NEW ORLEANS — Last Friday the New Orleans Superdome was transformed into a basketball arena -- with the Men's NCAA Final Four court installed. It's quite the process.
The wood is northern hard maple from Michigan... it's harvested, milled, assembled into *4 foot by 7 foot panels*, sanded, painted, sealed and cured *then* it was transported to New Orleans. There are 394 panels in total -- each weighing 188 pounds.. so the entire court weighs nearly "56-thousand pounds"... it took a crew about 4 hours to assemble...
Now let's talk about the logos --- *Section 127*, a design agency in Indianapolis designed them in collaboration with the NCAA. At center court the Final Four Logo was inspired by the wrought-iron balconies we see throughout the french quarter and city.... and if you look closely at the basketball -- you'll see a crescent moon --- a nod to one of our nicknames: *the Crescent City*
New Orleans is written on one of the sidelines to let people watching on tv know where the game is being played. The court's color palette is purple, green and yellow another nod to New Orleans -- the colors of Mardi Gras... Also the company says the geometric patterning you see is "a play on the architecture" of the city.
The teams playing in the final four -- played in front of an average of 19-thousand fans in the elite 8 matchups -- Here at the Superdome -- the capacity can seat over 70-thousand. A drastic difference!
Over 16,000 temporary seats were added -- so depth perception is difficult. It takes players awhile to adjust in terms of shooting the basketball, mainly because there's much more space behind the goal... i played college basketball and at every arena -- the first thing he made us do was walk to the very top of the stands and walk all the way around to try to get our bearings...
At the dome the benches are down -- in the trenches. It's not a major adjustment for the players, but it's worth mentioning that it will be a little more difficult to communicate some things likes plays/instructions... calling time outs...
If you're wondering what happens to the court after the confetti falls and the nets are cut down -- well the winning team has the first right of refusal to purchase the championship court.
A lot of schools buy it and display it somewhere at their facilities -- or even use it as their practice court. Other schools sell it off by sections -- and usually give the profits to charity.
The road ends *here* in the big easy --- but there won't be anything easy about it!! for three teams -- their dreams will be dashed here on this court -- but for one -- their dreams fulfilled.
RELATED: NCAA Men's Final 4 list of events