- It's remarkable how much attention this topic gets, and it's just a reminder of how much people love Tar Heel basketball.

And that's a fortunate thing for our university and our community.

We've played in the Smith Center twice as long as we played in Carmichael Auditorium, which is hard for people to believe sometimes.

And it's showing its age.

So the roof leaks, everyone knows about the problems with the bathrooms and the concourses.

Everybody knows how difficult it is to park and to leave the parking lots after the game.

And so that leads you to think about, should we just put a bandaid on the existing facility and fix the roof?

Should we try for a more fundamental renovation?

Do something about the concourses and the bathrooms?

If we did that, we wouldn't be able to fix the parking or the access.

Or should we try to think about the possibility of a new arena?

The arena's almost 40 years old.

Most arenas don't last that long.

And if we were to build something new, what would that look like and where would we build it?

That's an ongoing discussion.

We're gonna hear back from some folks who we asked to look at some different options here.

Soon we'll have more to to say about that.

But there's no underestimating the profile that this topic has.