ZachTheZip Posted February 3, 2012 Report Share Posted February 3, 2012 Sounds like a handshake deal. Not really official. Tressel has his work cut out for him. One of the implied parts of his job is to create a student culture similar to what they have at Big Ten schools. It's hard to change a culture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted February 3, 2012 Report Share Posted February 3, 2012 This all sounds great, but wouldn't a $20 million donation be all over the news? I'm not saying this information is true, or accurate. However, if it is, the $20 million still wouldn't be official yet. It'd probably just be a pledge for $20 million. If the pledge were earmarked for an arena, the U would/could make it official before a press conference is held. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akronad Posted February 3, 2012 Report Share Posted February 3, 2012 I shall preface this post with my source. He's currently a graduate student in the athletic department. I've worked professionally with him covering university news (sports and academic) for over a year now. The athletic department hired an outside firm to compare costs/benefits of renovating the JAR versus building a new arena. They expect results from the firm within the next month. Additionally, I've heard the case would have to be compelling in order to renovate. With the addition of Tressel to UA, a donor has supposedly stepped forward with $20 million toward a new arena. Also, the athletic department is looking even more than before toward a new arena with the money attracting possibilities Tressel creates. And finally, some speculation. My source and I talked back and forth a little bit thinking of places for a new arena. The current location of Central Hower HS is what we came up with. But who knows I think this is great news. Hopefully, you information is correct. However, it will not be on the site of Central-Hower. That bldg. is own by the Akron Public Schools and they are currently renovating it to accomodate their new STEM high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zestycoyote Posted February 3, 2012 Report Share Posted February 3, 2012 I think this is great news. Hopefully, you information is correct. However, it will not be on the site of Central-Hower. That bldg. is own by the Akron Public Schools and they are currently renovating it to accomodate their new STEM high school. I know they've taken offers for the space. But that was a long while ago, so I'm sure the plans have changed. The STEM plan sounds more likely. That would be a GREAT spot though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akzipper Posted February 3, 2012 Report Share Posted February 3, 2012 I know they've taken offers for the space. But that was a long while ago, so I'm sure the plans have changed. The STEM plan sounds more likely. That would be a GREAT spot though. My ideal location would be east of infoCision, at the corner of Exchange and Goodkirk. Having it sit right next to the stadium would be similar to TheQ and Progressive Field, Gateway District in Cleveland. Create a nice plaza between for vendors and tailgating on gamedays for football and basketball. Not to mention the ticket office and team store at InfoCision could be used for both. I don't think there is anything significant in that area other than Spicer street which I don't think is a huge issue. Not to mention the view of driving down Rt 8 seeing the stadium and arena right ext to each other would be awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxpayer Posted February 3, 2012 Report Share Posted February 3, 2012 By "changing the culture" do you mean to say "going to Zips basketball games is fun and worth the effort". With the exception of the Can't game and to a lesser extent the OU game, the students are non existant. I guess the Zips have to be undefeated with blow out wins over CSU, OU, Can't State and theosu before more than 200 show up for a game. Too bad, as their energy has been sighted by KD and several players for helping them to play at a higher level and making the JAR an even tougher place to play. Not to mention, creating an atmosphere that's truly fun to be a part of. I hope this culture change begins Saturday... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spin Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 By "changing the culture" do you mean to say "going to Zips basketball games is fun and worth the effort". With the exception of the Can't game and to a lesser extent the OU game, the students are non existant. I guess the Zips have to be undefeated with blow out wins over CSU, OU, Can't State and theosu before more than 200 show up for a game. Too bad, as their energy has been sighted by KD and several players for helping them to play at a higher level and making the JAR an even tougher place to play. Not to mention, creating an atmosphere that's truly fun to be a part of. I hope this culture change begins Saturday... Or the culture of students wearing clothing with other colleges on them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spin Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 I don't know if this would work or not, so I' asking, when Akron gets a new basketball arena, could the JAR be converted to a full-floor facility? Remove some or all of the lower bowl seats, and put in a rink-sized floor. Here's my thoughts. A separate full-floor facility wouldn't need all the seats, the capacity of the upper level would be fine. Being separate from the main arena, it would be open to all students. I would put the floor (plywood covered with artificial turf) down 4-5 days a week and open it up for indoor soccer, indoor lacrosse, and arena football. Pick-up and intramural. Then the rest of the week pull the floor and schedule your hockey games, high school hockey, (junior league?), and student open skates. The program gets to set it's own schedule (they have a lot of 10:05 starts now), the fans and students get better seats, and the campus atmosphere improves. What if Canton's soccer team moved to the JAR? More soccer players would take advantage of being able to play competitively year round. More dates with people coming onto campus. Just a thought. I remember the pick-up indoor soccer games at the old "arena" on Jacoby and how popular they were, I see hundreds of people at public skates at Center Ice, Alice Noble (Wooster), and