Blue & Gold Posted December 19, 2006 Report Posted December 19, 2006 Thanks Zipsrifle! Great find! Now I've gotten absolutely NOTHING done today, but I've loved every second of it!!!A couple comments:1) Traditionally, football stadiums are always positioned north-to-south. This solves the sun problem. It's due to this fact that cliche' for a hard-nosed RB "Running North and South," originated. Here's another cool little factoid: Traditionally baseball stadiums are positioned with the first-base line along the southern edge of the playing field. This is also due to the sun. It's also where the term "Southpaw" for a left-handed pitcher originated; his pitching arm would be toward the south. Canal Park didn't follow this scheme due to the fact that they wanted to get some retail space along S.Main St. It doesn't seem to bother anyone that much, so maybe we could tweek the football stadium a bit too, ala, Option #1.2a) Do you guys think the proposed stadium looks just a little too much like a glorified high school stadium? I was dismayed to find other MAC stadiums in the Similar Stadiums portion of the report. We should NOT have a stadium AT ALL similar to any other bush-league MAC school!!! They had BGSU's stadium pictured. I've been there for a game, and trust me, it feels like an over-sized high school stadium. It doesn't feel "Next Level" AT ALL!!! We may just as well rent out Fawcet Stadium. BUSH LEAGUE!!!2b) BUT.. I was relieved and excited to see SMU's Gerald Ford Stadium listed in the similar stadiums section! A week or two ago ZipsNation had an overwhelming consensus that THIS WAS THE IDEAL MODEL FOR A NEW STADIUM! Beautiful, big-time feel with around 30K seats. CAN WE JUST TELL THE ADMINISTRATION TO BORROW THE ARCHITECTURAL PLANS FROM SMU SO THEY DON'T SCREW THIS THING UP?!?! WE ONLY GET ONE SHOT AT THIS!!! Of course I am speaking in hyperbole... but barely!!!3) I was glad to see that they were mentioning a clock tower in their initial discussions. Akron has many beautiful, old clock towers around town and I felt this would be a great way to encorporate tradition into the new design. They even referenced the Univerity of Denver in their report. But none of the architectural renderings had a clock tower. Hey, this isn't as big a deal as building a stadium like SMU's!!! BUILD AN SMU CLONE!!! WE'D LOVE IT!!! Quote
UA Fan Posted December 20, 2006 Report Posted December 20, 2006 So Toledo has one of the smallest seating capacities in the MAC at 26K but they have 40 suites which bring in $1.2M revenue per year allowing them to carry the 2nd largest football budget at $800K/yr...I think that's where we're going...One of the study group member comments was that it is less desirable to overbuild than to have a little less capacity than demand. And another was that the place needs to look full and feel full...which we usually did not have at the RB.Thanks for finding this, Zipsrifle...is there a path to that page via the main uakron.edu site? Quote
Zipsrifle Posted December 20, 2006 Author Report Posted December 20, 2006 BTW, the soccer stadium is DEAD! Doesn't matter, the new UofA stadium will accomodate a MLS Soccer team! MLS Stadium is DEAD! Quote
zen Posted December 20, 2006 Report Posted December 20, 2006 ..... the new UofA stadium will accomodate a MLS Soccer team! erm, how big is the field for MLS? Quote
74ZIP Posted December 20, 2006 Report Posted December 20, 2006 damn skippy..thats a great find...but those plans can't be for UofA...must have got them mixed up with osu,usc...a hotel?...wonder how much season tickets for the peons will cost...? Quote
eguins Posted December 20, 2006 Report Posted December 20, 2006 Remember I said this on another thread: 23,000 is just perfect for Akron... I am sure you will have the ability to expand it if need be, but right now and over the years, you've never showed the need for a 30-45k seat stadium.Your designs remind me of Max Finley Stadium in Chattanooga, the home of the Division 1 Football/I-AA Championship, which seats 21,000. Quote
Zipsrifle Posted December 20, 2006 Author Report Posted December 20, 2006 This postcard underscores just how old the RB is. That is a WWII fighter, built by Goodyear, flying over the RB. GW Blvd. in the background appears to be dirt! Quote
Zipsrifle Posted December 20, 2006 Author Report Posted December 20, 2006 Check out these pics from BEFORE the RB was built! In one of them, it looks like they are having a Rodeo. Derby Downs is there, and the RB is just a hole in the ground. RB Construction Photos Quote
zip81 Posted December 20, 2006 Report Posted December 20, 2006 Check out these pics from BEFORE the RB was built! In one of them, it looks like they are having a Rodeo. Derby Downs is there, and the RB is just a hole in the ground. RB Construction PhotosGreat stuff Zipsrifle!!!These are really great shots. Never seen them before. Thanks Quote
zip81 Posted December 20, 2006 Report Posted December 20, 2006 By the way, on the one shot, you can see the Beer Tent at the open end of the Rubber Bowl. Quote
scottditzen Posted December 21, 2006 Report Posted December 21, 2006 I thought the student housing would be more integrated with the stadium- having them along the west side. The site planning study appears to have them completely separate fronting Exchange to the east.With student buildings being more a part of the structure, the stadium will have the feel of being larger and more extraordinary. Quote
Buckzip Posted December 21, 2006 Report Posted December 21, 2006 That postcard shows that even back then the RB was empty. Quote
zipboy Posted December 22, 2006 Report Posted December 22, 2006 Great find! Are we still on schedule for the accelerated 2008 opening? Quote
userduders Posted December 23, 2006 Report Posted December 23, 2006 Actually it looked like they added a new document as of December 22, 2006 for qualifications of construction managers. The document states a start and finish to the stadium project. March 3, 2008: construction begins and July 6, 2009: construction ends. Quote
akronad Posted December 29, 2006 Report Posted December 29, 2006 They just posted the letter of legal notice to be published in the BJ. Interviews are to be on FEb. 7., and the project is budgeted at $54, 625, 000.It looks as though groud will break some time in 2007. Quote
ziptrumpet87 Posted December 29, 2006 Report Posted December 29, 2006 Hopefully we'll see the final renderings soon! Can't wait to see them start digging! Quote
ZachTheZip Posted December 29, 2006 Report Posted December 29, 2006 Please be a bowl... Please be a bowl... Please be a bowl... Quote
zipboy Posted December 29, 2006 Report Posted December 29, 2006 If we are breaking ground in 07, can it be ready for the 08 season? Quote
ziptrumpet87 Posted December 29, 2006 Report Posted December 29, 2006 we are breaking ground in '07, but construction doesn't start til March '08 probably because all the detail design work needs to be done. Someone has to figure out where the pipes, wires, etc. go, not to mention how the thing is physically constructed. A year to get all the details figured out doesn't sound outrageous. I imagine stuff still has to go out to bid to the subcontractors and that can't happen until the details are done. Quote
blueandgold Posted December 29, 2006 Report Posted December 29, 2006 Plus there are many buildings that must be razed before anything else can happen. Then you have to do all the surveying and so on. March 08 is the earliest they could begin construction. Quote
ziptrumpet87 Posted December 29, 2006 Report Posted December 29, 2006 I bet we could get some volunteers to do some razing sooner and cheaper Quote
blueandgold Posted December 29, 2006 Report Posted December 29, 2006 For sure. I'll go grab my sledge hammer right now! Quote
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