Downtown Akron football stadium moves forward

[longtimefirsttime]

The story:
http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=64022

It should accomdate MOST college and high school games (wouldn't hold the 1994 Tigers-Pups playoff crowd though)and is a BIG upgrade over the current crumbling facility.

[TigerDL71]

this is a great thing for this university, their football program has been on the right track and this will only make things better, just think how many more students will actually come to the games since they won't have to drive all the way to the rubber bowl, this could be used as a great recruiting school over Kent State in this area,i hope they really do a nice job on it and make it blend in with downtown as jacobs field does, i like having big time stadiums in the middle of big cities

[Smitty]

The U of Akron football program needs this.... and to increase their football budget by a few million dollars.

Sadly (for the Zips) the majority of the BEST Ohio h.s. football players will continue to go to Ohio State... and the rest will head for other Big-10 schools, Pitt, & West Virginia. Akron will compete with the rest of the MAC schools (ie, Miami of Ohio, Bowling Green, Toledo, KSU, etc.) for talent.

[longtimefirsttime]

"Memories made at Rubber Bowl"
http://indeonline.com/index.php?ID=14582&r=11&Category=2
(If link doesn't match try Inde archives)

[DPdad]

Sadly (for the Zips) the majority of the BEST Ohio h.s. football players will continue to go to Ohio State... and the rest will head for other Big-10 schools, Pitt, & West Virginia.
I'm still teed off at U of A for dumping a good coach in Jim Dennison some twenty years ago to bring in Gerry Faust and jump from Division I-AA to I-A. Akron had a tradition of very good teams in I-AA and could have become a real power at that level, similar to what Mount Union has done in Div. III. I feel that would have been better in the long run, instead of trying to compete in I-A. Akron will never be able to pick enough h.s. talent to consistently win in I-A.

A new campus stadium would be a badly needed upgrade over the dump at the Rubber Bowl, though.

[longtimefirsttime]

Not everyone is happy with the new stadium plan.
http://www.newsnet5.com/news/13498378/detail.html

[longtimefirsttime]

"Downtown stadium design nearly complete"
http://www.wkyc.com/news/regional/akron_article.aspx?storyid=71412

[longtimefirsttime]

An artists rendering:

(Photo obtained from Rasor's Edge, an Akron U. student's blog)