The Navy “has given final approval for the Morale Entertainment Foundation to stage the Carrier Classic basketball game between North Carolina and Michigan State on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson on Veterans Day,” according to Bernie Wilson of the AP. The game will be the “first NCAA hoops game on an active flat top.” Navy spokesperson Rear Admiral Dennis Moynihan and Morale Entertainment Foundation Dir Mike Whalen said that the game on San Diego Bay “will be played without cost to taxpayers and without operational issues that would adversely affect the Navy.” Whalen said that he “estimates it will take about 10 days to install the court and temporary stadium seating for approximately 7,000 spectators, and fewer than four days to dismantle it.” There will be “no public sale of tickets.” Most tickets “will go to military personnel, with each school getting 750 tickets.” UNC alum Michael Jordan and Michigan State alum Magic Johnson “are expected to be the honorary team captains.” The game will be televised by ESPN, which also “will give 40 minutes of air time to a postgame concert.” Morale Entertainment Foundation’s Ken Kinnear said that he is “approaching acts such as the Eagles, Jimmy Buffett, Bob Seger, Lady Antebellum, Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban and Kid Rock to see if they're interested in performing.” He “hopes to get between three and five acts.” Kinnear: “This is the most significant and largest live entertainment event that has occurred on Veterans Day and we really believe that it is worthy of some significant talent” (AP, 7/22). In N.Y., Greg Bishop writes the Carrier Classic is the “latest example of a trend in sports event management” (N.Y. TIMES, 7/25).
