Link to actual Article Posted Below

New stadium design unveiled
InfoCision Stadium-Summa Field will be the new site of Zips football in '09
Adam Ferrise
Issue date: 8/1/07 Section: News
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Media Credit: Courtesy the University of Akron
Union Street view of InfoCision Stadium designed by HNTB Architecture Inc. was unveiled Wednesday.



Media Credit: Courtesy the University of Akron
Aerial view of InfoCision Stadium-Summa Field.


Two remarks from members of the University of Akron board of trustees were prevalently used in the unveiling of UA's new, on-campus football stadium Wednesday.

In his opening speech, university president Luis Proenza simply used the term "wow" to describe the new stadiums designs. Also, repeated throughout the 50 minute presentation was the number 772, as in the number of days until September 12, 2009 when the first game will be played at InfoCision Stadium-Summa Field, the name of the new stadium.

Proenza, as well as other members of the Board of Trustees, spoke to a large gathering of fans, alumni, university coaches, cheerleaders, band and media in the Student Union Ballroom. During his speech, Proenza illustrated what he envisions for opening day.

"In precisely 772 days," he said, "we will gather again about 200 yards from here under blue skies, marching band in full blare, as it leads are team, our students, and our fans across this campus into a gleaming glass and brick stadium."

InfoCision stadium is a striking complex - designed by Kansas City based HNTB Architecture Inc. - that will replace the crumbling, 65-year-old Rubber Bowl in 2009 and will cost UA $55 million to construct.

The stadium will seat 30,000, including 486 club seats, 15 private suites and 172 open-air loge seats. InfoCision stadium will be the only collegiate stadium in Ohio to have loge seating.

The stadium's outsides will be constructed using red-brown brick and glass and the design uniformly fits with other new buildings on the campus, such as the Student Union.

"When we embarked upon our design development process," Director of Athletics Mack Rhoades said, "we had one goal in mind - that was to build the nicest stadium in the country. I didn't say largest, I said nicest.

"When you talk about architecture and design, when you talk about amenities, when you talk about functionality and most importantly, service to our community, we want to build the nicest stadium in the country."

The university will start site clearance in October, most of which is rental property, as well as a handful of business, and will take about $1.4 million to raze the properties, according to university Vice President of Capital Planning and Facilities Management Ted Curtis. UA expects construction to take 18-24 months. The university hired the Akron based Welty Building Company and Indianapolis based Hunt Construction Group to oversee construction.

One slight bump in the road for UA is the remaining 28 parcels of land they have yet to acquire on the nine-acre lot. Curtis said the remaining landowners "are not listening up" and UA will have to go through eminent domain procedures in order to acquire the land. Curtis said there wouldn't be any problems acquiring the land because it is for "educational purposes."

The Rubber Bowl is about 10 minutes by car from campus. Some of the land that they need to acquire/demolish are some UA dormitories.

It looks like a future Big East candidate to me. They would probably fill it up against Cincinnati.

beautiful facility!!!

David Krysakowski Wrote:It looks like a future Big East candidate to me. They would probably fill it up against Cincinnati.

Absolutely right--why don't you start a feasibility study David.

TexanMark Wrote:

David Krysakowski Wrote:It looks like a future Big East candidate to me. They would probably fill it up against Cincinnati.

Absolutely right--why don't you start a feasibility study David.

Why bother? Let's just give Akron the deal we offered Miami before they left.

Sure... Akron is one of the larger cities in Ohio. I can see a fan base available. :lock:

Nice facility but again...why post it here? There is no expansion committee here. I'm impressed but that and five dollars will get you a small cup of java somewhere. Anybody got any Big East news?

cardtopper Wrote:Nice facility but again...why post it here? There is no expansion committee here. I'm impressed but that and five dollars will get you a small cup of java somewhere. Anybody got any Big East news?

Did you miss the "OT" in the title?

I posted it because some Big East teams play Akron in OOC and Syracuse is playing a game in Akron in 2010 as part of a 2 for 1.

Also, some of the readers here are cfb junkies in general and love to read about this type of stuff. capiche?

TexanMark Wrote:

Looks to be a BIG improvement over the old rubber bowl (notice the LIGHTS infront of the stands!) Plus...bringing it campus should help as well as far as student attendance is concerned.

http://www.collegegridirons.com/mac/RubberBowl.htm

http://www.collegegridirons.com/mac/imag...ber150.jpg

http://www.collegegridirons.com/mac/imag...ber151.jpg

TexanMark Wrote:

cardtopper Wrote:Nice facility but again...why post it here? There is no expansion committee here. I'm impressed but that and five dollars will get you a small cup of java somewhere. Anybody got any Big East news?

Did you miss the "OT" in the title?

