Nov. 23 - Virtually untouched since its 1986 opening, the Smith Center soon will sport the signs of corporate sponsorship.
UNC and Wachovia Corp. have entered into an eight-year partnership that will foster on-site sponsorship in UNC athletic facilities, corporate and University officials announced Tuesday.
The agreement also will serve as an extension to the 2003 agreement to have Wachovia be the official financial services sponsor for the Department of Athletics.
Director of Athletics Dick Baddour said Wachovia's strong reputation and long-standing relationship with North Carolinians and the University served as the company's most appealing draw.
"It just seems like a natural for us," Baddour said.
The funding - which will begin this academic year as a $1 million installment and will total more than $9.1 million by 2013 - will go toward improving UNC's Olympic sports facilities and to programs such as sports medicine and student-athlete services.
Now, as it strives to maintain its facilities, the athletic department is financially stretched, said Martina Ballen, senior associate athletic director for business and finance.
"We have a lot of facilities, and it is not cheap to maintain these facilities, much less to renovate or improve them," Ballen said. "So what this additional amount does is it allows us to do all those things that have always been on the list."
But the introduction of corporate signs means that internal improvements must give way to corporate stipulations.
