Skip to main content
 

Area fans are invited to cheer together for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill men’s basketball team Saturday (April 5), viewing the NCAA semifinals broadcast from the Alamodome in San Antonio on the Tar Heels’ home court, the Dean E. Smith Center.

The UNC Department of Athletics, Division of Student Affairs and the Educational Foundation will sponsor a 15-by-20-foot screen and open 15,000 seats in the Smith Center for free viewing of Final Four festivities.

Carolina students, faculty and staff with university I.D.s will be admitted first, at 5 p.m. Saturday. Doors will open to everyone else at 5:30 p.m.

Saturday’s first semifinal, matching Memphis and UCLA, is scheduled to begin at 6:07 p.m. Carolina will play Kansas in the second game, set to tip 40 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.

Fans are to enter at Entrance A. Once inside the Smith Center, fans are encouraged to remain, as there will not be reentry for anyone leaving the building.

Alcohol is not sold at the Smith Center, nor may patrons bring alcoholic beverages with them to the arena. Other prohibited items include: backpacks or other large bags of any kind, bottles or thermoses, coolers, food, drugs, fireworks, weapons of any kind, noise makers, signs, flags, banners, laser pointers, video equipment and any other items deemed inappropriate by Smith Center personnel.

Should the Tar Heels advance to the national championship game, scheduled to tip off at 9:21 p.m. Monday (April 7), big-screen viewing at the Smith Center will be offered. Students, faculty and staff with University I.D.s will be admitted at 8 p.m. and everyone else at 8:30 p.m.

Concessions will be sold. Free parking will be available at the Smith Center, off Bowles Drive, and in the nearby Kenan-Flagler Business School deck.

For more information on parking and transportation, visit the following link: http://www.dps.unc.edu/NewsLinks/debspevents/UNCfinal4.pdf.

A complete rundown of entry policies for Smith Center events is posted at: http://tarheelblue.collegesports.com/genrel/110402aab.html

Large televisions in lounges of the Frank Porter Graham Student Union also will show the games.

Town of Chapel Hill Final Four backgrounder:
http://townhall.townofchapelhill.org/police/Press2008/prfinalfour.htm

Media Advisory:  Media representatives wishing to cover Saturday’s Smith Center event should e-mail requests to Karen Moon in News Services at karen_moon@unc.edu, by noon Friday. For planning purposes, please list the number of vehicles and staff you expect to bring. Satellite and microwave trucks may park behind the Smith Center. Please limit satellite and microwave trucks to one per station for behind the Smith Center. Additional television trucks may park in the Smith Center front lot. All other media vehicles should park in a roped off area in the Bowles Lot. Media should bring credentials and enter through the D entrance beginning at 3:30 p.m. No live shots are permitted inside the building after 6 p.m. except at halftime of each game.

TV crews may not direct lights into the faces of patrons watching the games. Crews also are asked not to block the views of patrons. Crews planning cable drops from the Smith Center parking lot to the filming area should plan on bringing about 500 feet of cable.

Smith Center contact: Clara Andrews, (919) 962-7777
News Services contacts:
Patric Lane (919) 962-8596 or (919) 218-7835 (cell); Lisa Katz, (919) 962-2093 or (919) 638-0474 (cell)

Comments are closed.