North Park (Elyria). And how the CLUB team has grown over the past two years. I think it would all be a big plus for the campus. Just thinking out loud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 I don't know if this would work or not, so I' asking, when Akron gets a new basketball arena, could the JAR be converted to a full-floor facility? Remove some or all of the lower bowl seats, and put in a rink-sized floor. Here's my thoughts. A separate full-floor facility wouldn't need all the seats, the capacity of the upper level would be fine. Being separate from the main arena, it would be open to all students. I would put the floor (plywood covered with artificial turf) down 4-5 days a week and open it up for indoor soccer, indoor lacrosse, and arena football. Pick-up and intramural. Then the rest of the week pull the floor and schedule your hockey games, high school hockey, (junior league?), and student open skates. The program gets to set it's own schedule (they have a lot of 10:05 starts now), the fans and students get better seats, and the campus atmosphere improves. What if Canton's soccer team moved to the JAR? More soccer players would take advantage of being able to play competitively year round. More dates with people coming onto campus. Just a thought. I remember the pick-up indoor soccer games at the old "arena" on Jacoby and how popular they were, I see hundreds of people at public skates at Center Ice, Alice Noble (Wooster), and North Park (Elyria). And how the CLUB team has grown over the past two years. I think it would all be a big plus for the campus. Just thinking out loud. I'm almost positive the floor of the JAR is not large enough for a hockey-size rink, even if you'd run it catty-corner. I think many would be surprised how much larger a hockey rink is than a basketball court. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spin Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 I'm almost positive the floor of the JAR is not large enough for a hockey-size rink, even if you'd run it catty-corner. I think many would be surprised how much larger a hockey rink is than a basketball court. I'm saying remove some or all of the lower level seating... Having played indoor soccer, I know too well how big the &%#$@*$ floor is. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Adams Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 I'm saying remove some or all of the lower level seating... Having played indoor soccer, I know too well how big the &%#$@*$ floor is. LOL Need something like 200ft or so I believe. More width too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lance99 Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 I shall preface this post with my source. He's currently a graduate student in the athletic department. I've worked professionally with him covering university news (sports and academic) for over a year now. The athletic department hired an outside firm to compare costs/benefits of renovating the JAR versus building a new arena. They expect results from the firm within the next month. Additionally, I've heard the case would have to be compelling in order to renovate. With the addition of Tressel to UA, a donor has supposedly stepped forward with $20 million toward a new arena. Also, the athletic department is looking even more than before toward a new arena with the money attracting possibilities Tressel creates. And finally, some speculation. My source and I talked back and forth a little bit thinking of places for a new arena. The current location of Central Hower HS is what we came up with. But who knows According to the Beacon, he had no talk about a arena (bottom of article) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Z Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 According to the Beacon, he had no talk about a arena (bottom of article)Excellent interview. I wish JT would have been more open about the past. I hate the bs answer "I can’t say that I spent a whole bunch of time thinking about that because I can’t do anything about it." Marla is becoming my favorite Beacon writer in decades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Green Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 According to the Beacon, he had no talk about a arena (bottom of article) He did say the following in the interview: As you try to prepare your students, you want to make sure they have the best laboratories, in athletics the best facilities and those kinds of things. I’ve been very involved in going out and trying to help people realize the needs we have from a fundraising and development standpoint. If he said something like this to the group of students he met with, and since the basketball facility is in the most need of improvement, I can see where someone might interpret that as meaning that part of his work will be directed toward helping facilitate a new arena. That may be how that rumor got started. But you can tell from the interview that he's focused more on the educational side of his job than athletics. He sounds really excited and energized about helping achieve Dr. Proenza's vision for UA as a whole. Whatever he contributes to Zips athletics will be a bonus. The bigger and stronger and better UA becomes as an institution of higher learning, the more likely athletics will also grow, and the more likely it will be that more Ohioans may switch their allegiance from tOSU to UA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zestycoyote Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 According to the Beacon, he had no talk about a arena (bottom of article) Not trying to sound defensive, but any talk of the arena won't reach the press right now. Any possible discussions are strictly inside. Besides, people like Tressel (i.e. anyone that speaks to the media regularly) knows when to give a canned answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 Today, at 2:00 on ESPN2, Temple is playing at Rhode Island. Check out Rhode Island's basketball arena -the Ryan Center. It's a beautiful, 7,657-seat facility. Not a bad seat in the house; all right on top of the action. