Several sections of Kenan Stadium were sparsely filled nearly 10 minutes before kickoff on Saturday. PHOTO: Andrew Carter

CHAPEL HILL — If you watched North Carolina’s dominant 62-0 victory against Elon on Saturday at Kenan Stadium, you probably noticed a couple things: For one, the Tar Heels looked quite impressive against a clearly-overmatched opponent.

Two, Kenan was far closer to empty than full. At least in the second half, when uncomfortable heat and an uncompetitive game drove people out of the stadium. By the end, when the final seconds were ticking away, there might have been only a few thousand left in Kenan Stadium. 

The University of North Carolina has cancelled its “Meet The Heels” football event, scheduled for Saturday (Aug. 27) evening in Kenan Stadium. The university cited the potential for inclement weather and dangerous winds from Hurricane Irene.

With the season starting the following week, the event will not be rescheduled.  Carolina opens its football season versus James Madison on Saturday, Sept. 3.

The Big Cat Kickoff Clash, a preseason football scrimmage at UNC's Kenan Stadium, is back on.

If you're not sure what sort of silly hat your kid was wearing Sunday at UNC-Chapel Hill's commencement, we've got you covered.

Navigate your way over to this super-fantastic, interactive panoramic photo of the graduation ceremony, zoom in and find your child in all his or her silly glory.

Have fun.

UNC-Chapel Hill has received its second big gift this week to support academic support for athletes and the ongoing expansion of Kenan Stadium.

Alumnus R. Charles "Charlie" Loudermilk Sr. has made a $7.5 million commitment to fund facilities supporting athletes as part of the Kenan Stadium renovation.

The commitment will create The Loudermilk Center for Excellence, a 150,000 square-foot facility being built on the stadium's east side. The center will serve all of Carolina's nearly 800 student-athletes across 28 sports.

As part of the Kenan Stadium renovation project, the Loudermilk Center is scheduled for completion in September 2011. The $70 million project is being funded by private gifts and premium seating sales.

The Loudermilk Center's largest feature will be the John W. Pope Student-Athlete Academic Support Center. This 29,000 square-foot facility will provide classrooms for teaching and tutoring, advanced computer technology, a writing lab, reading rooms and office space.

It also will be home to the Carolina Leadership Academy, which offers leadership training to Carolina student-athletes, coaches and staff.

The Raleigh-based John William Pope Foundation donated $3 million for that project, a gift announced earlier this week.
 
The Loudermilk Center will also house a strength and conditioning center for Carolina's Olympic sports programs, facilities for men's lacrosse and a visitor's locker room that can be split to host high school football championships. Other features include premium seating for fans watching football games, as well as office and operations space for the department of athletics.

"The Loudermilk Center is the heart of the Kenan project and will provide for one of the nation's top academic support facilities," said Dick Baddour, athletics director. "We are extremely grateful to Charlie for his generosity. Charlie loves his University and has supported it in so many ways. He was especially close to Charlie Justice, so it is fitting that the facility named for him is located in Kenan Stadium."

Loudermilk is chairman of Atlanta-based Aaron's Inc. A 1950 UNC graduate, he earned a bachelor's degree in commerce and now serves on the Board of Visitors of UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.

A foundation run by Wake County businessman Art Pope has donated $3 million to UNC-Chapel Hill for an academic support center for athletes.

The gift from the John William Pope Foundation of Raleigh will create the John W. Pope Student-Athlete Support Center, part of an ongoing renovation of Kenan Stadium.

The original center, which was located in the stadium's previous field house, opened in 1986 and was also funded by the Pope Foundation.

The center is named for John W. Pope Sr., a 1947 UNC-CH graduate who founded the Henderson-based Variety Wholesalers. He died in 2006.

"My father loved Carolina and believed strongly in excellence in both academics and athletics, that each reinforced the other," Art Pope said in a news release. "The Pope Foundation is pleased to honor my father's memory by donating funds for the John W. Pope Student-Athlete Academic Support Center at Kenan Stadium to benefit the University's student-athletes, coaches, staff and the Carolina Leadership Academy."

The 29,000-square-foot center will serve all of Carolina's nearly 800 student-athletes across 28 sports. Features will include classrooms for teaching and tutoring, advanced computer technology, a writing lab, reading rooms and office space.

"This is a showcase facility that will benefit student-athletes in every sport, and will allow them to continue their collective goal to be productive members of their communities," said Dick Baddour, athletics director, in a news release. "We are proud of the athletic success we have had at North Carolina and even more proud of the success our student-athletes have demonstrated academically.  

The center will also house the Carolina Leadership Academy, which trains athletes, coaches and staff.

The $70 million stadium renovation is slated to be complete this fall. It is being funded entirely by private gifts and the sale of premium seating.

