Info to Expand to 44k - Can You Believe It?

[Z.I.P.]

Read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summa_Field_a...oCision_StadiumThis is just one of the problems with Wikipedia.

[ZachTheZip]

It can expand to 44k quickly if needed. I don't think it will be needed unless we have a good stretch of 9+ win seasons, though.Or maybe they know that the Big East wants us but we'll have to expand first. Can somebody with wiki-editing skills fix the article to reflect what we know for sure?

[zen]

It can expand to 44k quickly if needed. I don't think it will be needed unless we have a good stretch of 9+ win seasons, though.Or maybe they know that the Big East wants us but we'll have to expand first. Can somebody with wiki-editing skills fix the article to reflect what we know for sure?

I changed "with plans to expand to 44,000 in the near future." to "with the pre-designed capability for expansion to about 45,000."

[Quickzips]

I doubt any expansion will happen within the next 10 years. There needs to be an established precedent of filling 33K seats over a number of years before we seriously look at adding additional seating. There is nothing worse than seeing a stadium at 1/3 or 1/4 capacity.

[MaxZIP]

I guess it dependents on the expectations of other potential conferences. If they want it expanded first than we will. If they are ok with expansion after being admitted then we will wait. There is no way we would expand early unless the new ad thinks that we could pull some top teams for a 1 and 1 with a larger venue. Even that is a stretch in my opinion. Akron needs to win consistently and fill the stadium to move up in national respect and conference affiliation. I agree that filling a stadium only 75% on good days would not be attractive to the Big East and should be avoided. However if buffalo or some other school makes the move should we get in an arms race with them in a bid for the Big East?

[bigham78]

I doubt any expansion will happen within the next 10 years. There needs to be an established precedent of filling 33K seats over a number of years before we seriously look at adding additional seating. There is nothing worse than seeing a stadium at 1/3 or 1/4 capacity.

AgreedNorth Texas who can't fill their current 30,000 stadium, has backed off plans for 50,000 seat new facility and now are raising funds towards a 30,000 new stadium.I'll never forget coming across that story and thinking here's a program that was struggling to draw 15K when they were winning the rent-a-win SBC. But, laid out these delusional plans for 50,000 new stadium. I guess they must have thought going from the usual 15,000 to 20,000 empty seats to 35,000 to 40,000 empty seats was what they needed.

[Zipsrifle]

I guess it dependents on the expectations of other potential conferences. If they want it expanded first than we will. If they are ok with expansion after being admitted then we will wait. There is no way we would expand early unless the new ad thinks that we could pull some top teams for a 1 and 1 with a larger venue. Even that is a stretch in my opinion. Akron needs to win consistently and fill the stadium to move up in national respect and conference affiliation. I agree that filling a stadium only 75% on good days would not be attractive to the Big East and should be avoided. However if buffalo or some other school makes the move should we get in an arms race with them in a bid for the Big East?

Last time I checked, we were winning the MAC Athletic Facilities arms race by a wide margin.

[MaxZIP]

I guess it dependents on the expectations of other potential conferences. If they want it expanded first than we will. If they are ok with expansion after being admitted then we will wait. There is no way we would expand early unless the new ad thinks that we could pull some top teams for a 1 and 1 with a larger venue. Even that is a stretch in my opinion. Akron needs to win consistently and fill the stadium to move up in national respect and conference affiliation. I agree that filling a stadium only 75% on good days would not be attractive to the Big East and should be avoided. However if buffalo or some other school makes the move should we get in an arms race with them in a bid for the Big East?

Last time I checked, we were winning the MAC Athletic Facilities arms race by a wide margin.

I was referring to a potential facilities/posturing race between and any potential schools that the Big East might consider. Yes we are winning the Mac but we would really have to dominate on all fronts to make such a quantum leap (from MAC to BE).

[Zipmeister]

I doubt any expansion will happen within the next 10 years. There needs to be an established precedent of filling 33K seats over a number of years before we seriously look at adding additional seating. There is nothing worse than seeing a stadium at 1/3 or 1/4 capacity.

Why are people so reluctant to call it a 25,000 seat stadium? Space for 8,000 SRO doesn't change 25K into 33K seats. Let's be proud that we have the best 25,000 seat stadium in Ohio.

[ZachTheZip]

Why are people so reluctant to call it a 25,000 seat stadium? Space for 8,000 SRO doesn't change 25K into 33K seats. Let's be proud that we have the best 25,000 seat stadium in Ohio.

Because you can't just count the seats when the SRO is actually preferred by the more crazy students. They're willingly not sitting in a seat but they're certainly contributing to attendance.

[Zipmeister]

Why are people so reluctant to call it a 25,000 seat stadium? Space for 8,000 SRO doesn't change 25K into 33K seats. Let's be proud that we have the best 25,000 seat stadium in Ohio.

Because you can't just count the seats when the SRO is actually preferred by the more crazy students. They're willingly not sitting in a seat but they're certainly contributing to attendance.

Oh! So that makes it a 33,000 seat facility. Couldn't we squeeze in another 10K in SRO? Then we could have a 43K facility. And we all know what that would be .................................... pimptastic.

[g-mann17]

I doubt any expansion will happen within the next 10 years. There needs to be an established precedent of filling 33K seats over a number of years before we seriously look at adding additional seating. There is nothing worse than seeing a stadium at 1/3 or 1/4 capacity.

Why are people so reluctant to call it a 25,000 seat stadium? Space for 8,000 SRO doesn't change 25K into 33K seats. Let's be proud that we have the best 25,000 seat stadium in Ohio.

I would say it's because it's already existing seat space. The grass berm was specifically designed for seating. It's just non-traditional seating. And the fact of the matter is that it's 27,000 traditional seats and 3,000 grass berm seats with an estimated 3,000 SRO.

[Blue & Gold]

<br />

Why are people so reluctant to call it a 25,000 seat stadium? Space for 8,000 SRO doesn't change 25K into 33K seats. <br />Let's be proud that we have the best 25,000 seat stadium in Ohio.

<br /><br />Because you can't just count the seats when the SRO is actually preferred by the more crazy students. They're willingly not sitting in a seat but they're certainly contributing to attendance.<br />

<br /><br />Oh! So that makes it a 33,000 seat facility. Couldn't we squeeze in another 10K in SRO? Then we could have a 43K facility. And we all know what that would be .................................... pimptastic.<br /><br />

<br /><br /><br />Fo shizzle!

[skip-zip]

Some good comments here.I think it was a mistake if the idea to include "extra room for expansion" was part of any expectation that if we became a consistently good MAC team, people in Akron will overflow the stadium...game after game...and season after season. MAC programs, good or bad, struggle to reach the 17,000 average, have struggled to reach it for decades, and I don't think that's going to change without a dramatic upgrade in the conference's level of play.However, I do believe it was a fantastic idea if it was designed that way to allow for our growth into bigger conferences. We simply don't know what opportunities may develop over the next 30-40 years that this stadium will likely be used by us. And I'm happy that we wouldn't be "stuck with what we have".

[Zipsrifle]

If we go undefeated for the next 5 years and suddenly need to expand to 60,000 seats, it can be done. Now, I lets work on the undefeated thing and see how they expand to 60,000 seats.