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akzipper Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 Today, at 2:00 on ESPN2, Temple is playing at Rhode Island. Check out Rhode Island's basketball arena -the Ryan Center. It's a beautiful, 7,657-seat facility. Not a bad seat in the house; all right on top of the action. I agree it is a good example to go off, but create a more modern version. I hate arena's that don't have video scoreboards at center court. Doesn't initially seem like a big deal, but it isn't like football where there are stoppages in play allowing fans to watch replay on an endzone scoreboard. You get caught watching a replay on a screen similar to that at Ryan Center you could miss a lot, not to mention 2 sections adjacent to it are at a disadvantage. Also reason #1,001 of why the Staph Center at BG is crap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spin Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 Need something like 200ft or so I believe. More width too. 200' long, 85' wide. You missed the whole point... forget I said anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Green Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 Spin, I think there may be a failure to communicate here. I'll bravely step in and hazard a guess at what I think you're asking. If I understand you correctly, you want to know if the JAR is big enough for a rink if some of the lower section seats are removed. I think what people are trying to tell you is that if you took out ALL of the seating at both ends of the basketball court that you still might not have the 200 feet required for a rink. The width would be no problem. But the rink would be 106 feet longer than the 94-foot basketball court. That means you would need 53 feet at each end of the court from the end line to the wall to fit the rink in. The rink would be longer than two basketball courts end to end, and I just don't see how that would fit based on my recollection of the available space. But I'll take a close look tonight to refresh my memory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Green Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 Today, at 2:00 on ESPN2, Temple is playing at Rhode Island. Check out Rhode Island's basketball arena -the Ryan Center. It's a beautiful, 7,657-seat facility. Not a bad seat in the house; all right on top of the action. The Ryan Center has one of the best seating layouts I've seen for basketball. Take a look in the link below at the interior images, which you can click on for even larger images to see details of the seating. It's all at a very steep angle and up close to the court. The size is also very close to optimum for an improving Zips basketball team with aspirations of drawing larger crowds than the JAR will hold. I don't know about the rest of the Ryan Center, but I love the seating. Ryan Center Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spin Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 Spin, I think there may be a failure to communicate here. I'll bravely step in and hazard a guess at what I think you're asking. If I understand you correctly, you want to know if the JAR is big enough for a rink if some of the lower section seats are removed. I think what people are trying to tell you is that if you took out ALL of the seating at both ends of the basketball court that you still might not have the 200 feet required for a rink. The width would be no problem. But the rink would be 106 feet longer than the 94-foot basketball court. That means you would need 53 feet at each end of the court from the end line to the wall to fit the rink in. The rink would be longer than two basketball courts end to end, and I just don't see how that would fit based on my recollection of the available space. But I'll take a close look tonight to refresh my memory. Ahh, so I asked a question, and they were answering it. I'm a little slow on Saturdays, sorry gvuys. I believe you guys are all correct, and all right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 The Ryan Center has one of the best seating layouts I've seen for basketball. Take a look in the link below at the interior images, which you can click on for even larger images to see details of the seating. It's all at a very steep angle and up close to the court. The size is also very close to optimum for an improving Zips basketball team with aspirations of drawing larger crowds than the JAR will hold. I don't know about the rest of the Ryan Center, but I love the seating. Ryan Center Isn't that layout great?! I don't think the building's exterior is very attractive, but the seating is perfect for basektball. Tweaking it a bit, I'd say: 1) Add a hanging jumbotron scoreboard, 2) Add a loge level below the upper level, and, 3) Continue the seating around the corner where they have it interrupted (for their scoreboard) which would likely bring the seating to around 10,000 which, IMHO would be ideal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UAZip0510 Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 Not trying to sound defensive, but any talk of the arena won't reach the press right now. Any possible discussions are strictly inside. Besides, people like Tressel (i.e. anyone that speaks to the media regularly) knows when to give a canned answer. 100% agree on this. UA is going to keep all public Tressel-related discussion about the academic side of things. Tressel will obviously be working to help athletics in a roundabout way, but they'll do their best to avoid direct connections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Green Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 Ahh, so I asked a question, and they were answering it. I'm a little slow on Saturdays, sorry gvuys. I believe you guys are all correct, and all right. I eyeballed the JAR dimensions tonight, and even with all the lower level seats removed, there's no way the building has a 200-foot dimension in any direction without running through a cinder block wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted February 9, 2012 Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 Two arenas you should check out are both on tv tonight. At 9:00 on ESPN2, Virginia Tech plays at Miami-FL. Miami's new Bank United Center is a beautiful, new 8,000-seat facility. At 11:00 p.m., again on ESPN2, St. Mary's plays at Gonzaga. KD has specifically mentioned Gonzaga's McCarthy Athletic Center as an arena he really likes. It's perhaps a bit undersized, at only 6,000 seats, but it's obviously still worth checking out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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