Duke football releases video detailing Wallace Wade Stadium upgrades

The Duke football video youtube channel uploaded a video detailing the Wallace Wade Stadium Facilities Upgrade Thursday, including comments from President of Duke University Richard H. Broadhead, vice president and director of athletics Kevin White and head football coach David Cutcliffe.

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The video shows the plans for Duke’s future athletic campus, with the bulk of the renovations focused on removing the track from Wallace Wade Stadium, increasing its seating capacity, upgrading the press box and modernizing almost all of the existing football facilities.

“We are building a championship football program, and our home Wallace Wade Stadium has had no significant upgrades over the past 70 years,” Cutcliffe says in the video. “Success on the field requires that we are also successful off the field—especially as it relates to recruiting. We must become more competitive with our facilities in order to attract and retain top student athletes. We must also pay attention and improve the gameday amenities our fans deserve.”

As White describes, also included in the upgrade of athletic facilities will be a new plaza, dubbed the “hub of Duke athletics.” The Murray building, current weight training room and athletic training facility will all be doubled in size, and a new pavilion will be built that will contain a team store, as well as offices for sports information, ticketing, compliance and the Iron Dukes.

In addition to benefiting student athletes, the project appears to be geared towards providing fans more incentive to attend a variety of sporting events. The centrally-located plaza is described as a place for fans to gather and connect with one another before the different athletic events that take place on a vast athletic campus meant to showcase the university’s widespread success in sports.

“Duke athletics is the single most visible signature of Duke’s comprehensive commitment to excellence,” Brodhead says in the video. “This is a school that is always producing champions. We need to think ‘how can we make some investments in our time to ensure that Duke athletics is as great in the future as it has been in the present and in the past.’”