Post by Bornthrilla on Oct 7, 2011 21:48:05 GMT -5
WSSU apologizes for seat shortage
Friday, October 7, 2011
(Updated 7:16 pm)
By Winston-Salem Journal
WINSTON-SALEM (MCT) — For years, the seating capacity at the Gaines Center at Winston-Salem State University has been listed as 3,200 in university media guides and on websites.
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So when it came time to sell tickets for Chris Paul's benefit basketball game, the school tried to play it safe by selling 3,000 bleacher seats, with 95 temporary courtside seats.
Turns out, they didn't play it safe enough.
WSSU officials now know the gym holds closer to 2,300.
The confusion over the gym's seating capacity resulted in more than 700 extra tickets being sold to the CP3 NBA All-Star Pickup basketball game, the university said Thursday.
Last week's game, a fundraiser for WSSU athletics and Paul's CP3 Foundation, drew some of biggest names in the NBA, including LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Kevin Durant.
Bill Hayes, the athletics director, took responsibility for the mix-up. In a statement, he apologized, adding that the university did not stand to gain financially by selling more tickets.
"Having negotiated a flat-rate fee, the university was to receive $25,000 from the CP3 Foundation, whether we sold 1,000 tickets or 5,000 tickets," he said.
Kevin Manns, a spokesman for the athletics department, said Hayes would have no further comment. Nancy Young, a spokeswoman for the school, said a decision to reprimand Hayes would be up to Chancellor Donald Reaves.
A sign posted in the Gaines Center states that it can safely hold 2,570 people. The N.C. State Construction Office would have determined the seating occupancy when the gym was built in 1978.
How the capacity came to be known as 3,200 is unclear. The 33-year-old gym uses movable bleachers, none of which has numbered seats.
In the wake of Saturday's game, when hundreds of unhappy ticket-holders were turned away, Reaves launched an investigation. Shannon Henry, the school's auditor, went to the Gaines Center on Monday and began measuring the bleachers, coming up with a seat count of 2,300 -- or 2,395 with the addition of 95 temporary courtside seats.
There is no evidence that any of the extra tickets were counterfeits.
By Tuesday night, the university had refunded 700 tickets, or about $30,000. Young said she expects a few more refunds.
A university official met with Paul's parents, Charles and Robin, on Wednesday to discuss what happened. The Pauls stopped by campus on Monday, the first day of refunds, clearly concerned with how the game was handled.
"Throughout all of this, they've tried to work with us," Young said. "That relationship is still very important to us. We owed them an explanation."
Though Chris Paul was a standout player at Wake Forest University, Robin and Charles Paul attended Winston-Salem State.
The Gaines Center was chosen for the pickup game because of the Pauls' ties to the school and for its intimate size. With NBA players on lockout, many top players are participating in all-star pickup games, most of which are held in small venues.
In a statement, Reaves defended the university against those who claimed it did not have the ability to manage such a high-profile event.
"With regard to our capacity to manage the event, it did come on the heels of an already busy week of homecoming activities and a homecoming football game with 20,000 people, all of which ran smoothly," he said.
Friday, October 7, 2011
(Updated 7:16 pm)
By Winston-Salem Journal
WINSTON-SALEM (MCT) — For years, the seating capacity at the Gaines Center at Winston-Salem State University has been listed as 3,200 in university media guides and on websites.
Advertisement | Advertise with Us
So when it came time to sell tickets for Chris Paul's benefit basketball game, the school tried to play it safe by selling 3,000 bleacher seats, with 95 temporary courtside seats.
Turns out, they didn't play it safe enough.
WSSU officials now know the gym holds closer to 2,300.
The confusion over the gym's seating capacity resulted in more than 700 extra tickets being sold to the CP3 NBA All-Star Pickup basketball game, the university said Thursday.
Last week's game, a fundraiser for WSSU athletics and Paul's CP3 Foundation, drew some of biggest names in the NBA, including LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Kevin Durant.
Bill Hayes, the athletics director, took responsibility for the mix-up. In a statement, he apologized, adding that the university did not stand to gain financially by selling more tickets.
"Having negotiated a flat-rate fee, the university was to receive $25,000 from the CP3 Foundation, whether we sold 1,000 tickets or 5,000 tickets," he said.
Kevin Manns, a spokesman for the athletics department, said Hayes would have no further comment. Nancy Young, a spokeswoman for the school, said a decision to reprimand Hayes would be up to Chancellor Donald Reaves.
A sign posted in the Gaines Center states that it can safely hold 2,570 people. The N.C. State Construction Office would have determined the seating occupancy when the gym was built in 1978.
How the capacity came to be known as 3,200 is unclear. The 33-year-old gym uses movable bleachers, none of which has numbered seats.
In the wake of Saturday's game, when hundreds of unhappy ticket-holders were turned away, Reaves launched an investigation. Shannon Henry, the school's auditor, went to the Gaines Center on Monday and began measuring the bleachers, coming up with a seat count of 2,300 -- or 2,395 with the addition of 95 temporary courtside seats.
There is no evidence that any of the extra tickets were counterfeits.
By Tuesday night, the university had refunded 700 tickets, or about $30,000. Young said she expects a few more refunds.
A university official met with Paul's parents, Charles and Robin, on Wednesday to discuss what happened. The Pauls stopped by campus on Monday, the first day of refunds, clearly concerned with how the game was handled.
"Throughout all of this, they've tried to work with us," Young said. "That relationship is still very important to us. We owed them an explanation."
Though Chris Paul was a standout player at Wake Forest University, Robin and Charles Paul attended Winston-Salem State.
The Gaines Center was chosen for the pickup game because of the Pauls' ties to the school and for its intimate size. With NBA players on lockout, many top players are participating in all-star pickup games, most of which are held in small venues.
In a statement, Reaves defended the university against those who claimed it did not have the ability to manage such a high-profile event.
"With regard to our capacity to manage the event, it did come on the heels of an already busy week of homecoming activities and a homecoming football game with 20,000 people, all of which ran smoothly," he said.
