To state the obvious, things were quite a bit different in 1929 when the stadium was built. It might be even more illuminating to look across the street at the Convo, which was built with a ton of money from the state (part of the reason it has dorms inside). But that was at a time when the state valued and paid for higher education, which is emphatically not the case today. Funding today is a shadow of what it was in the 1960s. ...
I have no doubt that things were different back then, in many ways. I actually was thinking that Peden might have been built in the 30's as a public works project, but if the date was 1929 that wouldn't be the case.
OK, so the state paid to build the Convo, but that doesn't answer my question. Did the state also pay to build Peden? Or, was it built with private contributions? The 1929 completion date tends to make me think it might have been the latter. In the late days of the roaring 20's, raising private contributions would have been relatively easier than at any time after market crashed in late 1929, at least until the roaring 1990's. ;)
Regardless of how they are originally built it, it seems clear that in today's climate the only way to update, modernize, or rebuild Peden would be to do it with private contributions. Financing it with debt the way Akron did was a recipe for disaster, and Akron, of course, is a disaster.
Just what we need, people on their phones more. It's a disease I tell you!
Hey, at least they wouldn't be driving or even walking at the same time. ;)