University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Regional Creates Unique Fan Opportunities
June 2, 2011 | Baseball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
June 2, 2011
By Adam Lucas
Conventional wisdom held that the field at this weekend's Chapel Hill regional would have a familiar look, with some projections including as many as three in-state teams with North Carolina. As often happens with NCAA predictions, however, those early prognostications proved to be erroneous, and instead the Tar Heels are preparing to welcome James Madison, Florida International and Maine.
Those relatively far-flung opponents are good news for the local hotel business, and even better news for Tar Heel baseball fans. Most recent regionals and super-regionals hosted by Carolina have included at least one local squad that eats up a healthy portion of the available tickets and squeezes out some Tar Heel fans. This year, because of the travel difficulties posed in getting from some of the destinations to Chapel Hill on short notice--even Maine's baseball team had to arrive on three separate flights--Boshamer Stadium should be colored heavily Carolina blue over the weekend.
NCAA rules require a ticket allotment to be held for each participating institution. But any seats beyond that allocation are now available to the public, as the UNC ticket office opened single-game ticket sales on Thursday afternoon.
"In past regionals, we've often had local teams, and that means their fans want to come and we might have to turn away some Carolina fans," said associate athletic director for tickets and Smith Center operations Clint Gwaltney. "Since this regional does not have local teams, we've put single game tickets on sale, and we're looking forward to being able to get even more Tar Heel fans in the door."
In addition, because of requests from non-local fans, Carolina's new media department has arranged to offer free streaming video of Friday night's UNC-Maine game, as well as potential Sunday and Monday games if necessary. Fans can access Friday night's feed through TarHeelBlue.com.
No matter what teams are coming to Chapel Hill, it's been an extremely busy week for director of athletic operations John Brunner, who has worked in tandem with Ellen Culler, the assistant athletic director for operations. For an NCAA regional, event staff is increased by 50 percent, with new personnel available for everything from public safety to concessions (keep an eye out for new vendors at Boshamer this weekend).
In keeping with past postseason events, Ridge Road will be shut down outside Boshamer in an effort to create a more fan-friendly environment.
"We try to do a great job with every game, and particularly the ACC series," Brunner said. "But for a regional, we really want to make it a big event, and we'll put some glitter and flash in there. We want to create a festival atmosphere outside the gates."
Past experience with hosting has proven to Brunner the importance of what might seem like tiny details. Visiting administrators and coaches will find signs denoting their parking spaces, and a host will be waiting for each visiting team every time they step off the bus. Tents will be set up for the media and VIP hospitality, and because of the need for quick ticket sales turnaround, an auxiliary will call and ticket office will operate out of Henry Stadium (across the street from Boshamer).
It's all designed to make sure the host Tar Heels have nothing to worry about except for playing the game on the field. And with single-game tickets now available, including for Friday night's 6 p.m. UNC opener, Mike Fox is hoping for a proactive, lively crowd similar to the one that rocked Boshamer against Virginia.
"We have great fans at Carolina," the head coach said. "We are really looking forward to them creating a great crowd on Friday night and for the entire weekend. It's pretty simple: our players feed off our crowd and we need them here, because they truly make a difference in the game."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of six books on Carolina basketball, including the official chronicle of the first 100 years of Tar Heel hoops, A Century of Excellence, which is available now. Get real-time UNC sports updates from the THM staff on Twitter.
