The USS Carl Vinsion, which casted off the body of Osama bin Laden is going to stage the first NCAA college basketball game on the flight deck on Veterans Day.

The ESPN-produced game will feature two college basketball powerhouses, North Carolina and Michigan State, playing each other on the deck of the Carl Vinson while some 7,000 special invitees, mostly military personnel and their families watch from the bleachers specialy constructed on the deck of the USS Carl Vinson, docked in San Diego.

They're exciting challenges, said Michael R. Rowe of Positive Impact, a sports consulting group based in New Jersey. It has weather issues, everything from rain and wind. It has vertical issues, getting everything up here and mounting an event like everybody's seen 100 times in their life, but not with this backdrop and not with this ship, and not with the tradition of Veterans Day, and this ship in particular.

Though the plans were made shortly after Osama bin Laden's death, U.S. officials said they weren't sure which aircraft carrier would be in San Diego at the time and would have a freed-up schedule for the lead time necessary to undertake such an unprecedented construction project. As the USS Carl Vinsion reached the harbor just a few days ago, the carrier has been chosen to host the game, they said.