Empty Student Seats in Cameron Concern Duke

This year, Duke is trying to reverse that with a new ticketing system that allows students to reserve seats online.

The fabled “Cameron Crazies” are revered as the zaniest, and most committed, fans in college basketball, willing to sleep in tents for days to get into a game.

But in recent years, student attendance at Duke men’s basketball games has slipped. And last year, when Duke finished 22-11, there were  empty spaces in the student sections for more than half the games.

“The attendance last year was pathetic in terms of fan support, and that’s something we’re trying to rectify this year,” said Roberto Bazzani, a Duke senior who serves as head line monitor. “Last year, you could walk in 15 minutes after tipoff and still get great seats. ...

“Ten years ago, five years ago, they’d turn away people at the door because we were too packed. We could sell out every game, even exhibition games and Blue-White games. It was packed.”

Bazzani said the athletics department had told him the dropoff “was in the past five years.”

“It was minimal at first, and then last year, it was a dramatic decrease,” he said.

Cameron seats 9,314, and Duke allots 1,200 tickets for undergraduates, who stand in bleachers along the sides of the court. Bazzani said some Duke games last season drew as few as 900 students, and others had about 1,000.

Duke has about 6,200 undergraduate students, who can get in free. Television viewers often can't tell that some seats are empty because the gaps are in the corners of the bleachers and out of view.

Duke has noticed, however, and the drop has concerned Mike Krzyzewski, who has sought to build a tight bond with students in his 28 seasons as head coach.

“I get letters from people saying, ‘How can I get in?’ I said, ‘Well, just come,’” Krzyzewski said. “I’m sure there are a lot of undergrads who feel they can’t get in. So how do we tackle that?”

Exactly what has caused the dropoff is difficult to say. Last year’s record, disappointing by Duke standards, may have contributed.

“I’m not going to say our record was miserable – it wasn’t,” Bazzani said. “But Duke fans, we’ve been spoiled a little bit. We expect an Elite Eight every year, a run at an ACC championship

“We’ve been spoiled, and people might take it for granted.”

This year, the school has developed a sophisticated system in which students go online three days before most games to reserve a spot for the upcoming home game. Once validated, a student has to be at Cameron at least an hour before the game or that spot goes to someone in a walk-up line. A student can still pitch a tent to be first in line because the seats are given on a first-come, first-served basis to those who have reservations.

The previous system of tenting will still be in effect for the big games – this year, those games will be UNC and Maryland – but almost all other games will be done by computer.

The new process allows Duke students to go online and see how many seats are left and whether they have a chance to get in. The thought is that makes it more appealing for students to know if they can make the game.

“We wanted to be able to make the system easier for students,” said Mitch Moser, the associate director of athletics who has worked with the students on the process. “They won’t have to miss class, won’t have to wait in line as long.”

Moser would not give details on student attendance, but it's clear that this year, Krzyzewski and others in the athletic department are urging students to attend. The basketball office spent time with the graduate students, who have a different ticket process, and Bazzani said Krzyzewski challenged the Duke freshmen to get involved and support the team.

As Bazzani recalled, “Coach said to the freshmen, ‘I’m putting this as a challenge to you. We’re going to have a policy of no empty seats in Cameron this year. I’m personally challenging you to be Crazies, to be Duke, to be better than anybody who has passed through those stands.”

Duke students did not fill up this season's Blue-White exhibition game – Bazzani estimated there were about 100 seats left – but the real test begins Friday, when the Devils open at home against N.C. Central.

The new policy has received some mixed reviews. Krzyzewski wonders if students fully understand it. And senior Geoffrey Southmayd from Austin, Texas, said he preferred the old way.

“It takes away from the getting in line,” Southmayd said. “It used to be, if you wanted a good seat, you had to get in line, put in the time.

“Now you just get in a digital line. It’s who has the fastest finger.”