Left to the Elements: Ohio's Abandoned Football Stadium (PHOTOS) | The Weather Channel
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It once hosted cheering football fans, but this abandoned stadium's bleachers and structures are now rotting in decay.

ByStephanie ValeraApril 15, 2015


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The Rubber Bowl, which opened in 1940 and named after the predominance of the tire industry in Akron, served as the home field of the Akron Zips football team of the University of Akron. The Zips played their last game at the Rubber Bowl on November 2008. (Seph Lawless)


Some football stadiums get rebuilt and some get high-tech makeovers (like the Minnesota Vikings stadium's planned snow melt system), but some stadiums just get left behind.

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Photographer Seph Lawless' haunting photos of the abandoned Rubber Bowl stadium in Akron, Ohio show the decaying remnants of a stadium left to rot in the elements. The Rubber Bowl, which opened in 1940 and was named for the predominance of the tire industry in Akron, is now in abandoned ruins. Its moss-covered bleachers are now littered with dust and debris, and its press box crumbling.

The stadium served as the home field of the Akron Zips football team of the University of Akron. The Zips played their last game at the Rubber Bowl in November 2008. Throughout its history, it has also hosted concerts by Black Sabbath, Simon & Garfunkel, and Alice Cooper. The Rolling Stones played there in the 1970s

(MORE: Abandoned Ruins of the Rust Belt)

But the venue now lies in eerie silence as it is left to succumb to Mother Nature.

"Weather plays a significant role in how abandoned structures decay over time,” said weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce. “As the structure deteriorates, rainfall entering the building can cause extensive water damage, including significant flooding. Buildings not maintained on the exterior are vulnerable to effects of acid rain."

For more of Seph Lawless' work, visit his Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter.

 

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