1981 grad Posted November 9, 2021 Report Share Posted November 9, 2021 I grew up in the Phila area and attended school at Akron and settled out here and I was also surprised at how many people from Akron are Ohio State fans. In Phila nobody rooted for Penn State unless they were alumni. We were all Eagle fans and rooted for whatever college we attended. When I attended Akron I always went to the football games and was amazed at the traffic jams to get into the stadium. It usually took a half hour to park and 15 minute walk to get into the stadium. The Acme Zip game was always a near sellout. The thought was a new downtown stadium would attact more fans. Unfortunately, you need to have a consistent winning football team to get butts in the seats and a University that know how to market the team. Akron has neither. I give credit to the hardy souls on this board that continute to attend the games in person. However, most Akron fans have lost interest in this team. Akron cannot keep putting out a team that is non competitive and expect people to show up at the stadium. Further, who wants to watch football on Tuesday nights? Also, now that all the Zips games are on TV it is easier to watch the game on TV and then turn it off when the Zips are out of it by the third quarter. I believe that once Akron is competitive that attendance will improve but I just don't see it ever being consistently great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kreed5120 Posted November 9, 2021 Report Share Posted November 9, 2021 13 hours ago, LZIp said: My experience is anecdotal, but I agree that CFB seems to be an afterthought in PA compared to watching the yinzers on Sunday. I grew up an OSU fan, but watching them to me isn’t that fun. You’re expected to win 10/12ish games by 4 scores and if you don’t it’s a disappointment. What’s the fun in easy, predictable games? The opposite is true for Akron. I expect to lose all but 3-4 games by 3-4 scores. At least with OSU you're on the winning side of it... I often find myself watching OSU games more so just because I'm hanging out with friends who are watching it. Even as an Akron fan I still do enjoy watching OSU when they play Michigan, Penn State, or some other team that's at that type of level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy5 Posted November 9, 2021 Report Share Posted November 9, 2021 15 hours ago, akzipper said: People don't plan their Saturday around PSU. Where the heck in PA are you from? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipsoutsider Posted November 9, 2021 Report Share Posted November 9, 2021 As Coach Bowden says, "The fun is in the winning." App State packs the house routinely. If you want crowds, "Just win, baby." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1 Posted November 9, 2021 Report Share Posted November 9, 2021 15 minutes ago, zipsoutsider said: App State packs the house routinely. If you want crowds, "Just win, baby." Like I said, when you make the University the centerpiece of activity and community involvement in your region, good things happen. Link. I don't know if Akron does things like this or not, but it can only be helpful to everything going on on campus. Summit County (population 541,000) has a massive population compared to Watauga County, NC (population 56,000). It takes quite the effort to get to Boone. Akron averaging 12,000 per game shouldn't be difficult to achieve. BTW, if you are paying to park in downtown Boone on game day, it's going to cost you around $30.00. I just don't see MAC schools doing enough to make themselves centerpieces of their communities. Maybe I'm just not close enough to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.