H ere in Chapel Hill, Carolina basketball has always been No. 1 on the court and No. 1 in our hearts, and for a long time the Tar Heels were college basketball’s No. 1 team in terms of value.
Unfortunately, the basketball team has seen a trend of declining revenue in recent years . The team saw a 18 percent drop in revenue between the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons, according to Forbes.
While much of this decline can be attributed to television deals that are largely out of the hands of the Athletic Department, the department would do well to look into innovative means to bolster revenue in an effort to once again claim the top spot.
The Smith Center ranks fifth in the country in terms of arena capacity , but the revenue that it brings in lags behind some of its peer institutions because of its lack of luxury seating, which has been a point of discussion in recent months .
While renovations to the Smith Center or construction of a new arena all together would come with a hefty price tag, the implementation of luxury seating would prove to be a worthwhile investment in the long term as it could yield significant increases in ticket revenue.
Events such as the Carrier Classic have proven to be successful in the past and the department should look to implement more of these sort of outside of the box events to keep the Carolina brand in its place of prominence.
Carolina athletics are without a question centered around men’s basketball — and rightly so as the program boasts a tradition that includes six national championships and the likes of Dean Smith, Phil Ford and Michael Jordan.
The athletic department should make it a goal to creatively secure the top position of value in the nation.
