Ohio Basketball Topic
Topic: City of Akron floats tax proposal to pay for arena for Zips
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giacomo
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Posted: 4/24/2014 12:31 PM
Does anyone even attend their games at the current arena? My recollection is that they draw poorly and always will because of the campus. Ask Cleveland State, who covers almost 40% of their seats with tarp at Wolstein and it's still empty. This doesn't create any demand for their product, which is low for some reason. They should just gussy up the JAR.
Jeff McKinney
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Posted: 4/24/2014 1:18 PM
They sell out 2 or 3 games a year in the 5200 seat JAR. I think they average about 3500 the rest of the season.  They draw decently. 

Not sure the JAR can be "gussied up".  That would be interesting to get an architect's view on that.  I don't know if capacity could be expanded. 
Pataskala
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Posted: 4/24/2014 2:17 PM
This past season they averaged 3609 and the year before when they went 14-2 in the MAC they averaged 3752.  If they were to get the same % of capacity in the new place as in the JAR those two years (65.6; 68.2) they would draw 5904 and 6138.  (By comparison, Ohio averaged 6124 and 6932 the past two seasons.)
Last Edited: 4/24/2014 2:18:02 PM by Pataskala
OhioBobcat
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Posted: 4/24/2014 2:32 PM
Ohio69 wrote:expand_more
I wish the Convo was no more than 10,000.  We get 8,000 in there and it looks empty.  It is strange.


Agreed. Ohio leads the MAC in average attendance yet typically plays in an arena that is nearly two-thirds of the way empty in many cases. 
giacomo
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Posted: 4/24/2014 4:20 PM
Pataskala, are you on the committee? That would be a good argument to hoodwink the voters into approving the project!
Pataskala
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Posted: 4/24/2014 4:45 PM
giacomo wrote:expand_more
Pataskala, are you on the committee? That would be a good argument to hoodwink the voters into approving the project!


Just thinking.  The new arena will have to attract a sizable number of curiosity seekers just to keep from looking like an EMU home game.
MonroeClassmate
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Posted: 4/24/2014 5:00 PM
Pataskala wrote:expand_more
This past season they averaged 3609 and the year before when they went 14-2 in the MAC they averaged 3752.  If they were to get the same % of capacity in the new place as in the JAR those two years (65.6; 68.2) they would draw 5904 and 6138.  (By comparison, Ohio averaged 6124 and 6932 the past two seasons.)


Tough to compare because as stated before, the JAR is a dump.

I'd imagine Akron is starved for a venue where businesses (quite a few large and profitable and civic minded corporations locally) could entertain in lodges jamed into the arena.  If students are given one side of the arena alaConvo Ozone than I'd imagine in the first few years there being excitement for the students to attend.  As it is currently the students/Rowdies have lousy seats.  How do the Rubber Ducks do in regards to Suite occupancy--a winter alternative for businesses may be a hot ticket. 

Minor league hockey anyone?  I don't know what the appetite for concerts would be--EJ Thomas is already there with Cleveland a short trip away.  Wonder what type of additional use the arena could expect.  Tearing down JAR would be a nice piece of real estate for additional campus classroom or housing development. 
Jeff McKinney
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Posted: 4/24/2014 5:31 PM
On a side note, Ohio's average attendance this year was slammed by the three home CIT games.   Lowered average by about 400 or 500 per game. 
OhioBobcat
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Posted: 4/24/2014 5:40 PM
Jeff McKinney wrote:expand_more
On a side note, Ohio's average attendance this year was slammed by the three home CIT games.   Lowered average by about 400 or 500 per game. 

Slammed? Did you mean slimmed? The fact that Ohio nearly met its regular season averages for games in the CIT was actually impressive compared to many other postseason tournament games hosted by other schools. I was rather impressed with the turnout for all three.
 
OhioBobcat
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Posted: 4/24/2014 5:46 PM
MonroeClassmate wrote:expand_more
This past season they averaged 3609 and the year before when they went 14-2 in the MAC they averaged 3752.  If they were to get the same % of capacity in the new place as in the JAR those two years (65.6; 68.2) they would draw 5904 and 6138.  (By comparison, Ohio averaged 6124 and 6932 the past two seasons.)

Tearing down JAR would be a nice piece of real estate for additional campus classroom or housing development. 


A few years ago, Akron tore down the old gym (might have been called Memorial Gym or something) that the JAR eventually replaced (it sat right beside the JAR and was connected by a walkway that went over top of the road that used to run underneath it and between both facilities). I'm not a fan of urban campuses at all and I don't really like Akron's campus much. But that said, they made A LOT of improvements to it in the last 10-15 years and it is a much better campus than it was prior to that. They also have the best football stadium in the MAC (empty or not). 
Last Edited: 4/24/2014 5:47:52 PM by OhioBobcat
Jeff McKinney
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Posted: 4/24/2014 7:40 PM
OhioBobcat wrote:expand_more
On a side note, Ohio's average attendance this year was slammed by the three home CIT games.   Lowered average by about 400 or 500 per game. 

