Logos could be in UNC's future

The next time Roy Williams and his team emerge from the locker room, three electronic screens in the Smith Center will flash cheers meant to pump up the crowd.

Soon, though, the boards could provide a window for messages of a different sort.

The screens, which together cost $480,000, are a step to enhance the atmosphere in the arena, said Dick Baddour, director of athletics.

The signs also mark a shift in the Department of Athletics’ willingness to move toward advertising in athletic facilities.

“It’s now serving one purpose and could serve with another,” Baddour said. “It could mean some additional signage in the Smith Center.”

Athletics officials are seriously considering corporate signage as a possible way of alleviating the lack of stable funding in the department.

The University has long stood firm against allowing such advertising, and many alumni and fans are opposed to breaking that tradition.

But recent budgets have forced officials to a breaking point.

Last year, The Educational Foundation Inc. — the official UNC booster club — could not fully fund athletic scholarships. And just this week, Judith Wegner, chairwoman of the faculty, proposed a $150 increase in student athletic fees.

Although the possibility of corporate partnering exists, Baddour said, the new screens are not associated with any kind of test trial.

They were purchased through a minimal fee added to ticket prices for facility improvements independent of student athletic fee increases, said Norwood Teague, associate athletics director.

UNC’s governing board is waiting for a proposal from the athletics department regarding the possibility of corporate partnerships in the long term.

“We’re really interested in a proposal of what could be a corporate relationship with the University,” said Richard “Stick” Williams, chairman of the Board of Trustees. “We’re willing to have some signage as long as it is in good taste.”

Baddour said that he is not at liberty to release the names of corporations with which the athletics department is collaborating but that there are concrete labels in mind.

The four video boards already on the Smith Center ceiling are sponsored by corporations, Baddour said.

Officials said companies such as Verizon, Granville Towers, and Wachovia now sponsor advertisements such as Student-Athlete of the Week.

“Maybe we create something new,” Williams said. “It has more to do with a relationship than advertising.”

 

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu