Register Now for Free Duke Football Tickets

After earning the team’s first bowl game win since 1961, Duke football will begin its new season Sept. 3 by welcoming faculty, staff and their families as part of the annual Employee Kickoff Celebration.

Staff and faculty can cheer on Duke for free when the Blue Devils host North Carolina Central University at Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium. Duke finished last season with an 8-5 record, capped with a 44-41 overtime win against University of Indiana in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl.

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Employees can go online now to reserve up to four free tickets to the game. Extra tickets will be made available for a discount price of $5 each. Due to a record number of requested tickets last year and space limitations, a cap of 25,000 total tickets will be made available to faculty and staff.

Kickoff is 6 p.m., but pre-game festivities, including music, inflatable games, face painting and a catered meal, will run from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Due to new security measures put in place for home football games, attendees are encouraged to enter the stadium as early as possible to avoid delays and catch the start of the game. Gates open at 4 p.m. At 5 p.m., a series of crackling fireworks will be launched from the stadium’s scoreboard to alert fans kickoff is an hour away.

With several changes to this year’s Employee Kickoff Celebration and football game day, here are key points of what you need to know:

Ticket Request and Advance Pickup Locations

Faculty and staff can reserve tickets online. Up to four free tickets are available for each request; every additional ticket after the four costs $5. Employees who'd like to remind and invite friends who work at Duke can join the Employee Kickoff Celebration's Facebook event page.

Like last year, there are two options for ticket pickup:

• Collect tickets in advance at the Bryan Center, Human Resources offices at 705 Broad St. and Duke Clinic.
• Get tickets the day of the game at a designated handout location on the K-Ville quad outside the food tent or at the Rubenstein Ticket Booth in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Advance ticket pickup will take place in these areas:

Bryan Center
Top floor, across from the Information Desk and Ticket Office
Aug. 30, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

705 Broad St.
Second floor, Conference Room 203
Aug. 31, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Duke Clinic
Outside Employee Occupational Health and Wellness offices, Red Zone basement
Sept. 1, 5 to 8 p.m.

Employees who choose to pick up tickets in advance will not be able to eat at the event's catered meal. 

A valid DukeCard ID is necessary to receive tickets at all locations, whether in advance or on game day.

Employees who want more than four tickets may pay for extra tickets with cash or a debit/credit card and collect the extra tickets at the advance locations. at the Bryan Center, Human Resources offices at 705 Broad St. and Duke Clinic. If purchasing extra tickets on game day, faculty and staff will need to visit a dedicated ticket distribution location near the Rubenstein Ticket Booth in the new lobby of Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Enjoy a catered meal in Cameron

The seating and hangout space for Employee Kickoff attendees will be moved inside the air-conditioned Cameron Indoor Stadium, while catered meal pickup and some entertainment will remain outside.

Like previous years, the food tent will be located on the K-Ville green space adjacent to the Card Lot. After picking up food, attendees have the option of entering Cameron from its north entrance. Signage will direct foot traffic to seating available courtside or in second-level seating. Overflow seating will be made available in Card Gym. 

Face painters will set up in the Hall of Champions on the second floor of Cameron while a DJ and inflatable bouncy houses will be kept outside near the food tent in Morgon Plaza. See this map for layout details. 

Cameron will remain open with other Employee Kickoff activities until 5:30 p.m.

Security Measures

In an effort to increase safety and security of campus visitors, fans attending Duke football games this season will take part in new security measures that include metal detectors, a no-bag policy and no re-entry once a fan has left Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium. 

Given the size crowd expected at the Employee Kickoff Celebration, Duke Athletics administrators encourage employees to start entering the stadium as early as possible, as estimates show it may take about 90 minutes to screen a maximum capacity crowd of about 34,000 using all available metal detectors at four gate locations.

For details about the measures and what can and can’t be brought into the stadium, see this story.