Over the past decade, in the present and in the near future, Duke University and the athletics department have made a financial commitment of more than $75 million to maintain and upgrade its athletics facilities to hold their position as among the finest in the nation. This commitment is clearly evident in a look at Duke's current football facilities as well as its plans for the future of Duke football.

Director of Athletics Joe Alleva aims to complete the path forged by his predecessors in developing an outstanding football complex for the Blue Devils.It is an undertaking that began in the 1980s with a complete stadium renovation, the construction of the Murray Building and a new press box.The ongoing project resurfaced in 1997 with the laying of a brand new playing surface in Wallace Wade Stadium. This occurred just one year after new practice fields and turf.

Further enhancements took place in 1998, with the addition of new entrance gates, bowl and conference championship signage surrounding the stadium wall at field level, and conference flags marking the aisles on concourse level. Duke became the first football facility in North Carolina to boast a video board, which was added prior to the 1998 season. 

The commitment has continued with the building of the Yoh Football Center, a facility with new locker rooms, weight rooms, training areas and meeting space. Duke's football facilities are state-of-the-art and ranks among the nation's finest.

Named for legendary Duke head coach Wallace Wade, the stadium is one of the most comfortable in the Atlantic Coast Conference.The horseshoe-shaped structure, nestled among the greenery and towering pines of the surrounding Duke forest, features aluminum bench seating, newly remodeled restrooms and a lighting system for evening games.

The facility was known as Duke Stadium when it opened for the first time on October 5, 1929.The University of Pittsburgh defeated Duke in that first game, but since that time the Blue Devils have enjoyed a winning edge on their home turf.Duke owns a record of 204-159-6 in games played there, with 58 of the victories coming by shutout.

The lighting system was added in 1984, opening the way for night football at Duke. Lighting features include four 110-foot-high poles with 64 lights apiece, as well as illumination for parking and walkway areas. The system gives Duke scheduling flexibility for television and allows the Blue Devils to play their early fall games in the cooler evening hours.

Six summers later, a quarter-million dollar world-class track was installed around the playing field. Funded by gifts from Glaxo, Inc., and N.C. Amateur Sports, the Mondo Super-X surface has served as the site for the 1990 and 2000 NCAA Track and Field Championships, 1995 USA Pan Africa and 1996 Gold Rush meets. In June of 2000, Duke once again hosted the NCAA Track and Field Championships.This premier facility gives the entire Durham community a superb training and meet arena.

When the Wallace Wade Stadium playing surface received an overhaul, including new turf, drainage and irrigation systems in 1997, a "bridge" made of dirt, sand, All-Pro turf, and plywood was placed over the track to protect the Mondo surface from the trucks and heavy equipment needed to complete the job.The scraping of the dirt and turf from the field resulted in some interesting findings.The layers of dirt, normally a mixture of sand and direct, were actually, after 67 years, an eight-inch layer of top soil and then an eight-inch layer of sand with old two-inch clay pipes for drains underneath. Rain and water on the field could not work its way through the dirt to the sand and into the pipes resulting in the field retaining water like a sponge.

A new irrigation and drainage system put nearly a mile of plastic pipes under the ground with gravel and then a mixture of sand and soil, with 70 percent sand and 30 percent soil, on top.The field was then sprigged with nearly 1,200 sprigs to the bushel, a high concentration to allow for a thick surface.The field also has a new 12-inch crown, with lasers used to ensure an even crown.The drainage system, hooked into a new main sewer line, is able to take up to nine inches an hour of rain or water away from the field's playing surface.

Duke's practice facilities, two natural grass fields adjacent to the stadium, were resodded in the spring in 2000. Duke's practice turf field, also located near the football facilities, is used during inclement weather and to prepare the Blue Devils for opponents' turf fields.

Wallace Wade Stadium's largest crowd flooded through the gates in 1949, when 57,500 people witnessed the annual Duke-North Carolina game.The current capacity is 33,941.

The stadium also owns a special niche in college football history in that it is the only facility outside Pasadena, Calif., to host the Rose Bowl. The 1942 Rose Bowl came to Durham during World War II when gatherings of large crowds on the West Coast were dangerous. Oregon State defeated Duke 20-16 in the contest. Today, in honor of that occasion, rose bushes from the Tournament of Roses Committee flank the bust of Wallace Wade at the stadium entrance.

A tribute to former longtime assistant football coach and a friend to the athletics department, Carmen Falcone, is also located near the student entrance.