Stadium photo

[MRasor0200]

UA finally got around to fulfilling my public records request on this $2 million stadium plan. Here's the photo I got.I hope to have more details for you guys in the coming weeks. This is not what I was looking for.Stadium photo

[Zipmeister]

Two things.....1. since the stadium does not exist, this is not a photo of the stadium.2. have you figured out yet that universities are really good at jerking people around?keep up the good fight.

[akronad]

Mike: That is the stadium conception, the same thing that was printed in the BJ. Try talking to Paul Hammond, he might be able to give you a bit more detail.

[eguins]

Ironically this looks like the same picture of U-Chattanooga's Finley Stadium as well as that supposed "glorified high school stadium design" which you Zip Fans had brought up.I think it looks nice, but I'm sorry its not up to the standards of such a perennial I-A program which averages 16,000 people a year.

[zippyrifle32]

i want a horseshoe style stadium... put something in the endzones!

[Blue & Gold]

According to the current conceptual drawing, it appears that the north side of the stadium could be easily expanded to create a horse shoe, should demand exceed capacity. But as it stands now, it looks a lot like BGSU's Doyt Perry Stadium. That stadium was very under-whelming when I went to a Zips game there about 8 years ago. It really did feel like the old proverbial "glorified high school stadium." Firstly I hope our stadium is more overwhelming than any MAC stadium right off the bat. But secondly, if not, then I do have hope that the additional dorm and retail construction surrounding the new stadium gives the stadium a bigger feel, albeit somewhat artificially, than it would have being left on its own.

[skip-zip]

I'll say this again....Please hope that we don't make the mistake that we made with Rhodes Arena, which is to build something that is a good replacement for the previous facility, but will be inadequate as the University continues to grow. With that said, I hope this plan looks 20 or 30 years ahead in it's design. If not, several MAC schools will build newer and better facilities in the coming years, and we'll eventually look inadequate.

[eguins]

I'll say this again....Please hope that we don't make the mistake that we made with Rhodes Arena, which is to build something that is a good replacement for the previous facility, but will be inadequate as the University continues to grow. With that said, I hope this plan looks 20 or 30 years ahead in it's design. If not, several MAC schools will build newer and better facilities in the coming years, and we'll eventually look inadequate.

Care to share to the board why you believe your football attendance will increase when it has been stuck at 16,000 for years now??? And we all know you never get 16,000 people at a game, so really less than that for years?25,000 is plenty for you guys... PLENTY!

[ZachTheZip]

I'll say this again....Please hope that we don't make the mistake that we made with Rhodes Arena, which is to build something that is a good replacement for the previous facility, but will be inadequate as the University continues to grow.  With that said, I hope this plan looks 20 or 30 years ahead in it's design. If not, several MAC schools will build newer and better facilities in the coming years, and we'll eventually look inadequate.

Care to share to the board why you believe your football attendance will increase when it has been stuck at 16,000 for years now??? And we all know you never get 16,000 people at a game, so really less than that for years?25,000 is plenty for you guys... PLENTY!

Its simple, when you think about it. A new stadium means a whole bunch of people will attend games just to check it out. Plus, if our recruiting classes live up to even half the hype they get, then it is a sign that our team is improving and therefore should get more wins. More wins = bigger attendance.The Rubber Bowl is crap at this point. Nobody wants to get their ass covered in splinters just to see a game. It's off campus and alchohol free, so the students hardly have any incentive to find a way to get there. And we still had the attendance we did, combined with the godawful scheduling (read: almost all home games in late october/november) of the last few years. The new stadium is literally right across the street from about 20 fraternities and sororities, and there should be alchohol at the games. That's nearly another 1,000 per game just from them, not to mention the other students that will show up now that didn't before.Plus, we will not be the only ones using it. Some annual local HS games routinely draw at least 30,000 people. We want them to continue using our facilities and not Can't State's instead. That means we need the bigger stadium.It's all about the $$$ and having anything less than 30,000 is selling ourselves short.

[Zipsrifle]

Looks to me that UA did what was required to fill your request, and not a bit more. I have to agree with most posts here, this design is underwhelming. We know that more detailed plans exist, and we have dug them up on the internet. If this is the actual design, here are my thoughts.1) I don't mind the seating layout. It appears to have both endzones grass, which means it is very flexible for capacity, and would be a "Bowl" for big games.2) Partially in ground. I like this, but not for any paticular reason. It is required for the grass endzone seating.3) Plazas as at the corners are a nice touch.4) I don't like how it is "Hidden" from Exchange and Brown streets. I would like to have a good look at the stadium from exchange, even if it is only as wide as the scoreboard.5) No big scoreboard? A nice, big scoreboard is an absolute must IMO.6) Looks a lot like Kelly-Shorts, similar to Doyt Perry, Yegar, Dix, etc. Very generic. I agree with who ever said it needs to be the best stadium in the MAC when it opens.7) I hope the seating in this picture is for about 25,000 WITHOUT the grass areas. That would indicate it could be upgraded to about 50,000 no problem. If we need it larger, the pressbox would be too low, and that would requre some serious cash to upgrade further without it looking like crap......Not a bad problem to have though.

