blue, gold and white. Go with the colors. Own them and use them.

Not only this, but they should repaint the basketball court with it. Make it big. Own it. I took the photo below today. A logo can be both classy and large.

I wouldn't hire one to help me fight a parking ticket.

It's my favorite kind because it involves actual positive results and not losing 49-0 to a P5 school or playing a game on ESPN on Tuesday night in front of 250 friends and family of the team.

The interview is excellent. The comments after the interview are very positive. You can tell the two interviewing have interviewed a lot of P5 coaches and Moorhead handled the questions like a P5 coach. At the end, the interviewers ask the ever stupid question about "fixing the playoff system". Good dodge by Moorhead. My response would be...."The current playoff is pure trash and trash is horrible for college football. Heaping more trash on top of trash probably isn't the best direction. My solution to 'fixing' the system is to play the bowls and a committee picks what are almost always obviously the two best teams. The fate of college football does not depend on a playoff." You should listen. The interview starts around 25 minutes into the show. Edit: Listen to the segment directly after the Moorhead interview. Discussion of transfer portal and why it is so good for players. A lot of what I told you guys the discuss and that is it allows players to find their level. Akron did a great job with the portal this winter and they discuss it.

The church said the same thing about Galileo.

See how if thread go on the ideas get better? More exposure and money..... What could possibly go wrong? Zipmeister, you have everything it takes to be an Athletic Director some day. If you can just improve your thinking a little, you could become a G5 conference commissioner.

Exposure.

Is it any more absurd than the real conference realignment?

Were you drunk?

Good responses. I love the discussion. Paragraph 1: $2.25 million is a lot for me and you, but it's a small amount of the annual athletic budget and a fraction of the overall University budget and makes the assumption the University will know what to do with an extra $2.25 million. So you're telling me if we continue on our never ending "building process", some day we can aspire to be an AAC team. If so, I'm going to use this thing called "age and memory" to recall one of the thousands of hair brained ideas I have seen on this board over the years. I remember a day when the goal was to move to the Big East. How is big east football doing? How do you know the AAC will be around in 10 years? Do you want to be another Marshall desperately jumping from conference to conference every few years? The MAC is a stable place for UofA and our goal should be to dominate that league. Paragraph 1 cont: The overriding idea is that money and exposure will make Akron better and the AAC is the place to get that. There is one team in the AAC that has no business being in that league and is quickly falling down to the bilge (pun intended) of it. This team has a huge name, provides opponents great exposure, great history, is a nationally known, nationally loved, has great kids playing, has the backing of the United States Government and is a much better program than Akron. That program is Navy. Navy made a huge mistake by joining the league. One could say joining the AAC was the worst day for the Navy since Pearl Harbor. It would have been better of remaining independent and campaigning around the country. It's fortunes may improve now that the top teams are leaving for the Big 12, but I'm skeptical. It simply isn't set up to be successful long term in a conference. Paragraph 2: I think Akron being good would draw more average NE Ohio fans than whatever team they may be playing. 15,000 Akron fans went to a bowl game in Detroit the day after Christmas in what can only be defined as the second greatest day in program history to see the Zips, not Memphis. Of course NE Ohio fans will go to a game in Akron as long as it is played on a day and time of the week convenient to those fans. The mistake you are making is that Akron needs something else from anther school to make itself interesting. I'm convinced that Akron has everything it needs to be successful and draw fans in the MAC if it could just put a competent team on the field. It will just take some creative thinking by those at the University beyond just the Athletic Department to put butts in seats. Akron is a public institution funded by the taxpayers of Ohio. As such, it has an obligation to the taxpayers to make itself a resource for the taxpayers. Why not make the campus a hotbed of activity in the fall in a way that benefits the athletes, students, alumni, fans and greater NE Ohio community? I'm not sure how accomplishing this could be defined anything other than success even if they did it in the MAC. Someone would have to explain that to me. Paragraph 3: College football teams don't get promoted. Cincinnati's move to the Big 12 is more of an act of desperation by the Big12 than evidence of the greatness of Cincinnati. Cincy caught lightning in a bottle last year and was destroyed in a playoff game. Everything had to go perfectly. Perfection is hard to duplicate. Paragraph 3 cont: If Guthrie got Akron out of the MAC, I agree it would be a resume builder.....and a horrible disaster for Akron long term. Most conference moves are made out of desperation and based upon recent history this great resume builder wouldn't be that difficult to do the next time there is a conference desperate enough to sign up some teams. What resume building endeavors athletic directors engage in at G5 schools usually results in disaster for those schools after the departure of the AD. Can anyone point me to the great successes of teams that have moved up to P5 conferences or P5 teams that have changed conferences? TCU is in decline. Texas and Oklahoma will regret the day they ever decided to leave the Big12. There is a long list of mistakes. Paragraph 4: Why stick with the poor leadership of the MAC? What evidence is there the leadership at other G5 conferences is any better? We should tip our hats to the commissioner of CUSA because of the Marshall, ODU, So. Miss coup?....spare me. I'm less concerned about the leadership of the MAC and more concerned with the leadership at UofA. If the leadership cannot make the University the cultural center of NE Ohio in the fall and the football team being a part of it, it doesn't matter what league they play. This desire for something better always looks past the frequently obvious, and that is we don't realize how good we have it. I left NE Ohio 15 years ago now and I'm always amazed at how many people think it is a horrible place so I have to remind them it's a great place and they aren't taking advantage of all of the great things. How many people leave good marriages because they think there will be something better only to find out they had it pretty good because their new spouse makes them miserable? The discussions around conference realignment and movements frequently fall the same way. Almost none of the schools that leave stability for instability are better off today than before. Let'sGoZips94, the MAC is a perfect place for Akron. When I was younger I used to look at things a lot like you do. It just took some year away from it for me to realize it's the place for Akron. Always keep your mind in the present.

