All Carolina basketball fans would like to see a more raucous atmosphere for home basketball games. Accomplishing this goal requires realistic, creative changes, not factually incorrect rantings like Wiley Westall's column in Monday's Daily Tar Heel.
When funding the Smith Center in the mid-1980s, UNC administrators shunned the corporate sponsorship or government assistance that allows Maryland students to sit courtside in the new Comcast Center and N.C. State students to get the best seats in Raleigh's Entertainment and Sports Arena.
The Dean Dome was funded entirely by private donations from UNC fans who received the best seats in exchange for $50,000-$100,000 contributions. At the time, UNC students had the chance to buy a share of the prized courtside seats via a small increase in student fees. Students voted no.
Games won't be moved back to Carmichael; the University is contractually obligated to provide seats to the Smith Center donors. The Smith Center is a valuable recruiting tool because it is such a great facility, and the Smith Center allows 6,000 students to attend games, compared with only 2,500 in Carmichael.
As students, we should ask how we can improve the atmosphere in the Dean Dome. For starters, we need to take all of the seats we get.
Students have only picked up all our seats at the Saturday student ticket distributions once in the past two years. The CAA could help us by instituting a more efficient ticket distribution system and actually publicizing it.
Second, student leaders must negotiate for better student seats. The donors who funded the Dean Dome are guaranteed their prime seat locations, so creative solutions will be necessary.
Here's one possibility: offer to give the ticketholders behind the "alumni basket" (near the visitors' bench) extra lower-level seats in exchange for moving up a few rows.
Students give up some lower level seats, but we are able to install another riser section behind the alumni basket, giving students riser seating on two sides of the court. Many other creative ideas should also be considered.