Slammed? Did you mean slimmed? The fact that Ohio nearly met its regular season averages for games in the CIT was actually impressive compared to many other postseason tournament games hosted by other schools. I was rather impressed with the turnout for all three.
 


Well...not exactly.  Ohio DID have a very solid average of about 3600 for the three CIT games, which IS good. However, our average was about 6500-6600 until the 3 CIT games.  We ended up having the CIT games drop that average to about 6150.
Alan Swank
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Posted: 4/25/2014 7:41 AM
Jeff McKinney wrote:expand_more
On a side note, Ohio's average attendance this year was slammed by the three home CIT games.   Lowered average by about 400 or 500 per game. 


Those numbers for the CIT Jeff were actually the real numbers that you and I used to guess within a 100 or 200 as opposed to fabricated numbers that include some dubious season tickets at best.  Regardless, we still have the largest crowds in the MAC.  Having 15,000 students "on campus" certainly helps as well as a long tradition of local support.  Kids grow up in Athens going to OU games as opposed to their local high school games.
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Posted: 4/25/2014 9:03 AM
from what my brother told me (Ducks front office employee) is that they are way ahead of pace from last year regarding suite sales. I'm pretty sure they have 23 suites in Canal Park.  They sold out their home opener (their first sellout didn't occur until August last year), and have a young owner with deep pockets who is eager to make a splash (bad pun intended).  
Last Edited: 4/25/2014 9:10:16 AM by ShoreCat
Jeff McKinney
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Posted: 4/25/2014 9:43 AM
Alan Swank wrote:expand_more
On a side note, Ohio's average attendance this year was slammed by the three home CIT games.   Lowered average by about 400 or 500 per game. 


Those numbers for the CIT Jeff were actually the real numbers that you and I used to guess within a 100 or 200 as opposed to fabricated numbers that include some dubious season tickets at best.  Regardless, we still have the largest crowds in the MAC.  Having 15,000 students "on campus" certainly helps as well as a long tradition of local support.  Kids grow up in Athens going to OU games as opposed to their local high school games.


Alan, I know we have had this discussion several times before, but the practice of announcing the number of "tickets sold" is commonplace in college athletics.  At Ohio, it does include no shows for the Family Packs, but overall, what Ohio does is not way out of step with common practice.  I remember that you have posted data on this before.   

The attendance for the CIT games seemed to be very respectable for these post season tournaments in comparison to the rest of the nation, but by my eye count, still fell short of our typical Wednesday games. 
Ozcat
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Posted: 4/25/2014 11:00 AM
I found it interesting that over on the Zippy board a few members were stating that Akron's end goal in all of this is to move on from the MAC to greener pastures.
Jeff McKinney
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Posted: 4/25/2014 11:42 AM
Guess they would have to triple their football attendance to have any chance of a move to another conference.  Plus, with the financial problems at the university, I doubt they're poised for such a move.  I don't know how they do in private athletic fundraising. 
Ohio69
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Posted: 4/25/2014 12:42 PM
Ozcat wrote:expand_more
I found it interesting that over on the Zippy board a few members were stating that Akron's end goal in all of this is to move on from the MAC to greener pastures.


They are crazy enough to do this.  It doesn't seem to be working out for Marshall at all.  And, with the recent announcement that the Big 5 are starting the official divorce proceedings, I'm not sure where they will go.
Alan Swank
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Posted: 4/25/2014 1:08 PM
Jeff McKinney wrote:expand_more
On a side note, Ohio's average attendance this year was slammed by the three home CIT games.   Lowered average by about 400 or 500 per game. 


Those numbers for the CIT Jeff were actually the real numbers that you and I used to guess within a 100 or 200 as opposed to fabricated numbers that include some dubious season tickets at best.  Regardless, we still have the largest crowds in the MAC.  Having 15,000 students "on campus" certainly helps as well as a long tradition of local support.  Kids grow up in Athens going to OU games as opposed to their local high school games.


Alan, I know we have had this discussion several times before, but the practice of announcing the number of "tickets sold" is commonplace in college athletics.  At Ohio, it does include no shows for the Family Packs, but overall, what Ohio does is not way out of step with common practice.  I remember that you have posted data on this before.   

The attendance for the CIT games seemed to be very respectable for these post season tournaments in comparison to the rest of the nation, but by my eye count, still fell short of our typical Wednesday games. 


Here's an interesting article on attendance Jeff:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/sportsmoney/2011/05/25/how-sports-attendance-figures-speak-lies/4/
giacomo
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Posted: 4/27/2014 5:09 PM
Other than hiring head football and basketball coaches who succeed, an athletic director gets a feather in their cap for building new facilities on their watch. They always want to add something whether it's needed or not.
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Posted: 4/27/2014 11:21 PM
Ozcat wrote:expand_more
I found it interesting that over on the Zippy board a few members were stating that Akron's end goal in all of this is to move on from the MAC to greener pastures.


Athletics is only one side of the equation (and Akron is challenged enough there - they provide limited value outside of perhaps bringing some of the Cleveland market).  The other side is academic.  is Akron even remotely research oriented from an academic perspective?  I see no conference gaining a thing be reaching out to them.
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