Getting a share of $43M cut up 14 times still leaves a massive hole in the budget. I'd be more interested in duping Canada or NIU into joining the AAC so I could watch them get destroyed and the MAC could return to some sanity. Exposure?....Oh boy is this a fan trap if there ever was one. "Exposure" is what people who work in athletic departments claim is beneficial to their school just before they destroy it with another dumb idea. Paragraph 2: How do you know the average football fan is interested in Memphis, Temple, ECU, Tulsa and SMU? What about those schools is interesting? Every time I see Temple on Akron's schedule I roll my eyes. Memphis is a dump. Greenville, NC has almost no redeeming value. Tulsa?...the place in Oklahoma?...please. SMU is a cool place but not in driving distance for fans. Replace either of those names with Syracuse or Boston College and you know how I feel when the Wake Forest schedule is published every other year and both of them are on the home schedule. Heck, it's probably how Clemson fans feel when they see Wake Forest on the schedule. Paragraph 3: The American Athletic Conference WAS the bridge from G5 to P5. Now a few of those schools are leaving to play in the Big 12 where they will, within 3-4 years, turn into TCU....after thoughts. Why would any P5 conference want any of the schools remaining in the G5?....It makes no sense. The Big12 acted out of desperation. How do you know Guthrie is aiming for higher than the MAC and what is his plan to do so?...He's another guy who won't be around beyond 4 years. Whenever Akron has decided to make moves independently, disaster has followed. Be careful of what you wish for. I do agree Moorhead is higher than MAC level and I don't expect him to be here more than 4 years and wouldn't be shocked if he caught lightning in a bottle, had a great second season and was gone. My expectation as a fan is for Akron to establish a top level football program that competes year in and year out for the MACC. Moorhead will do that and the rest is up to future leaders. In the process, I expect the University to make the campus the center point of cultural activity in the fall with football games being part of those activities. To me, this would be a greater achievement than toiling away in further fantasy about playing at the P5 level while jumping conferences every five year in order to accomplish that goal only to be a bottom feeder. UofA is a taxpayer funded university and should operate in a manner that benefits the taxpayers of Ohio. Fantasy time is over. Paragraph 4: "The MAC blows". I agree. The leadership is terrible and cannot be trusted to do much of anything other than put on a pretty good basketball tournament in Cleveland. I'd go as far as to say most G5 conferences operate similarly to the MAC. All moves would have to be made in conjunction with the other G5 conferences and those ideas would have to be drawn up by people outside of the athletic departments of those schools because the leadership cannot be trusted to operate with the interest of their employers in mind.

There are many ways to grow revenue for a MAC university. For example, make gameday the cultural center for the universities in their region so people will see the value in the university and invest in it through their personal activities, charitable giving and for some perhaps even attend the school paying much needed tuition. Aspiring to the AAC doesn't seem like an achievable pursuit. Making it all about money for the MAC has resulted in disastrous outcomes for the conference. There has to be a better way to make more money. I'd love to hear your thoughts on how getting rid of the directional Michigan schools would improve the schedule to see if it ranks right up there with ESPN's claim that expanding the trash that is the college football playoff will make college football better. Get rid of the directional Michigans? We are lucky they don't get rid of us. In reality, the MAC would be better off to jettison Canada and NIU.

Silly me. I thought the purpose of athletic programs was to benefit the athletes, students, alumni, fans and greater communities around the schools. If I would have know TV money was the driving force, I would have advocated for Tuesday night games all season long as the benefit of the money would outweigh the costs of the empty stadiums and endless losing. I guess I have been wrong all along.