UNC exploring Dean Dome renovations or potential new arena per report
The Dean E. Smith Center is a staple with North Carolina Tar Heels basketball, being home of the program since 1986. But over the years, fans have hoped for renovations or potentially a new arena to cater to the students.
And they might get their wish.
According to Greg Barnes of Inside Carolina, athletic director Bubba Cunningham has commissioned a working group to explore Smith Center renovation options in addition to considering the possibility of a new arena.
That’s a big first step into either getting some renovations or potentially a new arena. Here is what Barnes wrote in his report:
Cunningham said the working group’s mission is to identify what could be done from a renovation standpoint at the Smith Center, what it would take to build a new arena and where that new arena would potentially be built. Cunningham noted that UNC was constricted by the Smith Center site due to significant rock on the west side of the facility and the expense involved with addressing that issue is why the arena does not have two concourses encircling the court.
One pivotal discussion point, according to a source, is the impact of renovations or a new arena on the approximately 5,500 private seat licenses that remain from the original financing campaign that funded the Smith Center’s build in the 1980s. Those private seat licenses were sold with two generations of Tar Heel supporters in mind, thereby presenting a potentially challenging topic to address.
This is the second time since 2013 has commissioned a working group for a project, doing so in the Fall of that year as well as an architecture group providing UNC with renderings.
For this project, the group is said to be considering both on and off-campus sites for a new arena. It’s in the early stages but for those who want renovations or a new arena, it’s a good first step.
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