A few weeks ago, The Chronicle let incoming first-years ask their pressing questions. Here are responses to a selection of sports-themed questions. Please keep in mind that although some questions are straightforward, not every question has one cut-and-dried answer. And don’t forget to tell us your questions at the bottom of this story.
This article will answer questions about getting tickets to sporting events, showing up to basketball games, tenting for the North Carolina game and going to Countdown to Craziness.
Do Duke students have to pay for tickets to University sporting events? How do they pick up the tickets?
No, you don’t have to pay. Duke offers its students free admission to all home sporting events as long as students show their DukeCard upon entry.
Some sporting events require a ticket—notably football games—which can be picked up with a DukeCard at the Duke Athletics Ticket Office. To avoid a line at the ticket office on football gameday, there is usually a table set up in the Bryan Center Plaza for a few days before the game where students can pick up their ticket. Each student gets a single ticket with a DukeCard, and tickets cannot be picked up for friends.
Can I just show up to a men’s basketball game a few minutes before game time?
This depends on the game you’d like to go to. During most nonconference games, a group can walk up right when the game starts, and there should be enough room in Cameron Indoor Stadium to fit that group in toward the back rows of the student section.
However, there is a higher demand from students to enter a conference game, so the process looks different for these sporting events.
Since many conference games have longer wait times, a group would expect to wait all morning and afternoon before the start of a game. For all games, if you want a front-row seat at any game, you’ll have to get in line in the morning. Instead of requiring that all group members remain in line during this time, there’s a walk-up line to rotate members of a group.
There is a walk-up line for every Duke men’s basketball game, except for games over break and the Duke vs. North Carolina game. The walk-up line policy is that one-third of a group remain in Krzyzewskiville, the designated area in front of Cameron, at all times.
A student group known as the line monitors are in charge of keeping track of the process of getting into Cameron. Bigger games will have a different walk-up line policy—where tents will be allowed—since line monitors expect multi-day wait times for these games.
What are the rules for tenting for the Duke vs. North Carolina men’s basketball game?
The Duke vs. North Carolina game is incredibly popular, since the Tar Heels have historically been Duke’s greatest rival. Because of this, groups are expected to reside in a tent for weeks prior to the big game, which occurs in the Spring. How long you have to tent depends on whether Duke first plays North Carolina at home or away. Tenting groups can have a maximum of 12 members.
There are four consecutive tenting periods with successively more lax requirements. The order of tenting periods is Black, Blue, White and Flex. Your tenting group can join at any point during Black or Blue tenting, provided that there are fewer than 70 tents already in K-Ville. To join during White tenting, your group has to be one of the first 30 groups to complete a one-night scavenger hunt.
Black Tenting—the first tenting period—requires that two group members are in K-Ville during the day, and 10 members are on duty at night.
During the second period, Blue Tenting, one member must be on duty when the sun’s out, while six members have to be in K-Ville at night.
For White Tenting, one member has to be on duty during the day with two people on duty at night. The rules for Flex Tenting are the same as those for White Tenting, except Flex tenters are not guaranteed to get into Cameron.
To make sure that groups are abiding by tenting rules, the line monitors hold random checks throughout the day and night. If a group misses two tent checks, they get put at the back of the line—behind all the tenters in K-Ville and the ones on the waitlist.
As the rules are complicated and subject to change, refer to K-Ville Nation for the most accurate tenting information. For a more complete list of the rules, you can read last year’s K-Ville rules here.
What is Countdown to Craziness?
Countdown to Craziness is a preseason blue/white scrimmage to get Duke men’s basketball fans excited for the upcoming season. This year Countdown to Craziness will be on Friday, Oct. 18, 2019.
Can I bring my parents to a game?
Section 17 is reserved for Duke students only. However, students are given the opportunity to bring their parents to a game during family weekend, which will be an exhibition contest against Northwest Missouri State this year. Students will line up on a given night to receive one free ticket as well as up to two $20 tickets. For this game, students will have to bring the ticket instead of their DukeCard.
Did one of the questions in this article get you thinking? Have a question about another aspect of life at Duke that we didn't address? Let us know here:
Editor's Note: This article has been updated to clarify descriptions of the tenting periods for the North Carolina basketball game.
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