About 30 maple trees, cut and milled into 250 4-by-7-foot panels and sourced from the 235,000-acre northern Wisconsin Menominee Indian Reservation, will make their way to Arlington, Texas, for March Madness' culminating event-the Final Four.
The court is made of first-grade maple and weighs 50,000 pounds when installed, according to The Dallas Morning News.
"People watch the game and that's our timber out there," Jim Kaquatosh, sales manager for Menominee Tribal Enterprises, told the Morning News. "People on the reservation are really proud they could be a part of it."
The lumber was taken to the Connor Sport Court International plant in Iron County, located in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, then to Idaho-based United Services Inc. for finishing. It will then embark on a four-day tour through Texas before finally being unloaded at Arlington's AT&T stadium March 28.
