"Tournament Town" prepares for its closeup
On the eve of an unprecedented run of tournament basketball (28 games over three consecutive weekends), the final preparations for the ACC Women's Tournament were underway Wednesday afternoon at the Greensboro Coliseum.
As chefs prepped food in outdoor tent kitchens, workers wiped down seats and mopped floors and the Boston College and Clemson practiced on the coliseum's new court, city leaders and members of the coliseum's advisory board - along with a stray media member or two - got a tour highlighting some of the new bells and whistles for this year's tournaments.
This year, about $1.5 million was spent to upgrade the coliseum in preparation for the tournaments, though fans using the coliseum year round will benefit.
To keep the coliseum a contender for ACC and NCAA tournaments, coliseum leaders said, they need to continually upgrade the arena, a sentiment echoed earlier this week by ACC Commissioner John Swofford.
"We've got to stay ahead of the curve and continue to make improvements to our facility," said Kevin Green, chairman of the War Memorial Commission, the coliseum's advisory board.
Probably the most notable improvement for fans is the new video panels on the coliseum scoreboard. Also new is a 3-foot-tall LED ring on top of the scoreboard, similar to the LED display that wraps around the arena. Outside the arena, there are also new video panels for the marquee on High Point Road and three new video panels in front of the entrances to the Special Events Center.
Back inside the arena, fans entering through the Special Events Center may notice new carpet and tile, though they'll definitely notice "ACC" spelled out in balloons.
Once inside, they can eat at a new BBQ concession stand, part of an overhaul paid for by coliseum concessionaire Centerplate that also includes new signage at concession stands.
Other improvements and changes won't be seen by the public. Hundreds of media members can file stories from the tournament using a new wireless Internet hookup.
A men's bathroom built as part of the coliseum's original construction in 1959 has been converted into a tournament manager's office, complete with couches, a conference table and a flatscreen TV.
Inside War Memorial Auditorium, workers were setting silverware on tables on a dining platform built over some of the auditorium's seats.
The unique dining experience is necessary for the coliseum to meet its contracted obligation to provide VIP dining for 600 guests, said coliseum Managing Director Matt Brown. The dining platform will hold about 250 guests, with the remaining diners seated in the auditorium's lobby.
One notable change won't be an addition, but a subtraction: Smoking is banned at the coliseum for the duration of the three tournaments. City Council voted last month to ban smoking inside the coliseum, and the existing outdoor smoking area can't be used because it's between a pair of hospitality events.