Akron has to be one of the largest cities in the country without a sports arena. I think that if they built an arena downtown that it would help to revitalize the area like the Canal Park baseball field did. It would also give the residents of the city pride that they had their own hockey, indoor football or basketball team. I think the Akron market could support several sports teams.

 

Why doesn't Akron have its own sports arena (is it too close to Cleveland?).

Are there any proposals for an arena?

There used to be one near Akron out in Richfield (where the Cavs played).

 

Of course, "The Q" (God bless it, lol!) was built.  But that is a good question; though I believe they have a convocation center (?) near/on UA's campus.

Well there is the JAR...  I don't see a need for an additional arena in Akron.  I imagine that LeBron will build one for St. V in 5-10yrs.  At the moment the sports complex that is hot on the table to be added to the Akron skyline is a new stadium to replace the Rubber Bowl.  It will be interesting to see what land options are available to place that in the downtown/UA area.

Are they planning on razing and replacing the rubber bowl, or pulling an Ohio Stadium and adding on to it? 

Yes, there are serious plans to rebuild the rubber bowl.

I think the rubberbowl will be rebuilt, and yes Akron is too close to cleveland to have a major "arena" or "stadium" outside the rubberbowl.

I don't know about that.  I think the real question is could Akron draw the programming to support building the arena.  Could Akron support a ECHL, ABA or AF2 team?  Could it draw national touring concerts?  Could it draw any other types of events?

Seriously, no touring concerts are missing out going to Akron because of a lack of an arena.  EJ Thomas Hall and Civic Theatre take care of the travelling concerts quite well.  If a bigger venue is needed they go with the JAR.  If a bigger venue is needed, Cleveland is up the road.  Also Blossom is available in the summer.  They used to do the Monsters of Rock at the Rubber Bowl oddly enough.  With 2 major colleges basketball programs in Kent and Akron I don't see why someone would be interested in seeing CBA or ABA.  No want or need for a sports arena.

Are they planning on razing and replacing the rubber bowl, or pulling an Ohio Stadium and adding on to it? 

 

Yes, as gotribe mentioned.

 

UA's president kind of outlined it as a future plan for the university:

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=5881.msg57318#msg57318

 

Akron has the Q to the north; the Civic Center of Canton to the South; and the Chevrolet Centre to the east in Downtown Youngstown.

 

So far its been a major success. In 2007 Youngstown will get an ARENA FOOTBALL 2 Team; the 2nd in Ohio. The arena seats about 6K for Hockey and 7K for Concerts.....

 

Indoor Pictures: http://www.downtownyoungstown.com/gallery/convoinside

Outdoor Pictures of Construction and Final Product: http://www.downtownyoungstown.com/gallery/convo

The University of Akron arena holds 5,500 people. I guess they use that for concerts sometimes.

On rare occasions they use Rhodes Arena for concerts.  More often concerts are held at either the Civic, E.J. Thomas, or even sometimes the John S. Knight Center.  Also, as audidave mentioned, Blossom holds many outdoor concerts during the summer months.