I posted it because some Big East teams play Akron in OOC and Syracuse is playing a game in Akron in 2010 as part of a 2 for 1.

Also, some of the readers here are cfb junkies in general and love to read about this type of stuff. capiche?

No Capiche
Congrats but somewhere out in cyber space is a board that this post was designed for. This is not it. Big East...Capiche? There are eight teams and no expansion on the horizon and even if there was there is not an expansion committee here, just fans. If fans here are that interested in Akron then they can go to the MAC board and read to their hearts desire.

No one else seemed to mind except you.

Are you the topic monitor in August? Do we need to send "OT" topics to you for approval?

It was listed as "OT", it was before summer camps opened, the board was slow, DEAL WITH IT!

I like the design, very nice facility

TexanMark Wrote:No one else seemed to mind except you.

Are you the topic monitor in August? Do we need to send "OT" topics to you for approval?

It was listed as "OT", it was before summer camps opened, the board was slow, DEAL WITH IT!

Sorry Tex,
I didn't think I was being rude...just expressing an opinion. If I was out of line expressing my opinion I'll stop immediately. I will only express your opinion from now on.
:ncaabbs::ncaabbs::ncaabbs::ncaabbs::ncaabbs::ncaabbs::ncaabbs:

cardtopper Wrote:

TexanMark Wrote:No one else seemed to mind except you.

Are you the topic monitor in August? Do we need to send "OT" topics to you for approval?

It was listed as "OT", it was before summer camps opened, the board was slow, DEAL WITH IT!

Sorry Tex,
I didn't think I was being rude...just expressing an opinion. If I was out of line expressing my opinion I'll stop immediately. I will only express your opinion from now on.
:ncaabbs::ncaabbs::ncaabbs::ncaabbs::ncaabbs::ncaabbs::ncaabbs:

You weren't expressing an opinion--you were acting like the board topic monitor...no one else had an issue but you--think about it.

OT means OT DEAL WITH IT

New Stadium is expandable.

UC will paly at the Rubber Bowl next year in its last season.

No Capiche
Congrats but somewhere out in cyber space is a board that this post was designed for. This is not it. Big East...Capiche? There are eight teams and no expansion on the horizon and even if there was there is not an expansion committee here, just fans. If fans here are that interested in Akron then they can go to the MAC board and read to their hearts desire.
------------------------------------------------

Big East board? Christ, why is it everytime I check it out the topics are dominated by people from ECU, Memphis & other CUSA dwellers?

texasorange Wrote:No Capiche
Congrats but somewhere out in cyber space is a board that this post was designed for. This is not it. Big East...Capiche? There are eight teams and no expansion on the horizon and even if there was there is not an expansion committee here, just fans. If fans here are that interested in Akron then they can go to the MAC board and read to their hearts desire.
------------------------------------------------

Big East board? Christ, why is it everytime I check it out the topics are dominated by people from ECU, Memphis & other CUSA dwellers?

Tip...to those that don't know (yes...there are actually some people that don't know about this): "OT" at the beginning of a thread means OFF-TOPIC.

That hint alludes to the fact that the following post is going to be somewhat different compared to the name of said board or main topic of said board.

If you only want to read posts about said topic on this board...don't click on any OT threads. (FYI..even though the main topic of the board slips into threads like this as the one person made note that Big East Member UC will be visiting the Rubber Bowl during its last season.)

TexanMark Wrote:

cardtopper Wrote:

TexanMark Wrote:No one else seemed to mind except you.

Are you the topic monitor in August? Do we need to send "OT" topics to you for approval?

It was listed as "OT", it was before summer camps opened, the board was slow, DEAL WITH IT!

Sorry Tex,
I didn't think I was being rude...just expressing an opinion. If I was out of line expressing my opinion I'll stop immediately. I will only express your opinion from now on.
:ncaabbs::ncaabbs::ncaabbs::ncaabbs::ncaabbs::ncaabbs::ncaabbs:

You weren't expressing an opinion--you were acting like the board topic monitor...no one else had an issue but you--think about it.

OT means OT DEAL WITH IT

You seem to be full of venom Tex. I have no power to remove topics or edit what comes on this board. However, I thought I had the OK to express an opinion. Now nowhere in any of my post was I derogatory nor did I down anyone, as a matter of fact I congratulated Akron on their new stadium. I did state I thought the post was not meant for the Big East Board. Some kind of way you got something stuck up your rear and have come off very angry and nasty toward me. I really don't get it but hey...that's your problem. A lot of other people have expressed a lot of opinions on this board in a lot nastier manner than I've expressed mine and it's been alright....so I see no reason not to stick to my guns, Wether it is off topic or not, I think it is not a post for this board. You can now post another insanely nasty message and we'll call it quits.