By R.L. Bynum
If the decision on whether to renovate the Smith Center or build a new arena for Carolina’s basketball teams were purely financial, it would be easy.
Athletics Director Bubba Cunningham, in the first episode of the weekly “Arena Discussion” podcast, said it would cost $20 million less to build a new arena, but the emotional component makes the decision much more challenging.
“It’s not just an economic decision,” he said. “We need to take more time. There’s an emotional component to this. There’s a logical component to it, and there’s a financial component to it.”
The next home of Carolina men’s basketball, in news Tar Heel Tribune broke on Feb. 11, will also be the next home for UNC women’s basketball, and will include practice facilities for both programs.
The interview conducted by Jones Angell and Adam Lucas, which featured Cunningham and Chancellor Lee Roberts, made clear that this debate is about far more than bricks and beams. It is about history, identity and the future of Carolina basketball.
“It’s certainly a high profile, and I think fair to say, a controversial topic,” Roberts said.
The answer, he said, starts with the building itself.
“Our current arena, the Smith Center, is 40 years old,” Roberts said. “[It] needs significant investment to keep it operational, just to put a new roof on and fix the bathrooms and the concessions and do the Disability Act compliance is a significant amount of money.”
Before committing to that level of spending, Roberts argued the university has an obligation to reassess.
“Before we spend that amount of money, we think it’s responsible to step back and make sure that we’re spending money as effectively as we can at a time when it costs a lot more money than it used to to field an elite college basketball program,” he said.
Cunningham framed the arena discussion in even starker financial terms, pointing out that men’s basketball and football are the economic drivers of college athletics. He mentioned the financial success of the Blue Zone in Kenan Stadium.
“If we can do that in football, imagine what we can do in basketball, given the prominence of Carolina basketball,” Cunningham said.
That mindset has guided more than a decade of analysis, but the urgency has increased as costs have ballooned. Roberts said that three guiding principles for whatever comes next: How does UNC win as many basketball games as possible? How can the school give students the best experience at games? How can it create a great fan experience?
Roberts said that means elite facilities across the board, not just the arena and a great recruiting environment.
Student attendance at Smith Center games has declined in recent years, Roberts said, noting that every student in the stand-by line got into the Duke game earlier this month.
“This program belongs to our students. It’s their program. It’s their team,” Roberts said. “Our students are extremely busy people. We’re not giving them the best experience in the Smith Center.”
In an era when every game is on television and every student carries a screen in their pocket, Roberts said, “The bar has been raised to get students to the games, and we want more students in the arena, closer to the court, making it a tough place to play.”
All of the ambition is colliding with tradition, and Roberts offered a cautionary tale. He noted that Harvard won 12 national championships in football and probably didn’t feel the need to change, but hasn’t won one since 1920, as “the world changed around them.”
Carolina’s legacy is a point of pride, but Roberts said that it can also slow momentum.
“The best thing about our program is the incredible history and tradition that we have,” Roberts said. “But that incredible legacy can sometimes make it hard to react as quickly as you need to when the world is changing very rapidly around us.”
Cunningham acknowledged the delicate balancing act, especially when it comes to prime seating that generates critical revenue.
“We do want to get students closer, but in the existing arena, we have seat rights that the generous donors that provided the funding for the construction of the Smith Center and the vast majority of the seats right next to the court,” Cunningham said.
Whether it’s a new arena or a renovated Smith Center, there will be trade-offs.
“There’s not one that’s going to be perfect,” Cunningham said. “We’re not going to all of a sudden have that Shazam moment and say, ‘This is it,’ because all of them are going to be a trade off.”
Leadership, Cunningham noted, often requires moving forward without perfect clarity. He quoted a lesson from Colin Powell.
“He said great leaders have to make decisions with about 60 or 70% of the information, and have to be convicted and move forward. He also said soldiers in the field are right until proven otherwise. In this case, the soldiers in the field, I believe, are our players, our coaches, our students and our donors.
“I think that’s exactly what we’re doing now, is the finances say one thing, and we want to make sure that we’re right in the decision that we make going forward,” Cunningham said.
In the end, Roberts returned to a broader theme that extends beyond spreadsheets and seating charts.
“Carolina stands for excellence, and Carolina basketball especially stands for excellence.” Then he posed the question hanging over the entire discussion. “Are we playing in an excellent facility right now? I think everybody knows the answer to that.”
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Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
