FAYETTEVILLE — Sports is big in North Carolina, There's the NFL, NBA, Hurricane Hockey, plus all of the big college games. Oh, and don't leave Fayetteville off of the list. The new Crown Coliseum opened its doors last year and business is booming.

Friday night is a perfect example. The Fayetteville Force, the minor league hockey team was playing. They expect between 5,000 and 6,000 fans to show up. That's about average -- and it's thousands more than when the coliseum first opened.

On an average hockey game day, dozens of fans head for the ticket booth, looking for good seats. A record crowd of 7,000 was on-hand for the last game alone.

But, hockey isn't the only big draw. Huge crowds were on hand for the Disney On Ice show, professional wrestling, and the circus.

The Barbecue Hut sits just a few blocks from the coliseum, and their business is benefiting from the big crowds, according to employee Jean Meza.

Capacity for hockey games here is ten-thousand and that's a goal they haven't reached yet. But they believe it's in reach and they think they can do it by the end of the hockey year.