Around the MAC

[Let'sGoZips94]

9 hours ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

YSU-Akron Scrimmage

I didn't realize Akron was in the Ohio State Championship Game tonight. 

[egregiousbob]

On 10/20/2025 at 11:47 PM, Let'sGoZips94 said:

Ohio lost to Wright State tonight in an exhibition. According to ProZip, we beat Wright State over the weekend.

 

Yes, to warm the hearts of Zips fans, Ohio stunk up the joint against Wright State (at Dayton).  Lots of new pieces for the Bobcats; not sure they fit together. Could be the end of the Boals era unless they make it to the MAC semis...

 

BTW, if you've never seen a game at UD Arena, you really need to. The lower "bowl" of that arena would be perfect for Akron and would, in my opinion, be achievable through a $20-30MM investment in the JAR. Awesome sightlines from every angle.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 01:48 PM by egregiousbob

[Let'sGoZips94]

1 hour ago, egregiousbob said:

 

Yes, to warm the hearts of Zips fans, Ohio stunk up the joint against Wright State (at Dayton).  Lots of new pieces for the Bobcats; not sure they fit together. Could be the end of the Boals era unless they make it to the MAC semis...

 

BTW, if you've never seen a game at UD Arena, you really need to. The lower "bowl" of that arena would be perfect for Akron and would, in my opinion, be achievable through a $20-30MM investment in the JAR. Awesome sightlines from every angle.

 

 

 

I don't think the MAC semis saves Boals' job. Catching lightning in a bottle with Jason Preston prior to the post-COVID era of college athletics doesn't seem to be holding up with Bobcat Attack as much. UMass could be a major obstacle for Ohio. You could almost always pencil in the "O (clap clap clap) H (clap clap clap) I (clap clap clap) O (clap clap clap)" chant for Friday and possibly Saturday in Cleveland, but last year showed cracks in the foundation that 1) I don't know if Boals & co. patched and 2) more competition in the MAC will take advantage and hopefully supplant the Bobkittens' typical slot in Cleveland. It's why the games are played though - we will see what happens.

 

Totally agree with UD Arena being an achievable blueprint to the extent you laid out. I'm not going to pretend to know what the cost would be, but if we have a nice March run in the next year or two, I'd imagine that project is coming. 

[kreed5120]

I honestly just don't see the value in ~$30+ million renovations unless the JAR was reaching the point of collapse.

 

Bud is a smart man. $30 million in an endowment would generate $1.5 million/year (using a 5% withdrawal rate) in perpetuity. Having $1.5 million annually for NIL would do more to solidify the program than a shiny arena. 

 

Infocision has been a financial drain on the football program and athletics as a whole. Let's not repeat that with basketball. At least with football the Rubber Bowl was dilapidated and a safety hazard so our hands were kind of tied. I've never seen any reports that the JAR is in a similar state.

[WeRise225]

46 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

I honestly just don't see the value in ~$30+ million renovations unless the JAR was reaching the point of collapse.

 

Bud is a smart man. $30 million in an endowment would generate $1.5 million/year (using a 5% withdrawal rate) in perpetuity. Having $1.5 million annually for NIL would do more to solidify the program than a shiny arena. 

 

Infocision has been a financial drain on the football program and athletics as a whole. Let's not repeat that with basketball. At least with football the Rubber Bowl was dilapidated and a safety hazard so our hands were kind of tied. I've never seen any reports that the JAR is in a similar state.

The JAR just sucks, terrible seats, terrible sightlines, terrible concourses, a renovation would be very nice. Its still nicer than the MACC in Kent tho lol.  

[kreed5120]

The national TV schedule for the MAC has been announced. We'll at least the majority of the January games. February and March are on the usual 21 day flex schedule.

 

https://getsomemaction.com/news/2025/10/23/mac-announces-2025-26-mens-basketball-national-tv-schedule.aspx

[Let'sGoZips94]

8 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

I honestly just don't see the value in ~$30+ million renovations unless the JAR was reaching the point of collapse.

 

Bud is a smart man. $30 million in an endowment would generate $1.5 million/year (using a 5% withdrawal rate) in perpetuity. Having $1.5 million annually for NIL would do more to solidify the program than a shiny arena. 

 

Infocision has been a financial drain on the football program and athletics as a whole. Let's not repeat that with basketball. At least with football the Rubber Bowl was dilapidated and a safety hazard so our hands were kind of tied. I've never seen any reports that the JAR is in a similar state.

 

InfoCision has never been the problem. The lack of a winning product, virtually zero student activity usage such as concerts or other events, and zero vision for developing the area around the Info have made the Info seem like a problem. 

 

While I agree NIL investment would go a long way, the JAR is a detractor from one of the most successful athletic programs at the university, and quite frankly our #1 $$$$ sport. Having an attractive 5k+ seat arena for basketball and other events would go a long way for optimism at Akron. 

Edited 23 hours ago by Let'sGoZips94

[kreed5120]

47 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

InfoCision has never been the problem. The lack of a winning product, virtually zero student activity usage such as concerts or other events, and zero vision for developing the area around the Info have made the Info seem like a problem. 

 

While I agree NIL investment would go a long way, the JAR is a detractor from one of the most successful athletic programs at the university, and quite frankly our #1 $$$$ sport. Having an attractive 5k+ seat arena for basketball and other events would go a long way for optimism at Akron. 

 

The problem is both Blossom and Tom Benson Stadium are vastly better outdoor venues for things like concerts and both are within ~15 minutes from the stadium. There is no demand for a 3rd outdoor venue. Especially one that wasn't configured to host those type of events.

 

There are only a finite amount of dollars the University and boosters have to spend. It's not that I don't like the idea of a major overhaul or a new arena. It's that I feel there are more efficient ways of deploying our limited capital to have more on the court success.

 

Edit: I forgot to address a missing point. Part of why the team has been bad is because Infocision has been a financial drain to the athletic department. @LZIp shared Akron's football operating budget. We were dead last in football spending. If I recall correctly we were spending $2-$3 million less than the top spending MAC teams.

 

That doesn't include Infocision, which costs $4.5 million per year. If we didn't have to service the debt on Infocision we would have the money to be more competitive on assistant pay or afford a training table, etc. Over development under Proenza is what got us in this mess as a University financially. Your solution is we should have spent more on developing? Money doesn't grow on trees.

Edited 22 hours ago by kreed5120

[RoyalBlu]

Proenza had a vision but absolutely no financial acumen to pull off any of his ideas that didn't go into the red.

 

[Let'sGoZips94]

12 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

That doesn't include Infocision, which costs $4.5 million per year. If we didn't have to service the debt on Infocision we would have the money to be more competitive on assistant pay or afford a training table, etc. Over development under Proenza is what got us in this mess as a University financially. Your solution is we should have spent more on developing? Money doesn't grow on trees.

 

Spend money to make money. The Rubber Bowl was decrepit; the University was in a situation where they were going to spend money on a stadium regardless. Maybe the Info should've had a smaller, more affordable design, but it doesn't seem like the stadium was built for Akron to stay in the MAC. If it was built smaller, would it have been possible to go back and add seating given the area? I don't know. However, and I've stated this before, the moment a decision was made to bring the football stadium on campus, a subsequent plan should've been made to develop East Exchange and Spicer into a college tailgate hub that distances itself from the otherwise urban setting. Creating a fun atmosphere around the stadium would've been a nice safety net to ensure its worthwhile for fans to come to a game regardless of the result. City universities are struggling all over the US compared to their more rural counterparts and it's partly because of the environments around rural campuses. They're simply more inviting and more fun. Look at Kent. They've had a crappy football team for the majority of my lifetime, but their campus environment is 100x what Akron's is which is one of the biggest reasons why they have better enrollment. 

 

A fully renovated JAR would go a long way with the community. Akron has been one of the most successful mid majors for the better part of 2 decades, but the average attendance has gone down. The average fan sits in GA seating which includes nothing but uncomfortable, backless wooden bleachers. Not to mention if you sit high enough, the banners get in the way of the scoreboard. Want something from the concessions? You'll have to wait for a while pregame or during halftime, even in a half full arena. The JAR, when it's rocking, is one of the best mid major atmospheres in college basketball. Outside of that, it BLOWS. 

 

Step 1 is winning at the national level in March. Step 2 is renovating the JAR (or building a new arena entirely, although less feasible IMO). The jolt those two things would give the program could really propel the University as a whole to the next level. 

[kreed5120]

Kent is an actual college town. It's the same reason why a place like OU also has a thriving atmosphere. Akron is in a urban, crime riddled area. The development you see surrounding Kent's campus isn't KSU owned businesses.

 

UA isn't in the real estate development business. If there was a demand for it private investors would be doing it. You started to see some development from developers on Exchange, but that started just as enrollment began to decline so it stopped. Thankfully it was the developers money that was lost and not the University's otherwise we would be in an even worse position financially. The few properties we did buy (ex. Quaker Square) we ended up having to sell at a major loss.

 

If Akron starts winning enough that you start seeing local businesses like Timken, Goodyear, Smucker's, etc take more of an interest in athletics then maybe some sort of major change (more than slapping paint and changing the jumbotron/ribbon board) becomes possible. I just don't see it being a reality under the current circumstances. At least not until after Infocision is fully paid off. Akron isn't in a position to pay a combined $8+ million debt servicing payments between Infocision and the JAR. That money needs to come externally.

Edited 8 hours ago by kreed5120

[Zips1991]

30 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

Kent is an actual college town. It's the same reason why a place like OU also has a thriving atmosphere. Akron is in a urban, crime riddled area. The development you see surrounding Kent's campus isn't KSU owned businesses.

 

UA isn't in the real estate development business. If there was a demand for it private investors would be doing it. You started to see some development from developers on Exchange, but that started just as enrollment began to decline so it stopped. Thankfully it was the developers money that was lost and not the University's otherwise we would be in an even worse position financially. The few properties we did buy (ex. Quaker Square) we ended up having to sell at a major loss.

 

If Akron starts winning enough that you start seeing local businesses like Timken, Goodyear, Smucker's, etc take more of an interest in athletics then maybe some sort of major change (more than slapping paint and changing the jumbotron/ribbon board) becomes possible. I just don't see it being a reality under the current circumstances. At least not until after Infocision is fully paid off. Akron isn't in a position to pay a combined $8+ million debt servicing payments between Infocision and the JAR. That money needs to come externally.

Do we know when the football stadium is paid off? I assume not for a while still. 

[kreed5120]

41 minutes ago, Zips1991 said:

Do we know when the football stadium is paid off? I assume not for a while still. 

 

I think the initial term was like 20-25 years, but @Hilltopper once mentioned they refinanced and I assume extended the term of the loan to further reduce the annual payments.

 

I'm not sure if any public record requests were submitted to confirm what the new terms are. My guess would be not as I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere.