Kent State University: Dix Stadium
Home to the Kent State Golden Flashes, Dix Stadium is not as bad as many of the others on this list. It suffers more from a lack of ambition than anything else. The facilities are perfectly serviceable, much reincorporated from the old memorial stadium it served to replace. There is sufficient, if not entirely comfortable, seating; sufficient, if cramped, parking; and sufficient, if awkward, facilities. This echoes the problems that the stadium, with its bleacher-style seating and pragmatic football events, faces as a whole. There is nothing specifically wrong with the locale, it is simply incredibly underwhelming and uninspiring. This stadium and team need a win, a real and meaningful victory to inspire enthusiasm for the local football scene and for the community to take pride in the team and the stadium that they call home. Whereas other stadiums on this list face insurmountable odds in fixing the problems that dog them, all Dix needs is an invigoration of enthusiasm.
Kent State University
Harvard University: Harvard Stadium
This one is perhaps surprising to find on this list. The Harvard Stadium, home of the Harvard Crimsons, is subject to a number of factors that influence the way it is perceived by the football community and fans. Firstly, football is long since not a primary focus for the institution, with other sporting events playing a larger role in the Harvard calendar. While the stadium is unique, and its upkeep is sufficient, it is simply underwhelming by the showy standards of modern college football. The stadium, with its roman-stadium-inspired U layout, is still an architecturally unique structure, whilst offering seating more appropriate to a Colosseum than the flashy modern spectacle that football has come to be. This is a particularly challenging case, with the sport not being a primary focus for the prestigious institution, making large-scale funding, the sort that would be required to rebuild the stadium, unlikely. Perhaps we should learn to accept it for what it is, the way one does with an eccentric but dear relative.
Harvard University
