Abandoned - Rubber Bowl Stadium

Since the late 1930's, a home grown stadium in Akron Ohio has played host for thousands of events. From football games of all kinds to major concerts from music legends, the 40,000 seat Rubber Bowl was something of legend. For over 70 years it sat as an iconic local event venue, one however that would ultimately close and sit abandoned. Join me today as I find out why this iconic sports facility ultimately sat abandoned and what ended up happening to it.

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[whispertron]

The bizarrely pristine astroturf just accentuates the steadily increasing decay around it.

[venomousnate]

Man that looks like a really cool venue for sports and concerts. Such a shame it was left abandoned and left in disrepair.

[cassidybb]

Akronite here. And fan of the channel. I was there many times. I marched in the north Akron high-school band. Akron high-schools played games there. Notably homecoming games as we didn't have a home field for our school.

[boabdownunder]

I find it bizarre that they haven’t utilised the hill as some form of amphitheater, that’s perfect for concerts or a festival, low running costs if they were to bring in temporary staging and amenities. It’s perfect for that

[Wnick]

Ohio seems to have some of the best-known abandoned places.

[CaptainColdyron]

When I was 14 my older brother took me to the Rubber Bowl on a sweltering summer day to see the Monsters of Rock tour. He was there for Van Halen and I was there for Metallica. What a day.

[lordexplores]

I love the satellite imagery showing what the location used to look like, compared to what it looks like now. It's a shame it never got rehabbed. Great video!

[jakezoet-jdwk]

Honestly never thought I’d see another video about Akron since the Rolling Acres video. Such a shame that this stadium went to waste, especially considering its history.

[MrConverse]

I saw the Monsters of Rock concert there sometime around 1991. The lineup was Kingdom Come, Metallica, Dokken, Scorpions, and Van Halen (in that order).

[TheCLESportsGuy]

Was at the final game, grandstand seats broke in 3rd OT when students were jumping on it. It was so run down then it was unbelievable. What's missing in this was the countless issues it had going back to the 70s. I've heard stories you couldn't get hot water in the locker rooms ever and the visitors locker room was the smallest in college football. It was an unique stadium, however it far outlived its use. University of Akron really put itself in financial troubles since Infocision and the Football team (love Coach Moorhead) will just never be consistently good to be worth that spending. Great video!

[Brother_Farr]

I live 5 minutes away from the site and like many people from Akron, the rubber bowl holds tons of memories! I went to a lot of high school football games there in the 90's and I even got to work with the officiating crew holding the first down markers for a few games. Winter games were the worst! the way the wind whipped around in that bowl, every bit of that chill hit you to the bone!! Thanks so much for this video!!

[elizabethmctaggart]

This is such a niche topic to cover for an abandoned place, but I am always glad you cover these type of niche places. Makes me excited to see a random abandoned place I looked up months/years ago getting covered and making me want to search it up again

[samgeorge]

Last summer I was going to see the USAF museum and stopped by the airfield to look at the blimp hangar. Ran into that bowl and the soap box hill and was Left wondering what was it's history. Really happy to see a video on it

[nitro]

I was there back in 2021. So cool from an exploration standpoint. I'm happy I brought my camera because I had no clue how close the full demolition greenlight was at that time.

[PETSEMATARYTWO]

warms my heart to see a youtuber whose art i enjoy, talking about a place so close to my hometown. i grew up in mogadore, a little town about a mile from the rubber bowl, and it was always the spot to go if you wanted to feel like a real urban explorer. tons of history and memories on those grounds

[eileenbrannan]

This is right in my backyard. It was really a great place to go for live music and football. So sad how it all ended.

[michaeljohnston]

My grandparents both grew up in Akron in the 30s… love thinking of them enjoying their youths here. Thank you for this one!

[abbyginge]

the SPEED at which i clicked on this‼ I actually got to explore this in 2020 before it got torn down and I grew up like MINUTES away! Literally gasped so hard when I saw this notification!

[Tuckahoe]

Enjoyed the video. Sent it to a colleague that attended Akron in the early 1970s, and he said "I remember it well. Saw both football and college and HS soccer games there. I refed an international soccer match there. Canadian National team vs. Akron U. Saw a Browns pre season game there and a Simon & Garfunkel concert there."

[WillCrane]

I grew up right down the road from that stadium. That would be a crazy prospect of having 30, 000 people down in the derby downs. thanks for covering this. I enjoyed it and learn more about that iconic stadium.