North Carolina paid Duke over $27,000 for spray paint damages

As part of the rivalry between North Carolina and Duke, it is tradition for the winner of the annual football game to spray paint the Victory Bell trophy in their school color. The Tar Heels apparently took things a bit too far.

North Carolina paid Duke $27,170.44 for damages done with spray paint to the Blue Devils’ facilities following the Tar Heels’ 45-20 win on Nov. 20.

According to the News & Observer, $22,028.44 of the money went to replacing the carpet in Duke’s visitor’s locker room.

Per an open records request obtained by the News & Observer, Duke associate athletic director Gerald Harrison told UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham in an email that much of the carpet was not able to be cleaned.

According to an email sent from Gerald Harrison, the Duke associate athletic director who oversees football, to UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham, 60 carpet tiles were spray painted, and they weren’t able to be cleaned. That required a full carpet replacement throughout the facility, Harrison wrote.

Additional money was used to remove spray paint from Duke’s practice field and to paint the practice facility and “three panels in Wallace Wade Stadium.” In these instances, North Carolina players spray-painted “U-N-C” on the walls.

Cunningham and UNC head coach Larry Fedora originally apologized to Duke in a statement issued Nov. 24. Cunningham said he called Duke AD Kevin White, while Fedora reached out to Duke coach David Cutcliffe. Cutcliffe apparently never called Fedora back.

From the News & Observer:

In a formal apology letter to Duke athletic director Kevin White on Feb. 3, Cunningham said he was disappointed that Duke football coach David Cutcliffe never returned UNC coach Larry Fedora’s apology call, which came the Friday following the game.

Additionally, at the end of his letter to Duke, Cunningham decided to include a photo of spray paint damage to UNC’s South Building where “four pillars were tagged with the letters D-U-K-E on Feb. 19, 2014, before the Duke-UNC basketball game.”

“The University of North Carolina bore the cost of sandblasting these pillars and did not make public comments of the transgression. I acknowledge we have no idea who did this, but I simply included it to demonstrate that all fans, teams, coaches, students, etc. need to appreciate and respect the rivalry.”

Cunningham and Fedora split the costs with each sending personal checks for $13,585.22 to Duke in January while the UNC players completed community service.