How do we get people to Wallace Wade on Saturday?

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Originally Posted by Ima Facultiwyfe

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And yes, afternoon games are BRUTAL on that sunny side...and getting worse with global warming. We sat on tht side for years on the metal benches. It was awful then and it's so much worse now. As loyal as we have been for many, many years, had we not been able move to the west side we'd not be going anymore. At our age, we couldn't take it. They should be paying people to sit over there !

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Well, that's one I hadn't heard before!

Perhaps we can hope for a volcanic eruption in the area of the Dean Dome and then a permanent cloud/ash cover to diminish the sun's effects in Durham?

FWIW: It's been many a year since I endured a (daytime) game on the visitor side. And permanently etched into my brain is a near heat-stroke experience or two from sitting there for two days during the USA/USSR track meet way back in the days of the dinosaurs, perhaps even BEFORE any global warming had occurred. (And it was also deemed a blessing to have metal seating as opposed to the older wooden seats which necessitated careful attention to remove any splinters from one's backside.)

k

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Originally Posted by Kimist

Well, that's one I hadn't heard before!

Perhaps we can hope for a volcanic eruption in the area of the Dean Dome and then a permanent cloud/ash cover to diminish the sun's effects in Durham?

FWIW: It's been many a year since I endured a (daytime) game on the visitor side. And permanently etched into my brain is a near heat-stroke experience or two from sitting there for two days during the USA/USSR track meet way back in the days of the dinosaurs, perhaps even BEFORE any global warming had occurred. (And it was also deemed a blessing to have metal seating as opposed to the older wooden seats which necessitated careful attention to remove any splinters from one's backside.)

k

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How well I remember those days. I served on the organizational committee for all of the three international track meets of that era. In those days the fear was global cooling, though Wallace Was was definitely hot in the Carolina sun.

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Originally Posted by scottdude8

I think this is a great option. I have heard (unconfirmed) rumors that the athletic department will make you buy season tickets to women's basketball while you "earn points" to get season tickets to men's basketball. Do this with the football team too.

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An Indiana alum told me over the weekend that they require season basketball ticket holders to purchase season football tickets as a requirement for getting the basketball tickets.

I’m curious as to whether that would help football attendance at Duke, or would the Cameron Crowd simply not show up at Wade. This may not help football attendance much anyway, as Cameron is relatively small in comparison with Indiana.

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Originally Posted by TruBlu

An Indiana alum told me over the weekend that they require season basketball ticket holders to purchase season football tickets as a requirement for getting the basketball tickets.

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Just because you have the tickets doesn't mean you are going to go to the game, or even resell them. Don't force tickets upon someone that doesn't want them, that is a surefire way of guaranteeing that seat stays empty.

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Originally Posted by CameronBornAndBred

Just because you have the tickets doesn't mean you are going to go to the game, or even resell them. Don't force tickets upon someone that doesn't want them, that is a surefire way of guaranteeing that seat stays empty.

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I'd expect there's some old time Iron Dukes out there that buy tickets to football and WBB out of loyalty to the University, but do not attend the games. The announced attendance at both sure appear inflated sometimes. (And, it's true for some MBB game as well.)

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Originally Posted by Ima Facultiwyfe

I was disappointed that with the renovation they didn't raise the wall around the concourse so that people couldn't watch the game from out there. The number of folks standing around out there and hanging over the wall would fill a bunch of seats.

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The renovation is really aesthetically pleasing, but they missed a lot of opportunities, including this one ^^^ above. That shouldn't be that hard. Inexcusable. If memory serves, years ago there were bleachers there for part of it, so people had to sit in those bleachers or go down into the bowl to see. At the time I think they claimed 44,000 as capacity.

Shelter, shade over the east side wouldn't have been a bad idea, though not sure how feasible it would be or how much it would help, especially in the low seats. But whether or not that would have worked, there's no excuse to not have camera pedestals and facilities on the east side pointing at the west side. When this renovation happened, we already knew most games would be televised.

When I was younger, more agile, and my feet didn't hurt after a short time standing still, I certainly took advantage of the 'best seats in the house'. It was often possible to 'adjust' my spot by just walking along with each team's drives. That way I was close to having the line of scrimmage directly in front of me for most of the game.

