Leonard Wilson: More wine, cheese in new UNC arena plan

It seems that UNC-Chapel Hill just can’t get it right these days! The April 12 sports article “UNC has vision of what new Smith Center, new arena, might look like” provided a graphic and extensive report on long-range plans for a new basketball arena at UNC.

Your layout was great, but the content bothered me on several fronts, among them: Proposals for both a renovated or a completely new arena seem to cater largely to the “well-to-do,” the old wine and cheese crowd that appears to demand new and better perks. There is no mention of the need to have a large and raucous section for students to cheer on the team, kind of like the more ingenious and pro-active Devils have down the road. Finally, and the worst prospect of them all, seating less than that at N.C. State’s PNC Arena. That just won’t get it!

One other observation: Two hulking buildings side by side seem stupid, but I have an idea. Use the old arena with its 21,000-plus seats for football, which is about the size of the school’s pigskin attendance of recent seasons.

This story was originally published April 21, 2015 at 2:36 PM with the headline "Leonard Wilson: More wine, cheese in new UNC arena plan."