[TennesseeZippy]

Mike,This picture is close to two years old, and surely not the latest rendering of the plans for the new stadium. If you do a "Google Image" search, this comes up first thing.2005 New U of A football stadium image

[eguins]

Western Kentucky, which is moving up to I-A and the Sun Belt this season, is expanding their stadium to over 23,000 with room for expansion in their endzones. The current complex seats 17,500; and this new addition will make the stadium a good size for I-A.Check it out!

[Blue & Gold]

Thanks eguins. In case anyone's curious, I looked at WKU's website and that's a $37.5 million renovation.

[ZachTheZip]

Thanks eguins.  In case anyone's curious, I looked at WKU's website and that's a $37.5 million renovation.

Wow. $37.5 million. It looks nice. If that's the case, then with our budget our stadium had better be either the nicest or largest one in the MAC at the very least.

[eguins]

O I forgot to add, the 2 tiered side is already in existence. So that is $37.5 million for pretty much half a stadium and new press on the existing side!

[Indians06]

That stadium looks sweet. The visitors side kind of reminds me of a horse racetrack. Thats cool how their incorporating a state tradition into the new stadium

[UA Fan]

MRasor's update:http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/zips/Personally, I am confident that the Trustees/Prez/AD can create an excellent stadium facility within the budget dictated by reality (remembering that the JAR arena would have been bigger & better if more resources had been available at the time). On the other hand, I am disappointed that there has been zero solicitation of input/ideas from the fans & community who will be the attendees and whose tax dollars will contribute and they apparently will only share the most preliminary concept drawing until the design is finalized at which point it will be too late & too costly to make any significant changes.

[Zipsrifle]

UA did contact me, and others about a year ago about my thoughts on the stadium, so they have received fan input. Also, I like to believe that persons within the athletic dept. frequent this site, I know they used to. I read Mike's article and have a few thoughts. First, UA has a lot of money in this thing and a lot of lawyers in general that they work with. I think Mike has a steep, difficult uphill battle if he thinks he is going to force UA to show us plans before they are ready. As pathetic of an attempt as it was in honoring his request, they still made some attempt and IMO, that will buy them the time they need until they are ready to announce this thing. Also, people on this board have been doing a pretty good job of digging up stuff on the stadium. This has probably hurt things in that UA is going to be more careful before posting things as they have in the past. We all know the general media isn't going to push or dig for this stuff, and again, they probably just visit this board to dig up the dirt they need for their stories.

[Zipsrifle]

Apparently this guy is working to lock down the land for the stadium. Probably useless information, but here it is anyway:http://www.cbre.com/cbre/Templates/Corpora...CACHEHINT=Guest

[urbanpreppie05]

Care to share to the board why you believe your football attendance will increase when it has been stuck at 16,000 for years now??? And we all know you never get 16,000 people at a game, so really less than that for years?25,000 is plenty for you guys... PLENTY!

30-35K is better. 50K is overreaching, at least for now.Our football attendance sucks for the following reasons-1. The overall decrepitness of our stadium2. Distance off campus3. Location in a sparsly populated part of Summit county. 4. Not on any main drags5. hard to get to.6. A lack of community visibility because of all these reasons and a piss-poor record (until 2002 or so)Our metro population is 700,000. Our city population is 210,000. Our student population is 23,000. 2,000+ live on campus and another 7-10K live within walking distance. The stadium will be visible off Route 8, and is on a major throughfare, and is ON CAMPUS. This new stadium will bring 30-35,000 easy.It also looks like it could be expanded later, which would make a lot more sense.

[eguins]

Care to share to the board why you believe your football attendance will increase when it has been stuck at 16,000 for years now??? And we all know you never get 16,000 people at a game, so really less than that for years?25,000 is plenty for you guys... PLENTY!

30-35K is better. 50K is overreaching, at least for now.Our football attendance sucks for the following reasons-1. The overall decrepitness of our stadium2. Distance off campus3. Location in a sparsly populated part of Summit county. 4. Not on any main drags5. hard to get to.6. A lack of community visibility because of all these reasons and a piss-poor record (until 2002 or so)Our metro population is 700,000. Our city population is 210,000. Our student population is 23,000. 2,000+ live on campus and another 7-10K live within walking distance. The stadium will be visible off Route 8, and is on a major throughfare, and is ON CAMPUS. This new stadium will bring 30-35,000 easy.It also looks like it could be expanded later, which would make a lot more sense.

