Where the Rubber Meets the Road

Official Review by Joshua Guiher, Stadium Journey Regional Correspondent

In 2009, the University of Akron opened their new home football stadium- InfoCision Stadium. The stadium replaced the long-time home of the Akron Zips, The Rubber Bowl, but moved home games on to the campus. While there is nothing that will blow you away about InfoCision Stadium, it is a pleasant little venue to see some FBS college football on a fall Saturday.

Food & Beverage    2

InfoCision Stadium - Summa Field has plenty of concession stands, with a variety of standard stadium fare plus Papa John's pizza and Chick-fil-A. However, not all of the stands were open and the ones that were open did not have the full menu available. Twice I asked for items and was told that they were not ordered for the game I was at. It was quite disappointing.

I did wind up getting the nachos for $5. They came with both cheese and salsa and a huge amount of chips. They were very good and honestly the best value I have received at a stadium concession stand in years. However, it just isn't enough to offset the disappointment of a limited item availability.

Atmosphere    2

InfoCision Stadium is a beautiful, new stadium built right on the edge of campus with the school's other athletic facilities. Unfortunately the team has been subpar for the past few years resulting in only a small fan base showing each week. The game I attended had an official attendance of 10,087 in a stadium that has a listed capacity of 30,000 resulting in a very empty feeling. The fans that did show up were loyal to the team and stayed well into the fourth quarter but they were not very loud or enthusiastic after the opening possession.

Neighborhood    2

The neighborhood immediately around the stadium does not offer much in the way of places to eat or drink. Directly across the street from the scoreboard is a small bar called The Pint that was very tired looking on the outside so I didn't go inside. The real part of Akron is a mile or so away, which is where the signs tell you to park when you come into town.

Parking can be found for $2-3 for the entire day and there are free shuttles to and from the stadium if you don't want to walk. I decided to walk and was asked for money at least 3 times by people on the street so I recommend the shuttle if panhandlers bother you.

Fans    3

The fans were extremely nice and stayed well into the fourth quarter of a lopsided loss. I can't say that they were too loud, but they cheered at the appropriate times and I didn't hear very much booing despite the team getting beat 56-10.

I tried to find some tailgating going on, but the parking lot adjacent to the stadium was actually very empty and void of any real pre-game activities.

Access    2

The stadium is well built with plenty of room to get around the concourses and there are several entrances at each gate. The only issue I saw was that some of the ticket takers were busy having a conversation and got mad at people who interrupted them and tried to go through their line. One other odd thing was my ticket said section GA10, and had a row and seat number. However the general admission sections are odd numbered sections 201-215 and you are free to sit in any seat in any of those sections. Only the second time I have ever had to ask a stadium staff where I was supposed to go.

Return on Investment    3

My seat was in the general admission section and I was able to sit around the 45 yard line with no one around me. Everyone gave plenty of room between their groups. There were a few groups of unsupervised kids running around but they were well behaved and just trying to stay entertained since the game wasn't really that good. I think that the tickets are a little high for the product, but it is a brand new facility so that is to be expected. Ticket prices range from $20.50 to $46.50 (after Ticketmaster fees).

Extras    2

An extra point for the band, which did a nice performance before the game. Another point for the scoreboard crew, who did an amazing job of putting fans pictures on the screen and giving them funny captions. It kept the TV breaks very entertaining.