The UNC athletic department and the football program have officially announced an expanded pregame experience for Tar Heel fans this fall, dubbed “Chapel Thrill Game Day.”
The event will include the debut of the “Chapel Thrill Concert Series,” sponsored by the Rams Club. The series will see recording artists from around the country perform onstage in front of Wilson Library in the heart of the UNC campus. The concert will be free and will begin about two hours before kickoff of each home football game. A list of performers will be announced soon, the athletic department said. One hour before kickoff, the concert stage will host a performance from the Marching Tar Heels, UNC’s marching band.
For the opening game against TCU the night of September 1, the football team will participate in the Old Well Walk, walking from the Old Well through Polk Place, then around the Bell Tower and into Kenan Stadium. The walk begins approximately two-and-a-half hours before kickoff.
“With the landmark hiring of Bill Belichick and the excitement surrounding Carolina football at an all-time high, we want to provide an exceptional pre-game experience that will help create lasting memories for our fans inside and outside of Kenan Stadium,” said Rick Barakat, UNC’s deputy athletic director and chief revenue officer. Barakat was hired in March after building a successful career in multiple athletic fields, including Minor League Baseball.
The existing Modelo Kickoff Club will expand and move to in front of the performance stage at Polk Place. The club opens four hours prior to kickoff. Entry is free and alcoholic drinks will be available to purchase. Food trucks will also be available to patrons in and around Polk Place, as will a new student tailgate area.
The Coca-Cola Fan Zone, which also opens four hours prior to kickoff, is aimed at fans of all ages and will be located in the Pit in front of the UNC Student Stores. Activities include golf simulators, bounce houses and autograph sessions with UNC athletes. The Modelo Kickoff Club, student tailgate area and the Coca-Cola Fan Zone will all close 30 minutes prior to kickoff each weekend.
UNC previewed expanded football gameday programming earlier in the summer, with Barakat telling the school’s Board of Trustees in May, “We’re trying to turn over every rock and find new ways to drive revenue.”
“That could hopefully bring some three-plus thousand students into Polk Place every gameday,” Barakat said of the activities in the middle of campus. “Very populated, boisterous… hopefully we can pull that off.”
Featured image via Chapel Hill Media Group/Dakota Moyer
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