Unless this Rubber Bowl is in a bad part of town, I don't see really anymore than 3,000 more people at your games.That is saying 2000 students go to the game, and for whatever reason 1000 more fans come to just check out the new facility.BOTTOM LINE: You need to win to fill this stadium, you can't just build it and expect more people to come. If YSU was 2-9 every year and they built a new season, I wouldn't go out and buy season tickets; but they are consistently strong year in and year out in a beautiful 21,000 seat stadium and average 8000 season ticket holders a year.I am not trying to be an ass here either, I am pointing out something I think a lot of you are missing; winning teams brings the big crowds in, a new stadium helps for the first few weeks.

[Blue & Gold]

Ultimately, winning is what matters most. But it's impossible to overstate how desperately we need a new stadium to assist our recruiting efforts. Unless one has been to the Rubberbowl lately, it's really difficult to imagine how down-right-awful a facility it is. The new stadium will be a draw for both players and fans; the Rubberbowl is literally repulsive.

[g-mann17]

Unless this Rubber Bowl is in a bad part of town, I don't see really anymore than 3,000 more people at your games.That is saying 2000 students go to the game, and for whatever reason 1000 more fans come to just check out the new facility.

Someone not from Akron doesn't realize how completely out of the way the Rubber Bowl is. Nothing is around it. No restaurants. No sports bars. It is a good 15 minute drive from campus. That is when you aren't fighting traffic to get there. Then it's about 30 minutes sitting in a car or student shuttle. Just putting a stadium on Exchange St draws the current on campus students. It's also only a 5 minute walk for thousands. More to the point is the fact that a new stadium draws a new crowd. The Cavs were very lowly before a new arena was built. The Pirates stink yet they sold out their new Stadium. The Browns have been to the playoffs once. But managed to fill their facility. Yes these are pro team references. But they are losers on a big scale and still fill new stadiums. (minus the Cavs of course, but I am referencing them BL)Right now there is a revolution happening with Akron. The School is seeing success. The Campus is no longer a joke. Alumni are beginning to thump their chest when they refer to their Alma Mater. This new Stadium will see sell outs for all it's first couple of years. It's just a matter of how big the stadium is. I like 30,000 it just seams right to me. Whether that is 28 pluss 2000 loge seats and hill seating to expand to 32-35 if need be so be it. But I don't think whe should "shrink" our capacity when the team and school are turning things around.

[urbanpreppie05]

Unless this Rubber Bowl is in a bad part of town, I don't see really anymore than 3,000 more people at your games.That is saying 2000 students go to the game, and for whatever reason 1000 more fans come to just check out the new facility.BOTTOM LINE: You need to win to fill this stadium, you can't just build it and expect more people to come. If YSU was 2-9 every year and they built a new season, I wouldn't go out and buy season tickets; but they are consistently strong year in and year out in a beautiful 21,000 seat stadium and average 8000 season ticket holders a year.

The team's record as of late has been much better- even last year's dissapointing season was better than when I was growing up in the 80's/90's. You seem to keep ignoring the one thing that many of us are saying- PEOPLE DON'T COME TO THE RUBBER BOWL BECAUSE OF IT'S LOCATION. With a more centralized location in a better facility, people WILL come. Especially with 7-11K living within walking distance. Look at what new facilities did for the Aeros and Cavs, for one.

I am not trying to be an ass here either, I am pointing out something I think a lot of you are missing; winning teams brings the big crowds in, a new stadium helps for the first few weeks.

Name a new facility built in the last few years where this has happened.

[eguins]

Unless this Rubber Bowl is in a bad part of town, I don't see really anymore than 3,000 more people at your games.That is saying 2000 students go to the game, and for whatever reason 1000 more fans come to just check out the new facility.BOTTOM LINE: You need to win to fill this stadium, you can't just build it and expect more people to come. If YSU was 2-9 every year and they built a new season, I wouldn't go out and buy season tickets; but they are consistently strong year in and year out in a beautiful 21,000 seat stadium and average 8000 season ticket holders a year.

The team's record as of late has been much better- even last year's dissapointing season was better than when I was growing up in the 80's/90's. You seem to keep ignoring the one thing that many of us are saying- PEOPLE DON'T COME TO THE RUBBER BOWL BECAUSE OF IT'S LOCATION. With a more centralized location in a better facility, people WILL come. Especially with 7-11K living within walking distance. Look at what new facilities did for the Aeros and Cavs, for one.

I am not trying to be an ass here either, I am pointing out something I think a lot of you are missing; winning teams brings the big crowds in, a new stadium helps for the first few weeks.

Name a new facility built in the last few years where this has happened.

The thing is you guys are expecting every single one of these people living in that area to come to the game, which isn't true. YSU used to play in Austintown, OHIO at the 10,000 seat Fitch Falcon Stadium; and when they moved to Stambaugh in '81 did everyone of those people in that neighborhood come to the game??? No..Do you think Montana gets 24000 each week because they have a nice stadium??? NO--It's because they have made the I-AA/FCS playoffs for 15 consecutive years!Winning will sell your place out; and thats the bottom line cuz eguin said so... JK.Good Luck!