Hundreds of seats have been removed from Lenovo Center as part of ongoing renovations, leaving \u2018Canes and Wolfpack fans wondering what happened to the old seats.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not uncommon to see sports arenas sell or auction off their former seats. Fans use them as memorabilia, putting them in mancaves or bars. So when major \u2018Canes fans Bob Padula and Mike Wolstenholme heard from a friend of theirs that seats were getting thrown out, they were surprised.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole thing doesn\u2019t seem right. Something\u2019s wrong there,\u201d Padula said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what they were thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Padula and Wolstenholme say a construction worker friend of theirs who was working on Lenovo Center renovations texted them in June saying that since crews were planning to toss them, the seats were up for grabs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Lenovo Center superintendent told her and other construction workers that they could take as many of these seats as they wanted as long as they did it within 48 hours because the rest were getting thrown out,\u201d Padula said.<\/p>\n
The Stanley Cup Championship was just a couple of weeks ago at the time, so the pair jumped at the chance to get their hands on hockey history. They loaded 59 seats onto a truck and brought them home.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re talking about the seats people probably paid $1,500 to sit in for three hours for the home games of the Stanley Cup?\u201d Wolstenholme said. \u201cI\u2019d say we should go get some of those.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the next day, they say they got a different message from that construction worker. They were told to return the seats, which they say they did.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They also say their friend was fired in the following days \u2013 they believe in connection to the seat mix up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was no problem and then the next day, it was a problem,\u201d Padula said. \u201cTo have someone fired for it \u2013 that\u2019s really unfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Padula says their friend who was fired plans to pursue legal action against the construction company and did not want their name shared as a result.<\/p>\n
Aside from their friend\u2019s firing, the pair say they\u2019re upset more wasn\u2019t done with the old Lenovo Center seats. They say it was a missed opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone at the Lenovo Center could\u2019ve taken those 700 chairs, put them in storage, and offered them to charity or season ticket holders. It\u2019s not that difficult,\u201d Padula said.<\/p>\n
WRAL emailed Lenovo Center officials asking what construction crews were told to do with the seats, why the seats weren\u2019t sold, and where they are now. We have not yet heard back.<\/p>\n
For now, the whereabouts of the missing Lenovo Center seats will remain a mystery.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we were in the parking lot we saw a lot of cars and trucks leave with construction workers taking those seats,\u201d Padula said. \u201cThey probably still have them \u2013 which is fine \u2013 and I\u2019m sure a good portion of the 700 of them were destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n