RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Fans could say this is the latest chapter in the UNC-N.C. State rivalry.
A North Carolina DOT sign near PNC Arena congratulating the Tar Heels for winning the men’s basketball championship last year now has gone missing.
To no one’s surprise, the disappearance has students at both schools talking.
The sign was recently put up along I-40 east, not far from the Harrison Avenue exit and near PNC Arena — home of N.C. State men’s basketball team.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation said a new policy will allow any school that wins a NCAA title to request up to eight signs. Those signs can be posted across the state.
The signs cost the school $2,000 each. NC DOT said no taxpayer money is involved.
The signs can remain up for two years and then given to the schools.
But, someone has now removed the UNC sign — and it was not the DOT. Close examination appears to show someone chopped the sign down with — possibly — an ax.
“It deserves to be there, obviously, because the men’s basketball team, they worked really hard for it and, obviously, it was their year of redemption,” said Emma Brown, a UNC student. “So, I think it deserves to be there and I’m upset that it was taken down.”
“You don’t put that garbage on N.C. State’s campus,” said William Aquino, a N.C. State student. “I know that’s like in between cities but that’s Raleigh. That’s our territory. That’s PNC Arena.”
A DOT spokesman told CBS North Carolina that UNC was able to put up to eight signs like it around the state.
They go at the entry points to North Carolina and this sign was considered an entry point given its proximity to RDU Airport.
The DOT has not said yet whether the missing UNC sign will be replaced.
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