With a newly elected mayor in University Heights, John Carroll University and the City have an opportunity to establish an open line of communication and renegotiate some of the policies from the past administration.
In particular the University is working with the City to revise the restrictions imposed on Shula Stadium. The current rules restrict the use of the stadium and take away field-time from JCU athletics and intramurals.
These rules need to be amended and it’s great for JCU that University Heights mayor-elect Susan Infeld is willing to work on these issues with the University.
The restrictions that are being looked at include one which mandates that all intramural events on the field must be finished so that the lights are turned off by 9 p.m. Another states that, men’s and women’s varsity soccer teams are only allowed two home night games per year each. Varsity football is only allowed one home night game per year, unless the game against Mount Union is played at JCU, then that game can be at night as well. The clause also says that games must start by 7 p.m. in order to end by 10 p.m. although there is an exception if the game goes into overtime.
There were restrictions on how the stadium’s sound system was to be built and a maximum sound level it could reach. In total there are 32 separate specifications that the City has on the stadium. Many of the restrictions are excessive and too strict for a city to put on the University that is such a valuable resource to it, so they should be re-evaluated.
The varsity athletic teams should be able to hold more night games at the stadium, and intramurals should also be allowed to run later. The sound system might be difficult to fix because it was built to fit the regulations as they are written. Hopefully under the new administration, the City will be more fair to the University and its students.
