In his last home game of his career at MSU, senior guard Mateen Cleaves kissed the Breslin Student Events Center court on his way to the bench.
You could now own that piece of hardwood.
Physical Plant employees spent Monday taking up the original, 11-year-old, 112 feet- by 63 feet-floor for the last time. In its place will be the NCAA Championship floor, a $75,000 university purchase.
The old floor went on sale Monday at the MSU Surplus Store, 1344 S. Harrison Ave., for a minimum of $28,000. Any interested party can turn in a sealed bid before the tentative deadline on Dec. 1, and it will go to the highest bidder, Associate Athletics Director Greg Ianni said.
Ianni said he expects many people will want to place bids because of the sentimental value it has.
“I talked to the surplus people today, and there have already been a lot of bids and interest,” he said. “They’ve heard from some out-of-state groups, some in-state folks, and even some from overseas.”
Besides the minimum bid rule, the only other criterion the buyer must meet is that they intend to use the floor for athletic purposes.
“We don’t want to sell it and have someone cut it up and try to make a profit off of it,” Ianni said.
The floor is in good condition, and still has around 15 more years of use in it, he said. It can be refinished three times and has only gone through one.
But MSU officials still thought it was the right time to replace it. Because Breslin Center is used for multiple purposes, the floor has some wear and tear from constant moving.
“It has a few dead spots,” Ianni said. “But most people will just put the floor in place and leave it there, and that will give it longer usefulness.”
And it’s not every day a chance to pay a cheap price on a championship court comes along, Ianni said.“It was a good business deal for us.”
Any used item from the university generally is sent to the surplus store to sell, said Robert Felt, a university marketing consultant. This time, it’s just a little bigger.
“We’ve never had anything like this before,” Felt said. “The surplus (store) does this on a regular basis, but they’ve never had a floor like this. This is a great sale for them.”
Visit www.surplus.msu.edu for more information.
