Fluffy clouds dotted the blue sky above Wallace Wade Stadium as Vicki Stone settled into her seat for Duke's 2006 Homecoming football game last September.
"This is perfect football weather," said Stone, assistant director of athletic development, as she settled into a bleacher behind friend and co-worker, Alice McKenzie. "We're loyal to the Blue Devils. We bleed blue."
Stone and McKenzie, administrative coordinator for the Office of Major Gifts, attend almost every home game during football and basketball season.
Their ticket? The Duke Employee Athletic Pass.
Employee Athletic Passes can be purchased at the Duke athletic box office in Cameron Indoor Stadium. For more information, call 681-BLUE.
For $70 per person, the pass provides 2007-08 season tickets to Duke Football and Duke women's basketball home games. Also included is a ticket to one men's and one women's basketball practice, and a gift item such as a Duke T-shirt.
A family athletic pass is also available for $150, which buys four season ticket passes to home football and women's basketball games.
"I just love college ball," McKenzie said. "It is such fun to watch."
McKenzie and Stone have each purchased the pass for the past several years. "It's really a great deal," said Stone, who joined Athletics this year after 10 years as major gifts director for Duke's Office of University Development. "It's a lot less than you'd pay if you just bought individual tickets or a season pass."
The Employee Athletic Pass program began several years ago to build the fan base among faculty and staff. The women's basketball game seats with the pass are general admission; the football seats are in the end zone.
Bart Smith, director of promotions for Duke Athletics, said athletics sells about 1,000 passes each year, but that number fluctuates, based on predictions for the teams.
"It's a bargain because you can't get cheaper admission any other way," he said.
Stone and McKenzie are looking forward to using their pass to follow the women's basketball team, which finished the 2006-07 season with a 14-0 ACC conference record and welcomed new Head Coach, Joanne P. McCallie, or "Coach P."
For fans like Stone and McKenzie, the math is simple:
Employee Athletic Pass: $70.
Drinks and snacks during each game: $7.
Duke pride: Priceless.