Duke football: Bad memories fuel poor attendance

Despite reaching bowl games regularly and revitalizing Wallace Wade Stadium, the Duke football program has seen its attendance numbers remain stagnant as a result of fans’ torturous experiences from the past.

There were headaches with parking even when attendance at Duke football home games was at its lowest. There was urine spread across the floors of the poorly designed restrooms. There were long lines and horrible service at the outdated concession stands.

There were blowout losses. And then there were games that only a Duke football team could figure out a way to lose.

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Other than the price of a ticket, there isn’t much to be grateful for when reminiscing about attending a Duke football home game from 1995-2007. During that span of 13 seasons, the Blue Devils only had 14 wins at Wallace Wade Stadium.

That equates to barely one home win per year.

Only five of those 14 victories were against ACC opponents. The other nine all came against teams who were either in Division 1-AA or not in a power conference.

Five of those 13 seasons ended without a single home win. Four ended without a single win at all.

Growing up in North Carolina as a son of a sports-loving Duke graduate, I had the opportunity about six times a year to witness firsthand some of the worst performances by a Division I-A program in history in a stadium that was the laughingstock of the ACC.

While my fandom has never wavered, I overheard several lifelong Dukies swear off the idea of ever again attending a home football game during the years that preceded David Cutcliffe’s arrival on campus.

I couldn’t blame them.

And recent attendance statistics suggest that those same fans have stayed true to their promise to never come back.

Although the win totals and stadium conditions have drastically improved under the watch of Cutcliffe since 2008, the attendance at Wallace Wade Stadium has not been much greater than when the Blue Devils made a habit of offering winless seasons to their fans.

Unless Duke is hosting an opponent with a huge fan base, the attendance is almost certainly going to hover around the half-full mark — half-empty if you prefer a pessimistic perspective — in a stadium that seats about 40,000.

There are many arguments as to why the attendance woes have remained despite obvious upgrades to the program and its facilities. I believe that the memories of a dismal past are still too fresh for a majority of fans from my generation.

Now that many of those fans have children of their own, they have chosen other destinations for family outings on Saturdays in the fall. They must love their kids too much to force them to attend games in a stadium that left them with so many dismal memories from their own childhood.

But what is the solution?

The upgrades to the stadium are already sufficient. The upgrades in the win column are also not the problem. However, there has still not been enough time to heal the pain and embarrassment that Duke fans over the age of 30 still associate with the words “Wallace Wade Stadium.”

One option would be to change the name to David Cutcliffe Stadium. Consider the fact that Cutcliffe has coached the Blue Devils to the same number of bowl games in the past six seasons (five) as the program reached in the previous 67 seasons combined.

His name must remain closely associated with the stadium for its future to be bright.

Besides, how many fans are still alive who attended a game during Wallace Wade’s last season as head coach of the Blue Devils in 1950? How many fans can even list any of Wade’s accomplishments without the help of Google?

Unfortunately, the name of the stadium was tarnished by the university’s neglect and the coaching failures of Fred Goldsmith, Carl Franks, and Ted Roof. If a name change is too drastic, maybe the school should erect a giant statue of Cutcliffe at the entrance or consider changing the name of the field in his honor.

Maybe the school just needs to increase funds to advertise the upgraded experience to football fans. Or maybe the program needs to give away free tickets until the fans who swore off Duke home games forever are finally persuaded to come back.

But just as it takes a long time to get dried, sticky urine off the soles of your shoes after visiting a disgusting restroom, Wallace Wade Stadium might just have to wait until a new generation grows up with positive memories of Duke football before having all of its seats regularly occupied.