Increasing JAR Attendance/Engaging the Fans

[Zippy87]

8 minutes ago, GP1 said:

Respectfully, there has to be a better answer than this to spend tens of millions. 

 

Certainly they'd do research on other universities in similar situations before doing that. Unfortunately, I don't have that type of data. 

[GP1]

34 minutes ago, Zippy87 said:

 

Certainly they'd do research on other universities in similar situations before doing that. Unfortunately, I don't have that type of data. 

There is plenty of data showing college sports attendance is in decline. 

 

I was at a Texas vs Kansas State game a couple of years ago in Austin. Texas has a beautiful area. The upper deck had curtains drawn and there couldn't have been 7,000 people. A new basketball arena will be yet another albatross around the school's neck. 

[Zippy87]

22 minutes ago, GP1 said:

There is plenty of data showing college sports attendance is in decline. 

 

I was at a Texas vs Kansas State game a couple of years ago in Austin. Texas has a beautiful area. The upper deck had curtains drawn and there couldn't have been 7,000 people. A new basketball arena will be yet another albatross around the school's neck. 

 

It's not in decline everywhere, and general data is not the type of data they'd be looking at. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

https://www.instagram.com/p/DVHPeQvkrEq/?igsh=MTdzY256MmFrNDZ1MA==

 

Custom Akron basketball jerseys?!

[csims0917]

We can never get ones that actually look like the jerseys we wear 

[ZipsFan31]

Anyone hear anything or get selected to the Akron fan council thing they posted a couple months ago? 

[csims0917]

1 hour ago, ZipsFan31 said:

Anyone hear anything or get selected to the Akron fan council thing they posted a couple months ago? 

Nope

[Zips1991]

1 hour ago, ZipsFan31 said:

Anyone hear anything or get selected to the Akron fan council thing they posted a couple months ago? 

I would think it may not be happening. Or they could just be waiting until after basketball is over when there's less going on in the Athletics department.

[csims0917]

58 minutes ago, Zips1991 said:

I would think it may not be happening. Or they could just be waiting until after basketball is over when there's less going on in the Athletics department.

Or the academic year as a whole

[kreed5120]

It would seem to be the most probable scenario. I think it was discussed a year or so ago that the department is very understaffed and people were being asked to do the jobs of 2-3 people. I imagine once spring rolls around they have much more flexibility in their schedules.

Edited Tuesday at 06:24 PM by kreed5120

[Zippy87]

7 hours ago, csims0917 said:

We can never get ones that actually look like the jerseys we wear 

 

DHGate or work with a local shop to do a custom. That's about the only option, unfortunately. 

[csims0917]

2 hours ago, Zippy87 said:

 

DHGate or work with a local shop to do a custom. That's about the only option, unfortunately. 

I'd 100% do dhgate but I havent been able to find a template post 2021-22 era designs

[ZipsBBjunkie]

On 2/24/2026 at 12:39 PM, csims0917 said:

Or the academic year as a whole

Or when AD is done interviewing with Syracuse. 

[Zippy87]

13 hours ago, ZipsBBjunkie said:

Or when AD is done interviewing with Syracuse. 

 

Is this confirmed? 

[LZIp]

13 hours ago, ZipsBBjunkie said:

Or when AD is done interviewing with Syracuse. 

He has seemed to be a little quieter on social media lately. Can’t blame him for exploring given the connection, but it would sure be nice if we could get a qualified “Akron guy” in the position who would be here more than a few years.

[GP1]

43 minutes ago, LZIp said:

He has seemed to be a little quieter on social media lately. Can’t blame him for exploring given the connection, but it would sure be nice if we could get a qualified “Akron guy” in the position who would be here more than a few years.

5 years is enough for someone to be AD at a mid major. Things change at mid majors faster than P4 so the skill sets of those working there have to change as well. 

[ZipsBBjunkie]

7 hours ago, Zippy87 said:

 

Is this confirmed? 