Never spilled a drink on anybody, never saw it happen that I remember, though I'm sure it did. I often wonder what happened to my fellow ring around the stadium fans. Did most of them finally drift into seats? Or did the barriers that really do make it less practical to watch from there now cause some of them to abandon watching live games at WW altogether?

Speak up, brothers!

Oh, and to get back on topic, VT followers will certainly help make Saturday's game a near sellout (I hope). Duke fans need to buy some tickets!!

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Originally Posted by mattman91

Reasonably priced craft beer stands.

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Go a step further — food trucks are a huge part of Durham culture. Why not have, in addition to the regular concessions, all of the Durham food trucks and breweries come to games? It would be awesome, for instance, to be able to get Fullsteam and Bull City Burger in the stadium. I think there's a big opportunity there to rebrand Duke football into something that feels uniquely "Durham" and bring in more locals. You could do season ticket packages with the Durham Bulls somehow — people who regularly attend those games (especially families with younger kids) are the perfect target demographic to try to bring into the Duke fanbase.

From a crowd perspective, I think that we just straight-up don't know how to do football games as a fanbase. Logistically, basketball is the polar opposite of football: relatively fewer stoppages in game action, shorter possessions, more intimate atmosphere. When the students and alumni in Cameron are at their best, it's usually a very targeted, very short, joke at something that everyone in the stadium can see.

Case in point: the good ol' "Let's Go Duke" chant doesn't work in Wallace Wade. Even in Cameron, it fades out after about 20 seconds into the shot clock. In Wade, everyone's spread out, it's much harder to coordinate and communicate, and it's more about filling the stadium with noise for more prolonged periods of time than during basketball games, which Wade isn't really designed for from an acoustic perspective.

They also need to work to get students mixed in with alumni and visitor lower-case-t-tailgates somehow. Tailgate was a catastrophe, but enough time has passed that students shouldn't be along Blue Devil Alley or near K-Ville with everyone else anymore. I'd wager most students now have never even heard of Tailgate. I wonder if the change in leadership at the top of the administration would help this cause along in any way.

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Originally Posted by killerleft

When I was younger, more agile, and my feet didn't hurt after a short time standing still, I certainly took advantage of the 'best seats in the house'. It was often possible to 'adjust' my spot by just walking along with each team's drives. That way I was close to having the line of scrimmage directly in front of me for most of the game.

Never spilled a drink on anybody, never saw it happen that I remember, though I'm sure it did. I often wonder what happened to my fellow ring around the stadium fans. Did most of them finally drift into seats? Or did the barriers that really do make it less practical to watch from there now cause some of them to abandon watching live games at WW altogether?

Speak up, brothers!

Oh, and to get back on topic, VT followers will certainly help make Saturday's game a near sellout (I hope). Duke fans need to buy some tickets!!

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Speaking up, as requested. I have been standing at the top for years, even though I'm a geezer now. I find standing to be more comfortable for me, especially since I just finished driving 6 or 7 hours to get there, and have the same return travel, either right after the game or the next day. My old back tolerates standing better than sitting on uncomfortable bleachers, and makes (more and more frequent) trips to the restrooms easier.

Since the renovations, it has become increasingly difficult to find a decent spot at which to stand. The home side has a tall brick wall, and unless a person is about 6'5" (I'm not), they have to tippy-toe to get a good view.

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Originally Posted by TruBlu

Speaking up, as requested. I have been standing at the top for years, even though I'm a geezer now. I find standing to be more comfortable for me, especially since I just finished driving 6 or 7 hours to get there, and have the same return travel, either right after the game or the next day. My old back tolerates standing better than sitting on uncomfortable bleachers, and makes (more and more frequent) trips to the restrooms easier.

Since the renovations, it has become increasingly difficult to find a decent spot at which to stand. The home side has a tall brick wall, and unless a person is about 6'5" (I'm not), they have to tippy-toe to get a good view.

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Ha! I'm 5'4" with shoes on! So that's why I can't stand back there anymore.:o It was a great way to watch a football game for as long as it lasted.

Thoughts to ponder...

