Sports

Winston-Salem State University is playing in the Division II football national championship tomorrow against Georgia's Valdosta State.

Winston-Salem State had been transitioning to Division I athletics, but the school did an about face two years ago because the move was too costly. Some supporters were upset that the Rams wouldn't become a Division I member. Head Coach Connell Mayor says his undefeated football team has provided a solution.

Greensboro has been selected as the site of the 2015 US Figure Skating Championships. This competition came to Greensboro – and North Carolina – for the first time in 2011, following an Olympic year. In 2015 US Figure Skating’s largest event will return to the state, a year after the winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Greensboro Coliseum General Manager Matt Brown.

Matt Brown: "This is a significant accomplishment for Greensboro. Many within the sport of figure skating questioned, how well figure skating championship would fare in the south. Boy, didn’t we surprise them."

NC State has fired its head football coach. Tom O’Brien won 40 games and lost 35 in six seasons leading the Wolfpack In a press conference last night, Director of Athletics Debbie Yow said one of the factors was the loss of revenue from football.

Players, staff, and others who earn a living from professional hockey in the Triangle are bracing for a long, protracted labor dispute.  One year after the entire 2004-2005 season was lost due to the last contractual dispute between team owners and players, the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup.