Maybe this has been floating around and I've just missed it:
http://www.wral.com/sports/story/2869917/
Apparently the idea of building luxury box suites in Cameron is floating around. Any reaction?
Maybe this has been floating around and I've just missed it:
http://www.wral.com/sports/story/2869917/
Apparently the idea of building luxury box suites in Cameron is floating around. Any reaction?
Visiting team motto at Cameron: Venimus, temptavimus, defectimus (We came, we tried, we failed)
It's bad enough that all of the cushy bleacher seats behind the duke bench has created a sizable deadzone where there used to only be 2-3 smaller rows of normal seats for visitors. I benefitted from the cushy seats once, but I felt dirty.
I know this idea has been talked about for at least five years and probably longer. The ideas have included raising the roof, or inserting boxes in the corners. The main problem would be where the team would play. At least now we have the new practice courts but game day would be the problem. You can not cram those people into Card or Mem Gym.
The main thing I got out of this article was...
This year, Duke will add a new scoreboard with video screens.
They floated an expansion idea in the early or mid '80's as well, including raising the roof. Thankfully, it got shot down.
As the folks at The Masters show every year, there's something to be said for limited supply and high demand.
Don't change Cameron!!!
While I've always loved watching Duke Basketball on television, I've only been able to attend a couple of dozen games. Most of these were in the '60's. Now, as popular as the team has become, it's impossible for a simple 'fan' to purchase tickets for a given game. I loved the Cameron charm, but really, the demand for everyone to have a shot at attending more games in person will call for a remodeled, if not new, stadium.Originally Posted by OldPhiKap
I sure hope not. Cameron brings in nice revenue as is, and the best seats are still for the people that should have them, the Duke undergrads.
Why? Why would anyone bother doing this? People pay unbelievable prices for tickets now and would pay more if they were asked to. With or without luxury boxes, they can charge whatever they want. There is always some else who would be willing to take the spot of the person who left theirs behind.
Chris Heery
My problem with increases in the qualifying contribution levels and the ticket prices themselves is not so much that it costs me more to maintain my pair of season tickets, but that it is gradually forcing out longtime dedicated Duke fans whose places are being taken by corporate types who only attend a few marquee games and let fans of opposing teams use their tickets (or sell the tickets on e-Bay or StubHub) for the remaining games. Even a few years ago, you could count on being surrounded by the same folks--enthusiastic Blue Devil fans all--at every home game. Last season, many of the seats near us in Section 8 were occupied by different people for almost every game. Worst of all, the two seats adjacent to ours were frequently used by fans of the visiting team, at least for the ACC games (except, thankfully, the UNC game, when the two guys sitting there appeared to be neutral observers).
While the visiting fans sitting around us have almost always been cordial and well-behaved, and I certainly have nothing against season ticket holders letting friends or family members use their seats to enjoy the Cameron experience (as I have done myself on a couple of occasions), it perturbs me greatly to see opposing fans regularly taking seats that ought to be filled with diehard Duke fans cheering loudly for the home team. And it's apparent to me that we're not the only ones whose enjoyment of the game is diminished by the presence of those "interlopers." I understand that Duke needs to increase athletic revenues, and that Cameron is like a cow the Iron Dukes can milk every day; but pricing seats in Cameron at a level where the real Duke fans are being displaced by people for whom the tickets are simply a business expense (or worse yet, a source of profit) is IMO a shameful sacrilege.
Stray,
I think that is the major complaint of several (many?) folks. The real problem is what, if anything can be done about the practice? Is there anything the ID can do about the resale of these tix? Track what folks are sitting where? Monitor the internet ticket resale sites? Cancel your subscription if you are caught reselling your tix? I do not have any answer for this. Some will counter that they donate enough money each year and, in order to recoup some of their costs, they wish to resell the tix and really don't care to whom, as long as they make a "reasonable profit." Most, I would hope, would only resell to real "fans" or turn the tix in to the ID office so they may resell to other ID folks unable to buy season tix who are on their waiting list for each individual game. Have you ever discussed this with any folks in the ID/BB ticket office and offered any suggestions? Any response from their perspective? Serious questions and discussion here-not meant to argue or provoke.
Our fanbase is not as big as many of you think. (Certainly not locally.) We could not routinely sell out a building like the DeadDome or RBC. Keep in mind that someday our program just might not be at it's current elite level. Think of what it would be like in a big sterile building then.....
___________________
Mike Stein
Trinity '97, Tent #1 '97
Tampa
"Our fanbase is not as big as many of you think. (Certainly not locally.) We could not routinely sell out a building like the DeadDome or RBC. Keep in mind that someday our program just might not be at it's current elite level. Think of what it would be like in a big sterile building then....."
Our fanbase is huge, but not our alum fanbase, totally different, especially in the state of NC. I can tell you there are Duke fans all over the world, ask Bob GreenWe could/would sell out every home game with an 18,000 or 20,000 seat place, but there'd be a lot more opposing fans there, plus the current aura/coziness of CIS would likely be gone. I can understand an expansion to about 12,000 seats as long as the mystique is preserved, but nothing like the Whine and Cheese Dome.
__________________
I suggest we could (always) sell out an arena in the 12.5k range, provided we maintained a program in the upper half of the ACC.
The fan base in North Carolina grows as the State's population grows, and even disproportionately in favor of Duke, I would submit, as retirees flock there, leaving and or passing up Florida.
Are suites an option? - Watzone has seen the architects drawings. Put them on the ends and you build out the building to contain he suites, rather than hanging the suites above and over existing seating. As far as raising the roof, anything is possible. With the practice facility and other athletic facilities to be constructed, might we make the bleacher seats permanent seats and add seating capacity particularly in the corners (as the seats do not have be retract)?
One thing about the DBR commentary - suggesting that suites for Wade are a remote possibility. I believe with the planned new combined President's and AD's box building the possibility of suites becomes more of a likelihood. I understand this building will also house such suites, as well as catering and student dining facilities.
The Strategic Plan does not provide for the possibility of replacing Cameron (keeping it like Carichael at UNC) but replacing it with a larger new arena. Perhaps this is because the architects renditions of Cameron with suites suggest that adding suites is more feasible than some think - feasible in the sense that the suites can be added at some cost not prohibitive, and the basic charm of the facility could remain in tact notwithstanding such additions.
Watzone, what say you? Show us (non-premium subscribers) some affection.
I think we should lower the floor, add bleachers, then move the upstairs a little further down and seat about 13,500.
Before anything is done to CIS Wally Wade needs a complete overhaul. it would be wrong for the new AD to continue to focus on basketball at the expense of football again.
Leslie SatcherSometimes I feel like Jesse James,
Still trying to make a name.
Knowing nothings gonna change what I am.
I was a young troubadour,
when I rode in on a song.
and I'll be an old troubadour,
when I'm gone.
When they put in boxes, they can kiss my yearly donations goodbye. They may not be luxo box levels, but they are high enough. Some things in this world are above money.
I know you are being facetious about lowering the floor in Cameron.I think we should lower the floor, add bleachers, then move the upstairs a little further down and seat about 13,500.
With the track separating the stands and field, lowering the Football field does give you an ability to add seating in Wade. Many stadium renovations have gone this route.
In Cameron, seating is already right up to the court. It would take some kind of radical redo to flip the court arouns and lower it as a means to add seats, even if this works. Jarhead described this once.
Basically, to add suites you have to do it on the ends and go up (raise the roof) which Joe Alleva said would never happen on his watch, but which I think is reflected in some of the architects' drawings.
Still waiting / hoping for some good info. from Watzone re the proposals which have been drawn up.
From my perspective, there is only one conceivable benefit that could be derived from building luxury suites: It might move some of the corporate types and their clients behind glass, thereby reopening more of the regular seats upstairs for real Duke fans who care enough to show up and cheer for the Blue Devils.
Although I live in Tampa, I fly up to attend most conference games, and my son (Class of '00) who lives in Durham usually takes a friend when I'm not there. Two couples who are close friends of ours and live in Atlanta make the trip for virtually every home game. So distance need not be an insurmountable obstacle.
But as I mentioned earlier, the Iron Dukes maintain a "wait list" of members who have requested any extras that become available; in fact, I've obtained extras through them that way a couple of times when I had other family members in town. And while I assume the allocation is done based on Iron Duke priority level, I don't believe you have to be a season-ticket holder to put your name on the list. Obviously, if you're at the minimum contribution level, you're not likely to get tickets for the UNC game that way; but for anyone who is an Iron Duke member, it might be worth calling the Iron Dukes office to inquire about the prospects for other games--especially non-conference games, winter break games, and games played on weeknights. (Unfortunately, though, they sometimes don't learn that tickets are going to be available from season-ticket holders who can't attend until game day.)
Then there's always the McGrupp Method...
I'll echo Stray. I'm a (somewhat) recent grad, and I'm an Iron Duke member who is nowhere near the level required for tickets. In fact, I only donate very little. The Iron Dukes ticket exchange does work. I've called the line a number of times requesting tickets, and it's worked for me on a few occasions. Like Stray said, the calls I've received have been fairly last minute - usually something like the mid-afternoon on game day - so this method is going to be very difficult for non-locals.
And yes the McGrupp method works very well for locals as well. I've probably got a 50/50 record getting this to work over the last 5 years.
-- DukeUsul
Agreed. I've seen Duke play in Greensboro, once against UNC-G and once against A&T. Neither game was sold out. If Duke fans who complain about never being able to get a seat are not willing to drive 60 minutes to get a ticket to a game, it is hard to imagine filling a 20,000 stadium regularly.
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