Dean Smith Center

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dean E. Smith Student Activities Center
"The Dean Dome"

Location	300 Skipper Bowles Dr Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Opened	January 18, 1986
Owner	Univ. of North Carolina
Operator	Univ. of North Carolina
Construction cost	$33.8 million
Architect	Corley Redfoot Zack, Inc. (formerly Hakan/Corley & Associates)
Tenants
North Carolina Tar Heels (Men's Basketball)
Capacity
21,750

The Dean E. Smith Student Activities Center, usually called simply the Dean Smith Center and popularly referred to as the Dean Dome is a multi-purpose arena in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It is home to the University of North Carolina Tar Heels basketball team. The arena opened in 1986.

It is named after former UNC coach Dean Smith, who coached at UNC from 1961 to 1997. According to David Halberstam's biography of Michael Jordan, Smith did not want the arena named after him, but was persuaded by the UNC administration and the arena's backers that fundraising efforts for the facility could fail if they did not use his name.^[1]

1 Capacity
2 Seating issues
3 Home court advantage
4 Non-basketball uses
5 External links
6 Notes

[edit] Capacity

The arena originally seated 21,444. Seating adjustments brought capacity to 21,572 in 1992 and 21,750 in 2000, making it the fifth largest arena in college basketball. The largest crowd to see a game in the Dean Dome was on March 6, 2005, when 22,125 saw the Tar Heels defeat Duke.^[2]

The arena was built to allow more fans to attend Tar Heel basketball games than could fit in then 21-year-old, 10,000-seat Carmichael Auditorium. The Tar Heels have been among the nation's attendance leaders ever since the arena opened. ^[3]

[edit] Seating issues

The arena's seating arrangement has been somewhat controversial. Most of the lower-level seats were allocated to members of UNC's athletic booster foundation, the Educational Foundation (better known as the Rams Club). Furthermore, most of those seats are season tickets. While tickets are usually available for most non-conference games, all Atlantic Coast Conference games are sold out, and scalping is virtually the only way to get in.

In its early years, the arena was known as among the quieter ones in the country because many seats that would have been occupied by students at other schools were occupied by alumni who weren't very inclined to cheer. This led Florida State player Sam Cassell to say that the Dean Dome “is not a Duke kind of crowd. It’s more like a cheese-and-wine crowd, kind of laid back."^[4] In contrast, Carmichael was one of the loudest arenas in the country.

Since 1992, however, expanded student seating and a younger alumni base has made the Smith Center louder. For example, after the then top-ranked Connecticut Huskies were defeated by Carolina at the Dean Dome in 2004, Huskies coach Jim Calhoun said, "I don't know what they are talking about because there was no 'wine and cheese' crowd here today."

[edit] Home court advantage

Summer 2006

Tipoff of UNC-Duke game at Smith Center

The Tar Heels have one of the most formidable home-court advantages in the country. As of the end of the 2005-06 season, UNC was 220-47 (.824) at the Smith Center — an average of 11.0 wins against 2.4 losses each season over 21 years. The Tar Heels rarely lose more than three home games in a season. They have gone undefeated at home three times since the arena opened (1986-87, 1992-93 and 2004-05).

Clemson is the only ACC school that has never won at the Smith Center. In fact, Clemson has never won in Chapel Hill in 52 tries, dating well before the formation of the ACC in 1953.

[edit] Non-basketball uses

The arena has also held many concerts and is used by many of the graduate and professional schools, such as the UNC School of Law, for commencement ceremonies each year, as well as the same for all undergraduates receiving degrees in December of each year. There is some controversy surrounding the continued support of the Dean Dome by the state government. Concerts and other events, as well as advertising arrangements such as a signage deal with Wachovia Bank also fund the stadium. ^[5]

[edit] External links

Official Website of North Carolina Athletics Department that talks about the Dean Smith Center

[edit] Notes

^ David Halberstam (2000). Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made. Broadway. ISBN 0-7679-0444-3 (paperback).
^ http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/recap?gid=200503060413
^ http://www.ncaa.org/stats/m_basketball/attendance/top25.pdf
^ http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/ref/unc/cq/cassell.html
^ http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A20507

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill v • d • e
Academics	Schools: School of Medicine • School of Law • School of Information and Library Science • School of Public Health • School of Pharmacy • School of Journalism and Mass Communication • School of Dentistry • School of Nursing • School of Education • School of Government • Kenan-Flagler Business School Scholarship Programs: Morehead Scholarship
Athletics	Athletic Program • Men's Basketball • ACC • Tar Heel • Rameses (mascot) • Kenan Stadium • Dean Smith Center • Carmichael Auditorium • Fetzer Field • UNC-Duke rivalry • South's Oldest Rivalry • UNC-NCSU rivalry • I'm a Tar Heel Born • Here Comes Carolina • Woody Durham • Tobacco Road
Campus	Old Well • Old East • Davie Poplar • Silent Sam • Coker Arboretum • Morehead Planetarium • Student Health Action Coalition • Chapel Hill • Images • Frank Porter Graham Student Union • Franklin Street • Student Stores • libraries • Fetzer • Woolen • Student Recreation Center • Irwin Belk • Sonya Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History • UNC Hospitals • George Watts Hill Alumni Center • Ram's Head • Ram's Village
Student life	The Daily Tar Heel • Student Television (UNC Chapel Hill) • WXYC • Carolina Student Biotechnology Network • Di Phi • Black Student Movement • Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Straight Alliance • Bounce Magazine • Company Carolina • Achordants • Carolina Undergraduate ACLU • Campus Y • UNC Dance Marathon • The Order of Gimghoul • Marching Tar Heels • Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship • UNC Young Democrats • UNC College Republicans
People	Notable Alumni • Michael Jordan • Dean Smith • Roy Williams • Mia Hamm • James K. Polk • John Edwards • Paul Wellstone • Thomas Wolfe • Lewis Black • Andy Griffith • Jack Palance • Chris Matthews • David Brinkley • Charles Kuralt