Rubber Bowl

Location: Akron, OH

Date Visited: May 15, 2016

Our first stop on the second day of our Akron trip was the Rubber Bowl football stadium. Once the home field of the Akron Zips, it now lays abandoned. 

The Rubber Bowl opened in 1940 and was used until 2008, when the Zips moved to the InfoCision Stadium- Summa Field. In addition to football, the Rubber Bowl hosted concerts and other events. The stadium seated about 35,000.00 people.

In 2013, Team1 Marketing Group Inc. acquired the Rubber Bowl. They had plans for renovations and upgrades, which began in the latter part of 2013. They planned for a professional football team to play there, but the team never came to fruition.

A concert called LOUD-fest was scheduled to be held in the stadium on May 15, 2015 (coincidentally, exactly a year before we visited!), but was moved due to concerns about the state of the decaying stadium. 

Unfortunately, the most recent news I've heard about the stadium has been the city officials calling for the place to be torn down. The future of the stadium is uncertain, but I'm glad we got the chance to see it before it's gone.

We entered through the wide gap.

It was surprisingly easy.

Our first look at the stadium was breathtaking.

Entrance gates.

Ticket booths.

Two tickets, please.

The stalls were gone, but the toilets weren't.

At least, I hope there were stalls.

That would just be awkward.

"Rubber Bowl"

Another bathroom. It looks like the sinks were removed.

I'm not a fan of graffiti, but this made me laugh.

Do you see it? Does anyone remember veggie tales?

Another view of the field.

Most of the bleachers were removed and stacked in random places.

Another building full of toilets.

I wonder if there's a world record for the amount of pictures of toilets taken.

A hole.

More bathrooms!

Another ticket booth.

I was really curious as to what was down the stairs.

Even more bathrooms, apparently.

So many steps.

Ever since I read about this place online, I wanted to get up in my box. It was my dream.

Under the box.

Our view from under the box.

Lots of debris everywhere. Except on the field, oddly enough.

"Rubber Bowl" again.

Look! Another bathroom!

Heading down a hallway.

I was so excited about getting up into the box until I found out that this was my only way up. Yeah, no thanks...

The front gates again.

The few bleachers left in place.

I must say, this was one of my favorite explorations.

I wondered what was down there, but I'm not a fan of abandoned ladders.

The box looked like it could collapse at any moment.

I still kind of regret not going up there, though.

I'll just have to admire it from afar.

Our next adventure led us under the stadium.

I'm not quite sure what this room was.

I found the rest of the bleachers!

We couldn't walk through much of the place due to all of the bleachers.

"Talk Radio for the Rest of Us!"

Under the stadium.

There was a large pile of dirt for some unknown reason.

A long hallway with more bleachers.

It was a mess.

I'm not sure what's piled up here. Pieces of the ceiling, maybe?

The pit where bleachers go to die.

I'm going to take a guess and say that R stands for restroom.

Heading downstairs.

There was another stadium right next to the Rubber Bowl, but it was for soap box derby instead of football. I believe that they were built around the same time.

The Rubber Bowl isn't complete without some tires.

How did those leaves get there?

Long, dark hallway.

I'm not sure what this room was for.

Back to the outside.

Finally, we made it down all those steps and onto the field.

It was in surprisingly good condition.

Standing near the 30 yard line.

Front gates.

Concession stand maybe?

Who stole the A?

Akron.

Yet more bleachers.

Ass Eaters United.

Another dark, spooky hallway.

Under the stadium again.

Welcome to Rubber City, Ohio.

Well, at least we didn't try to enter from here.

Inside the arch.

Okay, this is where things got spooky.

We were about to climb to the top of the inside of the front gate arch when we heard the slamming of a door from above. My friend freaked, convinced someone was up there. We decided not to stick around to find out. We ran for our entry point and down the road to the park where I parked my car, all while being pelted with hail. It was an interesting end to a pretty awesome exploration.