That’s what some of the coaches have said. Curious was he at the Swim and Dive Championships at his own pool? Did he jump in to celebrate as the previous AD did … coaches chatter about these things? Was he at the T&F championships? I genuinely don’t know the answer about his presence at either Championship but as someone said he hasn’t been as boisterous on SM lately but is retweeting a Syracuse reporter tweets about Miami OH-same reporter who recently listed him as a potential candidate for the Syracuse job, nothing on the many promises he’s made like the fan board, I hear from some in the dept it’s been eerily quiet. His name is out there as actively pursuing the job. 

[Zips1991]

22 hours ago, ZipsBBjunkie said:

Or when AD is done interviewing with Syracuse. 

A one year tenure would certainly be something.

[NWAkron]

Just now, Zips1991 said:

A one year tenure would certainly be something.

Less than that.  

[Captain Kangaroo]

1 hour ago, Zips1991 said:

A one year tenure would certainly be something.

If Syracuse were stupid enough to hire-away a Zips AD who’s accomplished nothing, good for them.

 

Then again, Fordham hired-away our Graphic Designer, so anything is possible.

[clarkwgriswold]

11 hours ago, ZipsBBjunkie said:

That’s what some of the coaches have said. Curious was he at the Swim and Dive Championships at his own pool? Did he jump in to celebrate as the previous AD did … coaches chatter about these things? Was he at the T&F championships? I genuinely don’t know the answer about his presence at either Championship but as someone said he hasn’t been as boisterous on SM lately but is retweeting a Syracuse reporter tweets about Miami OH-same reporter who recently listed him as a potential candidate for the Syracuse job, nothing on the many promises he’s made like the fan board, I hear from some in the dept it’s been eerily quiet. His name is out there as actively pursuing the job. 

He was at the PCCC game and the swim meet.

[Reslife4Life]

He did jump in the pool at the swim championships 

[Blue & Gold]

We didn't get home games versus Miami, Ohio, or BUGS this year, both our Buffalo game and our Toledo game were on Tuesday nights, and our UMass game got pushed to 9:00 on a Friday night. 

 

I don't like so many of our Saturday games being pushed to Fridays. I suppose it's worth it for the tv exposure (CBSSportsNet does a great job), but all season we only had two marquee home games on Saturdays - Princeton & Milwaukee - both fairly early in the year.  (I took some friends to the Princeton game & they said, "Oh, it's basketball season already?")

 

Is it asking for the moon from the MAC to give us Saturday home games versus Kent, Miami, Ohio, BUGS, Toledo, and UMass?  Every year. Potential season ticket holders should know these matchups are a given. Isn't it common sense that the league's marquee programs should face each other on *Saturdays? Leave the directionals & Balls for Tuesday nights.

 

*When at all possible.

[kreed5120]

A big part of why our games get pushed to Fridays is the lack of compelling matchups in MAC play. If UMass was competently run there would be at least 3 intriguing teams in the MAC. Meaning on weeks that 2 of the 3 didn't play one another one of Miami, Akron, or UMass would keep their Saturday game since only 2 games get flexed per week. Majority of the time it was Akron and Miami getting flexed even when they played MAC bottom feeders.

 

Personally, I think if we call sell out Kent at a 6PM start time on a Friday then we can't really make an excuse that our other Friday games don't draw better. Not saying they need to all be sell outs, but it's disappointing we can't get 3000+ to show up. It's not like we're in Athens where only a small number of alumni live in the area and most have to drive in a far distance.

 

Under the current format you only host 9 MAC home games. You have to remember half of those would automatically be on a Tuesday. Meaning at most you get only 4-5 weekend home games. The MAC could do a better job guaranteeing 2-3 of those are against your rivals, but it's not really possible to guarantee 5-6 games, especially since many teams would want to host an Akron or Miami but not everyone can. For Akron I'd say our two top rivals are Kent and probably OU. After that it kind of just fluctuates based off who is good at the time. Buffalo was up there a few years, then Toledo, and now Miami.

 

Edit: When the MAC used to have divisions we were guaranteed to play all the Ohio teams (besides Toledo) twice. Along with UB. Many complained back then because it wasn't fair that Toledo got an easier schedule than us because the MAC East was so much better. It seems no matter what people will find something to complain about.

Edited 17 minutes ago by kreed5120