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A Closer Look Into Akron's New InfoCision Stadium, Opening Saturday

The culmination of $61.6 million and sixteen months of construction comes to fruition on Saturday afternoon as the University of Akron opens InfoCision Stadium - their new 30,000 seat football home. The Zips will battle the Morgan State Bears.

The countdown began in earnest when the Zips played their final game at the Rubber Bowl on November 13, 2008 ending a 68-year affiliation between the school and that dilapidated stadium located in the southern end of the city. The Rubber Bowl still resides next to the All-American Soap Box Derby and Akron Fulton Airport which is the home of the famous Goodyear Air Docks where the famous blimps are housed.

After the Zips suffered a 43-40 four-overtime heartbreaker to Buffalo, there was a ceremony honoring the Zips who played in the facility that hosted Zips football since 1940. The ceremony ended with the school mascot, Zippy, leaving the field on a motorcycle under the scoreboard, with an artifact from the game. According to the game program the artifact will be brought to the new stadium when the Zips play their first game.

InfoCision Stadium is the first on-campus stadium in the Mid-American Conference since 1983 when Miami opened Yager Stadium. It is one of just two new stadiums in the Football Bowl Subdivision ( Minnesota being the other opening TCF Stadium on the same day against Air Force).

When asked at MAC Media Day in Detroit about what the stadium means for the football program, head coach J.D. Brookhart said “ It changes everything. It changes recruiting, it changes game day, it changes community pride. There are so many things this stadium does not only for the players but the entire community”

The University had an open house on Saturday August 29 th and an estimated 5.000 people came out to see the facility. Sally Howard, who has been attending Zips football games for more than four decades, toured the stadium and said to the Akron Beacon Journal “We have gone from the outhouse to the penthouse…the new stadium is more impressive than I ever thought it could be.”

The stadium was the brainchild of then Akron Athletic Director Mack Rhoades who came to Akron from the University of Texas-El Paso in 2004. Early in his tenure, Rhoades went out to the Rubber Bowl to have a look around the decaying facility. “I walked though the entire facility by myself. And I may have had a few tears, thinking, ‘What did I get myself into” he stated to the Beacon Journal then.

An on-campus home stadium for Akron football was nothing more than a dream for many. But Rhoades, with the backing of University President Luis Proenza, and many people from the Athletic Department, to the business community, to Akron alums, and others have made InfoCision Stadium a reality.

“It’s a community project. There were a lot of people-and I’m sure I should mention more than had just tremendous influence. It wouldn’t have been done without them”

He said.

Rhoades, who over the summer accepted the Athletic Director’s position at the University of Houston, will be looking Saturday from afar as the Cougars play at nationally ranked Oklahoma State.

Groundbreaking for the stadium began in April, 2007. As the construction began, the Athletic Department flooded the newspapers and airwaves of Northeast Ohio asking fans to ‘Be apart from the start”

In August, the University produced a 30-minute infomercial about the stadium and the various ticket plans still available to fans. Along with a full color section in the Akron Beacon Journal

The name, InfoCision Stadium, comes out of a 20-year, $10 million agreement with Gary Taylor, founder of InfoCision Systems to the University. InfoCision Systems is a suburban Akron company that has become the second largest privately held teleservices company in the United States employing around 3,700 people in three states including 1,000 in the Akron area.

The ProGrass playing surface is named, Summa Field, thanks to a $5 million gift to the University over 20 years from Summa Health Systems who is the largest employer in Summit County.

The facility is located in the southeast corner of the campus at the corner of East Exchange and Spicer Streets and fits nicely into the athletic facilities on campus. bordered by James A. Rhodes Arena to the north. The Stile Athletics Field House and Student Recreation Center just beyond the north end zone. And to the east by the baseball, soccer, and softball stadiums.

InfoCision Stadium will seat 30,000 fans which is the average capacities of many of the on-campus football facilities in the MAC. It is double-decked on both sidelines with the seats curving toward the end zones so fans can see all the action. On the west side of the stadium is a seven floor press tower.

Level one is the concourse level to the stadium which has 10 concession stands, 16 women’s and seven men’s restrooms, a team shop, security, and first aid stations. Levels two, three, and four are approximately 80,000 square feet of academic space (classrooms etc.) Similar to what Ohio University does with ‘The Tower’ at Peden Stadium.

Level five is the club level which has 522 club seats along with 38 loge boxes (with four seats per box) and those have been some of the hottest tickets at the stadium. Level six is the luxury suite level, which has sixteen private suites along with the Presidential Suite where University President Proenza and guests will view the games along with two party decks so fans can entertain while watching the action. The seventh, and final level, is the press level which will have the working media, both coaches, the scoreboard and game operations with facilities comparable to many collegiate stadiums across the country.

The scoreboard is in the south end and is 84 feet wide by 60 feet high and is mounted 40 feet above the south concourse. The board has a 39’X22’ video screen along with an LED message board and is augmented by two ‘ribbon boards’ on each side of the stadium.

The Zips will have their dressing room in the north end of the stadium which will also have meeting rooms along with offices for some of the other sports at the University. Beyond the west stands there is construction for new student dormitories as the University of Akron continues to grow with enrollment reaching over 25,000 (25,103) when classes began in late August.

The parking near the stadium is restricted to those with certain passes; there are general lots just off campus and in the downtown area for fans to park. There is also public transportation, METRO, if fans want to use it along with the University transit system, The Roo Express.

With any new facility, there is pressure for the team to win, when asked about this Brookhart said “Your goal is to win every game. Every week…I don’t think there is added pressure.” The Athletic facilities at Akron have grown by leaps and bounds over the past ten years. Not many people thought there would be an athletic field house with an indoor track and football field. Offices for the football coaches, a world class training and weight room. A soccer, baseball, and softball fields second to none in the MAC

Now, the Coup de Grace, an on-campus football stadium. The Zips begin a new era in their athletic history this Saturday afternoon against the Bears.