Sports flooring manufacturers: Here's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
The Morale Entertainment Foundation, a company that organizes entertainment for troops in the U.S. and abroad, is looking for a sports floor manufacturer that can supply a playing surface for a Veterans Day college basketball matchup that will be played on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson-the very carrier that conducted the sea burial of Osama bin Laden.
USS Carl Vinson entering Pearl Harbor. Photo credit: Chris Holloway via Wikipedia.
Morale is soliciting bids for the basketball floor, a process that should be completed by mid-July, said the company's Michael Whalen. For more information on the bidding process, Whalen can be reached at [email protected] or (770) 973-9023.
The matchup will be dubbed the Carrier Classic and aired on ESPN, and this year we'll see the North Carolina Tar Heels take on Michigan State Spartans. According to Sign on San Diego, the game has approval from President Barack Obama. Still, coordinating this matchup will not be easy. Outdoor basketball matchups are tricky since neither the hardwood nor players take well to rainfall. Just in case, a contingency floor will be placed in a hangar deck inside the carrier. Plus, since the Carl Vinson isn't a decommissioned carrier-like the Midway, for example-the carrier could be called to action at any point between now and Nov. 11 leaving the matchup in a lurch.
