University of North Carolina Athletics
Baddour on Smith Center Seating
February 22, 2000 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 22, 2000
We all want the Smith Center to be a wonderful place to watch and support our Carolina men's basketball team. I support all positive efforts to create an atmosphere that continues to make the arena a difficult one for opposing teams to be successful. Nationally, the Smith Center is considered a model facility among collegiate venues and that is a result of the efforts of many people. It also is an arena in which the Tar Heels have won more than 87 percent of their games, almost identical to the 89 percent success rate at Carmichael Auditorium.
I support efforts to increase more student involvement in the lower level as well as closer to the playing surface, however, I can not support that at the expense of destroying trust and confidence from the very people who provided the resources to create the facility in the first place. The University entered into a well-defined relationship with those individuals during the course of the capital campaign to raise more than $33 million. That agreement simply stated the donor is entitled to keep identified seats in the Smith Center as long as he/she maintains a certain level of giving on an annual basis. (The actual seats were selected by the donors, that is, they either came to Chapel Hill and hand-picked them or had someone else choose for them.)
There were no public funds used to build the Smith Center, no student funds were used, and no state, county or city funds were used. It all came from private donations. For the last 14 years these individuals have driven from all parts of the state (most are not from Chapel Hill) to support the Tar Heels and to be a part of their campus. Nothing has changed for them. These are the same people who completely fund our scholarship program, supporting more than 750 student-athletes, on an annual basis. These are the same people who donated to build new soccer, field hockey, tennis, lacrosse, track, football, softball and golf facilities that allow us to maintain a competitive level within the Atlantic Coast Conference and nationally.
More importantly, these are the same people who give even more generously to the academic and cultural interests of the University. In 1995, the University completed a $440 million Bicentennial Campaign. University development records show that the Educational Foundation itself and Foundation members donated more money to the Bicentennial than to any athletic interest.
When the Smith Center was being constructed, a committee of University and campaign officials spent countless hours working on the arena's seating arrangement. All constituents had input and agreed on the sections devoted to each group. Student seating went from approximately 2,800 seats in Carmichael Auditorium to 6,000. Arrangements were made in the seating plan to accommodate student leaders' requests for a continuous seating area in the lower level. It is important to note there was discussion about increasing student fees to contribute toward construction of the Smith Center, but that was decided against by the student leadership.
(By comparison, the new arena in Raleigh, which includes public funding, allows for only 3,500 student seats in the entire facility, compared to 6,000 in the Smith Center even though NC State has approximately 3,000 more students enrolled than UNC. In fact, the Smith Center has more student seats than any other facility in the ACC).
In 1988, the Carolina Athletic Association asked the Athletic Department to look into possible ways to increase student seating in the lower level. The Department increased the allotment by removing existing seats and replacing them with narrower ones that allow for more total seats in the lower level. The seats are now at the legal code limit and can not be made any smaller.
I am concerned that the seating issue will detract from our effort to support the team. I am concerned that our alumni and supporters will receive a message that says we do not value their past and continuing support and that we will not honor commitments we made with them. I am even more concerned that some will use this issue as "us against them" or that somehow the belief is that the decision made in the mid-1980s excluded student participation or ignored their interests.
It is much easier to say now that donations should not matter or the University should have assigned seats in a different way. However, commitments were made to generate funding that built this great building. And the money raised on an annual basis from those donors continues to support our 28 varsity programs.
There are many ideas and proposals being discussed and I pledge to you that the Athletic Department will analyze all of them. I recently met with the undergraduate and graduate student body and CAA leaders and assured them we are willing to hear any new and credible seating arrangement ideas. I believe they have a good understanding behind the history of the issue and the limitations we have with which to alter those arrangements. In turn, your student leaders have done a fine job in being advocates for your concerns and they will continue to be involved in the assessment of new ideas. However, given the aforementioned set of facts as to how this building was funded and how the commitments were made, it is important that expectations be realistic. Every constituency (faculty, staff, students, Educational Foundation) would like more downstairs seating. We will honor our commitments to every group.
I hope there is no disagreement on one major point. The University community needs to continue to support the coaches and student-athletes in the great tradition that Carolina has known for so many years. Carolina basketball has won nearly 90 percent of its games in the Smith Center. In addition to legendary coaches and talented student-athletes, we have been blessed with outstanding fan support from students and alumni alike. I am most confident that will continue to flourish.
Sincerely,
Dick Baddour
Director of Athletics