I have sat in the east stands recently baking on a killer sunny afternoon...but I was wearing modern light weight clothing and 12 layers of sunscreen. Take a look at the pictures of Duke Stadium (not yet named WW) back in the 1930s. Notice the suits and ties. How in the world did they manage the heat then? The stadium was often packed. heck, as a kid in the 1960s, I wore my boy Scout uniform (free entrance and a lunch in exchange for ushering) and sat in the sun from 10 am til 4:30 pm.

And for you top of the stadium walkers who moved with the action...were you doing that back in the day of the (permanent) extended bleachers around the top? That might have been difficult viewing?

At the end of the day, Duke football in the stadium is not the only thing to do on Saturday.

Back when Durham entertainment options consisted only of channels 11 and 5, displayed on small black and white TVs in a non air conditioned house, a hot day in the sun watching Duke football with limited drink choices (I seem to remember the binary choice of coke and sprite) seemed like a great idea.

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Originally Posted by Atldukie79

I seem to remember the binary choice of coke and sprite.

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You remember correctly. Part of the reason I drank vodka and coke one day when I had decided it was too hot to bring bourbon to the game.

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Originally Posted by aimo

One reason for the NCCU game being so empty was the heat. People were dropping like flies and a lot left at halftime.

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The heat is a huge problem and has been for a long time. September games should be 7pm kickoffs, IMHO.

Another possible reason for sparse attendance for the NCCU game: Hurricane Florence had come through the week before. In the Triangle, we were lucky if we were only picking up substantial debris from our lawn. There were events rescheduled from the previous week. There were still a few flooded streets in the south part of the Triangle, but go just a tiny bit south and east and there's a flooding disaster covering a large part of NC with cities entirely cut off and Interstate highways shut down (they just opened up today). There was a lot of distraction in the area last week, with many unable to leave their homes or shelters and others deciding that it was very important to volunteer to help.

Clean up from/help people severely impacted by the storm or sit out in unbearably hot conditions. Some didn't have a choice and couldn't go. Others who are lucky enough to have a choice may have sworn off of daytime September games since the time (a decade ago?) when Mom had severe reactions to the heat requiring us to help her to air conditioning and attempt to find water -- the concession stands had run out. It was a horrible experience that I'd rather not repeat. Mom isn't around anymore to go with us, but

For those of you who went, you are amazing fans! I'm glad you were able to get there safely and stay to cheer on the Blue Devils. You have an amazing tolerance for heat.

In case you’re on the fence about coming out to the game Saturday, it’s at 7:00 pm. The temperature should be just fine, a nice night for a game.

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Originally Posted by Native

Go a step further — food trucks are a huge part of Durham culture. Why not have, in addition to the regular concessions, all of the Durham food trucks and breweries come to games? It would be awesome, for instance, to be able to get Fullsteam and Bull City Burger in the stadium. I think there's a big opportunity there to rebrand Duke football into something that feels uniquely "Durham" and bring in more locals. You could do season ticket packages with the Durham Bulls somehow — people who regularly attend those games (especially families with younger kids) are the perfect target demographic to try to bring into the Duke fanbase.

From a crowd perspective, I think that we just straight-up don't know how to do football games as a fanbase. Logistically, basketball is the polar opposite of football: relatively fewer stoppages in game action, shorter possessions, more intimate atmosphere. When the students and alumni in Cameron are at their best, it's usually a very targeted, very short, joke at something that everyone in the stadium can see.

Case in point: the good ol' "Let's Go Duke" chant doesn't work in Wallace Wade. Even in Cameron, it fades out after about 20 seconds into the shot clock. In Wade, everyone's spread out, it's much harder to coordinate and communicate, and it's more about filling the stadium with noise for more prolonged periods of time than during basketball games, which Wade isn't really designed for from an acoustic perspective.

They also need to work to get students mixed in with alumni and visitor lower-case-t-tailgates somehow. Tailgate was a catastrophe, but enough time has passed that students shouldn't be along Blue Devil Alley or near K-Ville with everyone else anymore. I'd wager most students now have never even heard of Tailgate. I wonder if the change in leadership at the top of the administration would help this cause along in any way.

