AKRON, OHIO (CelebrityAccess) The Rubber Bowl in Akron, Ohio, which once hosted concerts by the likes of The Rolling Stones, Simon & Garfunkel, and The Pretenders, is one step closer to demolition despite attempts to revive it as an entertainment destination.
The 32,000-seat football stadium, built in 1940 and home to the Akron Zips football team of the University of Akron, has been dormant since 2008. It was bought by Team 1 Properties for $38,000 in 2013, according to the Cleveland Plains-Dealer with high hopes: last year it proposed a concert in mid-August, a two-day festival in July and a three-day festival in September, kicking off with a concert by hometown heroes The Black Keys.
Team 1’s original intent was to turn the stadium into the home for the Akron Fire, a New United States Football League team, but the league’s management was caught in an embezzlement scandal, according to the paper.
“Unfortunately, the plans didn’t come to pass,” Bob Hoch, Akron City councilman, told the Plains-Dealer. Instead, Team 1 was hit with an unexpected tax bill of nearly $200,000.
The venue is now under the auspices of the Summit County Land Bank and the city approved Jan. 30 to transfer ownership to the city so that it can be torn down. Estimated cost of demolition is $400,000, according to the paper.
The venue has been hit with vandals that have broken into the stadium, practically destroying the property including setting several sections of the stadium on fire.
“We’ve been lucky so far that no one’s been hurt,” Hoch told the paper. “There are a number of things throughout the city that have been part of our history and they’ve either had to change or they’ve gone away and something else has taken their place. It’s time to move on.”
