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UA to Renovate the JAR


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KD said that they are going to wear them again this season, so auctioning them off probably wouldn't happen until after that.

From this story:

"UA plans for the purple jerseys to be worn twice a year, at what Dambrot hopes will be an annual Purple Out and for the Coaches vs. Cancer suits and sneakers game."

The twice a year is for the Coaches vs Cancer week (which was 1/19-1/25) and the Purple Out. So, this year they will be worn once...unless they wear them randomly one more time this year.

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I understand the disconnect now...I wasn't commenting on the attendance I was commenting on the uninterested fans that were in attendance. I should have respond with comment.

I agree with Cap'n on this one regarding attendance. I was a tournament basketball game of my daughters during the game. We haven't been to a game all year because she has something every night so I'm guessing we are out for awhile. I think I'm at that point in my life where I'll miss many events because my daughter has a basketball, game or tournament or a softball game or tournament. I think this is a normal occurrence though and it comes down to there just not being enough fans that have interest in the Zips.

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3,500-ish in attendance is pretty good, IMHO, considering we have none of the following:

comfortable arena - no

good concessions - no

decent team shop - no

halftime entertainment - no

interesting opponents - no

There is nothing to convey an important, special, "big time" atmosphere. The only draw, and this will sound odd, is the basketball. The 3,500 are Zips diehards.

I think attendance will improve against K.e.n.t., Toledo & Ohio. But other than those three opponents, you've really gotta be a true diehard Zips fan who bleeds blue & gold to want to come to the JAR for a game.

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When talking about "uninterested fans," I think that the Ball St game is a bad game to use as an example.

But here's the question:

For the 2,000 or so diehards who are there every game, should we accept that we are actually behaving just like "Joe Akron", and showing a disinterest in the perceived notoriety or name of the opponent?

By comparison: Do you think the typical OSU Honk goes down to Cowlumbus for a basketball game, and acts like he doesn't give a damn if they are beating Northwestern as opposed to Michigan State?

I don't know. I'm sure there's some difference. But, I'd expect our "core" fans to be yelling and screaming when we are doing well against any MAC team. I don't believe I personally react any differently. I don't think that the name of the opponent has ever had any bearing on whether I've lost my voice or not over the years. ;)

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But here's the question:

For the 2,000 or so diehards who are there every game, should we accept that we are actually behaving just like "Joe Akron", and showing a disinterest in the perceived notoriety or name of the opponent?

By comparison: Do you think the typical OSU Honk goes down to Cowlumbus for a basketball game, and acts like he doesn't give a damn if they are beating Northwestern as opposed to Michigan State?

I don't know. I'm sure there's some difference. But, I'd expect our "core" fans to be yelling and screaming when we are doing well against any MAC team. I don't believe I personally react any differently. I don't think that the name of the opponent has ever had any bearing on whether I've lost my voice or not over the years. ;)

I was more so referring to the scoring in the 1st half and not so much the opponent. I have never been to an OSU game but I cant imagine they (or any fan base) would be going crazy 11 minutes in to the game and their team has scored 7 points.

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My first time at the Stroh arena. Very nice. How much did it cost and what's the capacity?

The glass front is really pleasing to the eye, especially when driving by or walking up. You could see the pregame video from the parking lot which is sure to help local interest. The band/student section is nice too, and I didn't mind the lack of a center court jumbotron.

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Stroh Arena seats 4,387 for basketball. Construction began in 2009 and completed in 2011 for a total cost of just $30 million or $31.5 million in 2015 dollars.

To me it was nice and shiny new, and a great example of how much you can get for about $30 million. If you look closer you begin to see all the cut corners that prevent it from being the kind of arena Zips fans could be happy with for the next 20 years. For starters, the seating is not optimized. Corner seating sections aren't rounded or angled but just meet at 90 degrees in the corners. Anything would be better than the JAR, including a clone of the Stroh Arena. But I would consider that clone to be the absolute rock bottom facility you'd want for a new Zips arena.

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Why the hate for the Stroh center? What exactly was wrong with it? The lack of seat curvature only affected the east end. And it was very loud for a smallish crowd.

Low seating angle, non-central videoboard, "cut off" on the one end with the students instead of wrapping all the way around to give it that "arena" feel, and feels way too open with the wide concourse at the top of the seats not separated by a wall.

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Here's a few thoughts about the Stroh Center that I have gotten over the last year or so from a few people who are involved with BG basketball and someone who played there.

It works for them. That's the overwhelming opinion. It's a rather isolated small town campus, which may be able to draw a little bit from alums in the Toledo area 30 min. to an hour or so away, but for the most part, it's a campus/student and small town draw. Very, very different than what Akron has to work with. They know their potential draw, and scaled it accordingly. Fortunately, our ceiling is much higher.

There's no way we'd build something like that. For the reasons I have stated above, for starters. Plus, it would be like building something too close to what we have already. At the very, very least, we will definitely be building something that increases capacity by at least a couple thousand. And we will definitely have more corporate amenities to accommodate a very different segment of gameday attendance that we can attract here at Akron than what they attract at BG.

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Here's a few thoughts about the Stroh Center that I have gotten over the last year or so from a few people who are involved with BG basketball and someone who played there.

It works for them. That's the overwhelming opinion. It's a rather isolated small town campus, which may be able to draw a little bit from alums in the Toledo area 30 min. to an hour or so away, but for the most part, it's a campus/student and small town draw. Very, very different than what Akron has to work with. They know their potential draw, and scaled it accordingly. Fortunately, our ceiling is much higher.

There's no way we'd build something like that. For the reasons I have stated above, for starters. Plus, it would be like building something too close to what we have already. At the very, very least, we will definitely be building something that increases capacity by at least a couple thousand. And we will definitely have more corporate amenities to accommodate a very different segment of gameday attendance that we can attract here at Akron than what they attract at BG.

Not to mention the older faithful being faced with 50 steps as soon as they walk in the door.

We would need a bank of elevators to handle people who physically can not walk that many stairs.

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  • 1 month later...

This is a well written, but old article from Hustle Belt concerning the arena proposal which never made the ballot in November.

http://www.hustlebelt.com/akron-zips/2014/4/24/5645480/the-proposed-new-arena-in-akron-a-realistic-look

Since this article was written, UA has said they're willing to sink $30 million into renovating the JAR.

Most on here, including myself, were (extremely) disappointed with that.

The article says that the proposed arena would have cost $76 million.

If UA is willing to put up 30 million, how on earth can Akron (& Summit County) not come together for an additional $46 million?

Goodyear

FirstEnergy

FirstMerit

Summa

LeBron/Nike

The City of Akron

Summit County

Diebold

Jo-Ann Fabrics

Collectively, there just has to be $46 million in there.

Name the arena.

Name the court.

Name the various entrances.

Name the... whatever!

Come together, Summit County! The Zips, and downtown Akron, need a new arena - not a refurbished JAR.

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It would be nice to have an arena where you could see the full floor from every seat or not have to look through a rail or piece of glass.

The community is obviously not interested in funding an arena. Companies may be just as reluctant, figuring that if the community is not interested, they don't want to foot the bill. I'd love a new arena, but a refurb is the best we may get.

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Just a side note but right now I feel better about the JAR than normal as I am watching the first game of the CiT on collegeinsider.com

One look at the NJIT arena and I feel better about what we have, at least for tonight.

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