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Food trucks? Also another very good idea.

Fullsteam and Bull City Burger and Brewery? Why'd you omit Ponysaurus and Durty Bull? ;)

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Originally Posted by scottdude8

I'm beyond excited for this weekend's game against the CHokies (can I trademark that? I like that a lot. I'm trademarking that.)...But I'm legitimately concerned that when I watch the game from Toronto this weekend I'm going to continue to see a half-empty stadium. I'm of the mind that the next step in becoming a legitimate, competitive team every year is creating a some sort of home field advantage, or at the very least a non-depressing home field environment. Filling a football stadium is a lot harder than filling Cameron, especially with the extra limitations on Duke not having a large alumni base in the Durham area (darn our stellar academic University!)... but a sparsely populated stadium in a big game, broadcast on an ESPN network, certainly can't help recruiting...

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1. Chokies has been around for a long time. I doubt USPTO will grant it.
2. Air Canada offers direct service from YYZ to/from RDU. It's only $1106 RT for this weekend.
3. It should be 50-50 on Saturday. This is one of the games that will come close to selling out, and it will be dark enough by 7:00 not to notice empty seats in the blue sections.

All of the ideas above are good and hit most of the problems: culture change for local fans, more administrative cooperation (e.g. open parking lots before 5:30 PM if you have a weekday game, no day starts for untelevised September home games). The ACC Network will probably make attendance worse even with a guaranteed ACC night game every week.

good stuff here. I remember the old track meets, most entertaining.

food trucks would be a great addition, the concessions have always been hapless, that's the best word I can think of. Get some innovative good food and vendors who can quickly serve
people (the water dispensing people are cordial but woefully inept, though I haven't seen them in "action" this year).

True about tickets sold do not equal filled seats, which is how Cut can say a game is a sellout, yet seats are not nearly filled.

I do expect a good crowd Saturday, as we had vs Miami last year: evening game, good team...let's hope our lads respond accordingly.

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Originally Posted by devil84

Another possible reason for sparse attendance for the NCCU game: Hurricane Florence had come through the week before.

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I'm believe you are correct that Hurricane Florence possibly impacted attendance; however, I have attended every NCCU game since the series started and the truth is NCCU fans do not show up in large numbers. Even though the school is in Durham many other visiting teams bring much larger crowds than NCCU.

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Originally Posted by Atldukie79

Back when Durham entertainment options consisted only of channels 11 and 5, displayed on small black and white TVs in a non air conditioned house, a hot day in the sun watching Duke football with limited drink choices (I seem to remember the binary choice of coke and sprite) seemed like a great idea.

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The rabbit ears on top of the Green Family black and white TV only picked up channel 11. I had to go to the neighbors to watch channel 5. They had an antenna on their roof.

Note to self: No matter how neutral/innocent you believe your comments are, do not mention "growing up in NC in a non air conditioned house" to your 87 year old father as he will quickly point out he grew up in NC in a house without electricity.

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Originally Posted by Bob Green

I'm believe you are correct that Hurricane Florence possibly impacted attendance; however, I have attended every NCCU game since the series started and the truth is NCCU fans do not show up in large numbers. Even though the school is in Durham many other visiting teams bring much larger crowds than NCCU.

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I love some of the ideas listed in this thread...and it is odd how few NCCU fans show up for this. I have always wondered about the "Bull City Proud" campaign, with the bull horns with the hands (or is that a set of devil horns?). From observation, growing up in Raleigh as a Duke fan, Duke and Durham have always just sort of tolerated each other. I live out of the area now, but I'd like to hear some feedback on the Bull City proud meme...is it working? Can it work? Many of you know a lot more about this than I. I would think a big NCCU showing at the game would be one of the obvious fruits of such a campaign were it working.

I remember my parents telling me, as we would see old photos from the late 30s, 40s and 50s with what appear to be big crowds in the stadium, that for a few decades Duke was simply a bigger deal in football than UNC or NC State. I also think they had more local alums back then...seems to me the serious Yankee migration to Duke started after that, and maybe pushed NC local non alums away a bit. Just spit balling theories here...some in the know can validate my theories, or knock them down, as the case may be...:)