Friday, February 24, 2012

WSSU Hayes would like Gaines Center enlarged

WINSTON SALEM, North Carolina - Winston-Salem State will play its final home basketball games of the season Saturday against Fayetteville State, and there's a chance disappointed fans could again be turned away at the door.

The Rams' home gym — the Gaines Center — seats about 2,400 and has been overflowing with the success of the men's and women's teams and because of CIAA rivalries. Nearly all CIAA games have had capacity crowds. Sold-out games are a good problem to have, but athletics director Bill Hayes said he wouldn't mind seeing the Gaines Center enlarged.



"I would love to see the Gaines Center expanded and maybe getting an extension to that back wall to make it bigger," he said. "It's something I would like to see done here."

The Gaines Center was built in the late 1970s, when WSSU's enrollment was about 2,700. The enrollment is now about 6,000, and the gym could use some work to satisfy the students and the general public. Hayes hasn't crunched any numbers about the cost of a renovation, but the project is on his radar.



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