A) Tear down the current Smith Center & Rebuild
B ) massively renovate the Smith Center
C) Build a new arena in the Bowles Parking Lot
D) Take Down Carmichael & Build
E) Take down Boshamer & Build. Move Boshamer to Bowles parking lot
There are a few suggestions…all of which keep the arena on campus.
Unfortunately, UNC campus expansion is limited by historical preservation and environmental restrictions. Moving large sports venues to Carolina North can open up space for academic/residential buildings. The BRT should be able to increase frequency for students on game days. Currently, NC 54/US 501 is very outdated and the DOT is not in a hurry to fix it.
Hopefully Carolina North is built with a dense urban fabric in mind, unlike NC State’s Centennial Campus which is a glorified office park.
Options D and E are non-starters because South Rd. and Stadium Dr./Ridge Rd. already struggle with handling the traffic that they already get (let alone parking)… do you really think a Dean Dome replacement in those places would be able to handle all of the Tar Heel Express buses?
As for the other three you suggested, the university already looked into those ideas last year. These are the options they weighed, as well as their trade-offs:
Obviously there haven’t been any formal announcements about this since then. Still, anything that involves
makes an idea dead on arrival.
This obviously takes the Bowles lot idea off the table - but I’d argue that a Smith Center renovation becomes a tougher sell, too, because you’d also need to pay for a temporary offsite replacement for the Koury Natatorium, too. Plus, UNC already promised to make both Koury and the Dean Dome available for the 2029 World University Games (which probably overlaps with the construction timeline).
Just to be clear: for historical and nostalgic reasons, I’d prefer to keep the Dean Dome where it currently is, too. But also, if it’s too impractical (and plus, we need something to kickstart our overdue dreams for Carolina North), though, there’s a point where you just have to bow down to the facts…
Side note: the Carolina North campus uses the same state funding and planning mechanism as what’s been making the construction and expansion of Centennial Campus at State possible. So even if you don’t care about UNC at all, it’s still a good thing to keep an eye on.
I know nothing about the UNC campus but all these buildings around the pit look extremely ugly. Tear those down for new arena and build a new tower to replace the student union & library?
This would require closing down both the main libraries for the time to build the stadium. Practically a non-starter.
What I don’t understand is the graphic with pros and cons. You’re telling me that the option where they have to maybe fix a sewer line or move a swimming pool is worse than drastically changing the student experience?
This is a money play. I’m a UNC grad and love going to the Dean Dome but recognize it needs replaced or renovated. But this is nothing more than the administration wanting to profit on the development around the stadium. It’s the same as Dundon at Lenovo.
Season Opener
Canes scored first and each goal was matched by the Devils until 3–3, they went empty net we scored and then followed up with two more. Great way to start the season!
Would’ve been nice if the view bar & seats above that were done… and considering they haven’t put them on sale for games later in the season yet, it’s gonna be a while.
Poorly scheduled game though, on DTR Meetup night…
It’s early in the season but I think this deserves documenting:
THE CANES ARE THE LAST REMAINING UNDEFEATED TEAM 
NCFC is ceasing operations. They plan on applying for membership to the new USL top division competing with the MLS in 2028. So the club will cease to exist for 2 seasons at least. I found this part pretty interesting from the article:
“The club is working on a stadium solution for Division One as well. There is no guarantee it will get membership, but USL believes the market is one that would make sense in Division One.”
Seems they are aware that WakeMed is not a serious stadium proposal for a league that is supposed to be on par with the MLS. Not sure if this means a new stadium or if they would look to play somewhere like Carter Finley.
But if there’s one thing I have learned with Malik is expect disappointment. I personally think we’ve seen the last of NCFC.
They must be about to start building a stadium soon then if they plan to be ready for a new league in 3 years. So Downtown South?
If they have to miss 2 or 3 seasons in order to get a DTR-adjacent stadium rather than Cary I think they will be fine and a trade off that works out for them in the long run. If anything probably helps the NWSL team the most since they can keep playing and then move over whenever the stadium is ready.
Kinda hurts the MLB to Downtown South idea and likely pushes that stadium to the Lenovo Center area?
Can’t read the article, but not sure why USL won’t let them keep playing in USL in the interim before moving to USL - seems like that would only benefit the league as well.
So I saw another post that they are going to require a 15k seat soccer specific stadium. I’m not sure if that means that they have to be in the process of building it and could temporarily play in WakeMed for a couple years.
But the attendance has been bad, and they’re almost definitely bleeding money on the NCFC side. Probably just figured stick with the money making Courage for a couple years and regroup with NCFC.
The quality of play in the USL championship has always been fine. The issue has and always will be the stadium.
I am assuming from context clues that USL is not preventing them from operating but that they are electing not to operate of their own accord because they are running at a loss.
Which kinda illustrates the whole gambit for Malik: angle for something better, and suffer through operations until you can cash out the purely-hypothetical value from a step up. I really have no confidence in them.
I saw the announcement. I am stoked that they will attempt to move up to the new division 1. But ceasing operations does not make sense to me. They are going to have to build out a brand new team and coaching staff from scratch.
My understanding is the USL is going to use relegation - so a spot in the first division is not a divine right like in the MSL. I am glad NCFC are going this route. I struggle with how I feel about MSL, its been stable and it is growing the sport, both good, but at the price they want for new franchises is so insane, how does a team find financial stability - not that it can’t be done, but it is a great struggle. I also think I just resent MSL replicating the whole monopolistic situation we have in our other pro-sports. Good luck NCFC, I will be rooting for them when they finally return, lol.
I’m just chiming in to reiterate to everyone that I will still continue to not watch soccer, no matter what they call the league, nor what level of play it is. Recently repainted my picket fence, thinking I might watch it dry for a more entertaining way to kill some time!!! You can all stop talking about this now 
I don’t think there gonna put the stadium there anyways. So no worries there.
excellent contribution. i can name about 30 sports more boring than soccer. meanwhile, the nc courage just set single game and regular season attendance records. soccer is popular.
go eat your tainted meat, weirdo…
Major League Soccer (MLS): The 2024 season saw an average of about 3.11 GPG. i played some soccer as a youth in Raleigh…eh…but watching it on TV is worse than ping pong and with all the jogging gaps and futile passes, just give us MLB, it has a fairly proven track record, right? as NC is the biggest “black hole in MLB”?
