Tonight, students who usually park their cars in the Blue Zone will have to move their cars in preparation for tomorrow's season-opening home football game. But tomorrow, fans attending the game against Western Carolina will find a new parking scheme and a nominal, though unprecedented, parking fee.
Fans parking in any of the designated football lots will have to pay $5, with the exception of Iron Dukes and University faculty and staff who already have Duke permits. Students will have to pay the parking fee if they choose to drive to games, regardless of whether they possess University parking permits.
"One of the largest complaints we've received in the past has been finding available parking, as well as inbound and outbound traffic flow," said Mitch Moser, associate athletic director. The fees will help pay for a larger staff and other measures that will help ease the parking crunch and "give people more time to get to the game and enjoy the atmosphere and tailgate, all the things that go along with college football," he explained.
This year, lots will open earlier than they did in previous years--at noon for evening games and 9 a.m. for early afternoon games--and will have more parking attendants directing traffic, Moser said. The athletic department will not profit from charging the parking fees.
"The revenue is basically a cost recovery," he said. "We are going to be employing three times as many people and incurring far more man-hours both with parking attendants, parking and transportation services staff, as well as Duke police, highway patrol and Durham County deputies."
In addition to hiring more staff to cover more ground, the fees will pay for extra signage and a gameday guide that includes parking directions and promotional information for home games, Moser said. The fees are "intended to be permanent," he said, and will be charged for basketball games as well.
Game attendees will also have more extensive parking options, as Parking Garage IV and the Duke University Road lots will now be open, said Melissa Harden, assistant director of parking operations. Those lots will offer a total of more than 800 extra parking spots, raising the total number of parking spots available to the general public to over 3,000. There will also be nearly 1,700 spots for Iron Dukes.
Jose Piscoya, Trinity '02, who has continued to attend Duke football games since his graduation, said he did not encounter significant problems with parking last year and was not sure a parking fee was necessary.
"I don't think it's such a great idea," he wrote in an e-mail.
"Considering the current interest and fan attention that the Duke football team brings, adding an extra $5 for parking might deter some fans from attending the games on a regular basis." Piscoya's memory of football parking will ring true for many students tonight. "I think as a student... the bigger problem was having to move my car out of the way for the fans to arrive and park the next day," he added.
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