Complain about the Rubber Bowl?

[GreenGrenade II]

This is so very typical. People complaining about the condition of the Rubber Bowl should be thankful that you don't have a track running around the field. At North Texas' Fouts Field (capacity 30,500), our seating is in different zip codes. Can you say really far away. It does get loud in there, though, as it did two weeks ago when we shut down SMU, winning 24-6.We get plenty of rain at our games, too.Have fun tomorrow.By the way, I've really enjoyed reading your posts. You are good fans!

[sgm405]

This is so very typical. People complaining about the condition of the Rubber Bowl should be thankful that you don't have a track running around the field. At North Texas' Fouts Field (capacity 30,500), our seating is in different zip codes. Can you say really far away. It does get loud in there, though, as it did two weeks ago when we shut down SMU, winning 24-6.We get plenty of rain at our games, too.Have fun tomorrow.By the way, I've really enjoyed reading your posts. You are good fans!

I'm not sure that most of the complaints root from the stadium itself...I think it's more the location that bothers people. An on-campus stadium would do wonders for attendance.

[MeanGreen61]

This is so very typical. People complaining about the condition of the Rubber Bowl should be thankful that you don't have a track running around the field. At North Texas' Fouts Field (capacity 30,500), our seating is in different zip codes. Can you say really far away. It does get loud in there, though, as it did two weeks ago when we shut down SMU, winning 24-6.We get plenty of rain at our games, too.Have fun tomorrow.By the way, I've really enjoyed reading your posts. You are good fans!

FOUTS FIELD

[ZachTheZip]

Here's some info on our *cough* beloved Rubber BowlIt's location:Some shots:All seats are bleachers. All of the seats near the endzone have been covered by a tarp due to the fact that they have fallen into disrepair. There will be no plans to fix them. Light poles are on the field, so they block your view. I guarantee that they will be in your way, since you can't sit in the endzone. It is at the end of the runway of our local airport. The planes are loud and low-flying.The entire structure is over 60 years old and made of crumbling concrete.Last, but not least, it is over 3 miles from campus, and that is in a straight line. Driving there is more like 5 miles.

[zipseuph]

but she's still home and I will always hold a special place in my heart for her.

[PAZipsFan]

I'm not sure that most of the complaints root from the stadium itself...I think it's more the location that bothers people.  An on-campus stadium would do wonders for attendance.

I can offer some evidence in support of this. I attended Division III Thiel College in Greenville, PA and graduated in 2000. We also didn't have an on-campus stadium, and played at the local high school field, which as you can imagine, was awful for recruiting. This created a circumstance where students would have to drive or hitch a ride off campus to go watch an awful team lose. Guess what? Nobody came to the games.An initiative began to build an on-campus stadium right about the time I was graduating, and a proposal was made and accepted to renovate the existing practice field behind the gymnasium. FieldTurf was put in, bleachers and chairbacks went up, and people began to get excited about Thiel football again. We were one of the first colleges of our small size to have FieldTurf. The students came to the games, and now Alumni Stadium is standing room only every week. Recruits and transfers came in, and last year Thiel went undefeated in the regular season, went to the D-III playoffs for the first time in their 100-year history, and even won their first playoff game.Bottom line: An on-site facility will do wonders for attendance.

[ZipAlumn]

but she's still home and I will always hold a special place in my heart for her.

Sometimes I feel I've been around since they built the Rubber Bowl. However it's time has come and I fully agree that there should be a stadium on campus ... Hell there should have been a stadium on campus thirty some years ago when the city sold the Rubber Bowl to the University for $1.00.However I don't really see that being a permanent solution for the attendance problems. The newness of a stadium on campus may draw 20,000+ crowds for a while, but my guess is that the newness will soon wear off. Attendance has ALWAYS been a problem. During my undergraduate days the complaint was that Akron was "a high school town" and people would rather go to a high school game on Friday night rather than Saturday afternoon. Even in the Dennison era when the Zips were competing for the Division II-A championship I don't remember the attendance being better than 10,000-12,000 except for the playoff games. A stadium on campus should be a priority, but I don't see it bringing out all that many more students. Like it or not Akron is still a commuter campus. I'll bet most (most not all) of the students at the game Saturday were residence hall and off campus housing students, that's the way it was in my day. An on campus stadium will draw more of the same type students, but not 10-15 thousand of them, the numbers just aren't there. Getting alumni out to the games is a big problem also, an it shouldn't be a problem. Check the Alumni website to see how many signed up to spend a couple bucks to eat an socialize before Saturday's game. LIke it or not the "cheap tickets" that the Acme-Zip game sold was the only thing that put 35,000-40,000 butts in those seats,What's the solution ... wish I knew ... then I'd offer my expertise to the Athletic Dept. for free.