For all of the history and nostalgia created inside the University of North Carolina’s Smith Center, the 30-year-old basketball facility is limited by tight concourses and a lack of revenue-generating premium spaces.
But during the final two home games of the regular season, the Tar Heels experimented with a new hospitality space and courtside seating, a pair of firsts for the school’s storied basketball program.
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North Carolina’s Smith Center lacks premium spaces, so the school looked to the parking lot.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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Paul Krause, a senior associate athletic director at UNC, pushed the idea of turning some unused space outside of the Smith Center into an exclusive hospitality area for food and drink, before and during the late-season games against Syracuse and Miami.
North Carolina brought in a 30-foot-by-30-foot white tent, and restaurant Hickory Tavern, a UNC corporate partner, provided the food, drink — including alcohol for the first time at a Carolina basketball game — and service at no charge to the school.
The Tar Heels invited 70 people — 35 Rams Club donors and 35 corporate sponsors — to attend the hospitality at no cost. The number was dictated by the size of the tent. One of the nuances at the school is that if alcohol is served at an event, it must be included in the ticket, not sold on its own.
Fan surveys will help Carolina decide whether it will bring the concept back next season and maybe even build on it with additional tents and food offerings.
“We were looking to create a sports bar feel, with TVs, high-top tables and a good energy in the place,” Krause said. “It’s a place you could bring the family, engage with sponsors or bring clients.”
While the Smith Center offers little flexibility for premium spaces inside, the building is surrounded by large, flat, paved surfaces. So the Tar Heels went to the rear of the Smith Center to Gate D to set up the white tent, which they dubbed “Club Blue.” Gate D is the least busy of the Smith Center’s gates, so it provided a space without interfering with normal foot traffic.
Inside the tent, which opened 90 minutes before tipoff, Hickory Tavern served wings, fish tacos and shrimp and grits. Invitees were given wristbands, enabling them to return to Club Blue throughout the game, including for a short time after the game. Former Carolina greats Phil Ford and Al Wood, who are Smith Center regulars, mingled with the crowd.
Birmingham-based Colonnade Group works with UNC on its hospitality initiatives. A Raleigh, N.C., business, Party Reflections, set up the tent.
“From an aesthetics standpoint, putting up a tent outside an iconic facility doesn’t look great,” Krause said. “Tents just don’t look great, but that’s why we treated this as a pilot. It wasn’t a moneymaker for us. We just wanted feedback.”
Rick Steinbacher, senior associate AD for marketing, said, “For so long, we’ve said, ‘Boy, wouldn’t it be great to do this, but we don’t have the space.’ We weren’t sure we could pull it off. But Paul really pushed us to test this. … It’s going to help us with some new ideas, not only for basketball, but also for football.”
Inside the Smith Center, UNC placed 30 new seats along the sideline on the floor. Those temporary floor seats already exist on the bench side and along the baseline, but Carolina had never put seats on the floor opposite the benches before the final two home games.
Fans in the front row had the option of moving to the new courtside seats at no charge or staying in their old seats. If they moved to the floor, Carolina sold their unused seats.
“We want to balance the legacy and history we have with smart, innovative ways to do things better,” Krause said.
If the Tar Heels return next season with some of these concepts, Krause said, the athletic department will do a better job of communicating it to the fans.
“When you add something at the end of the year after 16 home basketball games, it causes a lot of questions,” Krause said. “‘Where did those come from? Who got those?’ That’s something we’ll have to think about next time.”