Thursday morning, four fighter jets will blast through the skies over UNC-Chapel Hill, a dry run to gear up for Saturday. That's when they'll execute another fly-over to kick off the Tar Heel football season. The Heels kick off their home season at noon Saturday against Georgia Tech.

Below, I've copy-pasted a letter to the community from Linda Convissor, UNC's local relations guru.

Dear Friends and Neighbors:
 
Saturday is the first home football game of the season.  Carolina will kick-off against Georgia Tech at noon.
 
Just prior to kickoff, we continue the tradition of jet fly overs.   Four Air Force F-16C  jets will fly over Kenan Stadium; they will fly low and be quite loud.
 
Tomorrow morning, Thursday, September 16, the jets will do practice runs over the stadium between 10:45 and 11:00 a.m.  Of course, bad weather or aircraft schedule changes could affect the flight plans for Thursday and Saturday.
 
The jets are based in South Carolina as part of the 157th Fighter Squadron known as “Swamp Fox”.  In August, Swamp Fox returned from a combat tour in Iraq.  Two pilots are Carolina alums:  Lieutenant Colonel Scott “Chop” Lambe of Atlanta, Georgia, UNC class of 1987 and Major Brent “Wrench” Allen of Chapel Hill, UNC class of 1994.  The other two pilots are Lieutenant Colonel Tim “Rhino” Bennett, Commander of the 157th Fighter Squadron, from Charlotte, NC and Major Brian “Hawk” Ferguson from Newton, Iowa.
 
Whether or not you are attending the game, you might want to come to campus to enjoy Tar Heel Town.  Tar Heel Town will open at 9 a.m. Be there for the Old Well Walk at 9:30 a.m. as Coach Davis and the Tar Heels walk across Polk Place to Kenan Stadium. Stay and listen to the Marching Tar Heels who will play in front of Wilson Library at 11 a.m.  Kids’ activities, food and, of course, Ramses are a big part of Tar Heel Town.
 
Touch Downtown www.touchdowntown.com provides information for "park and ride" to the game.  You can ride the Tar Heel Express from four park and ride lots; this season the two lots on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard will not be served by park and ride.
 
Fireworks are now a regular feature at UNC home football games.  You may hear and see them approximately 15 minutes prior to kick-off, during the National Anthem, and about 10 minutes later as the team enters the stadium.  During the game, they will recognize touchdowns, field goals and of course, Carolina victories.
 
If you are a community group or neighborhood representative, please forward this email to your members and others who may be interested.
 
Have a great weekend and Go Heels!
 
Linda
Linda Convissor, Director of Local Relations 
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
Linda_Convissor@unc.edu 
CB# 6225 
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-6225 
919-962-9245 
on Twitter@lindaconvissor

UPDATE: Thursday morning, the full UNC Board of Trustees approved the financing plan cited below.

Construction on an addition to Kenan Stadium at UNC-Chapel Hill may begin soon.

A committee of the university's board of trustees signed off Wednesday afternoon on a plan to pay for the $70 million project, and the full board will likely do so as well Thursday.

Once that happens, athletics officials are free to start the five-story addition that will close in the east end zone of the football stadium.

Construction would begin in June and officials expect the project to be complete by fall 2011.

The bottom two floors will be an academic support center for athletes. The top three floors will be premium seating, including 20 luxury suites.

Half of the project will be paid for through private fundraising. The university hopes to raise $35 million by 2015. This year, the fundraising project's first, the university surpassed its $10 million target by bringing in $10.3 million, athletics director Dick Baddour said Wednesday.

A new academic center for all Carolina athletes has proven popular among donors, Baddour said.

"I really think there's a lot of affection for the academic support center," he said. "That really resonates with people."

Fifteen of 20 suites have sold - at $50,000 each - while lower-priced luxury seating, which will also offer access to restrooms and other amenities, is selling at a slower pace.

Beer and wine will be available to occupants of those seats, a first for an athletic venue at UNC. Alcohol is not and will not be sold at regular concession stands.

For more on the stadium expansion, read Thursday's News & Observer.

From the weekend:

UNC-Chapel Hill leaders want to sell beer and wine in a portion of Kenan Stadium slated for expansion. 

The idea: These cocktails, which would not be available to students or other folks in general seating, would be an enticement to help lure heavyweight donors to buy luxury suites and club seats, the big-ticket items needed to actually pay for the expansion.

UNC currently offers no alcohol sales anywhere in its athletics venues, which is relatively unusual since most schools do.

Here's the story.

View Tar Heel Express in a larger map

If you're one of 60,000 football fans heading to Chapel Hill for the Florida State game this evening, remember these words: park and ride.

Most Carolina football fans are familiar with all the places around town where you can leave your car and board a Tar Heel Express bus that will deliver you to Kenan Stadium for the 8pm kickoff.

The bus makes your ride easier, and it cuts down on traffic hassles for everybody else.

And the combination of football and rush hour guarantees that there will be traffic delays this evening.