ASU students began camping outside of Wells Fargo Arena as early as Sunday Sept. 21 for tickets to the ASU vs UCLA game on Sept. 25, 2014. (Photo by Andrew Ybanez)It’s ASU athletics’ newest student tradition.
Camp Fargo, named after ASU’s Wells Fargo Arena, is home to ASU football super fans who just can’t wait to get in line for their wristbands.
The camp has sparked discussion around campus and the Valley, starting the week of the 2013 Pac-12 Championship Game at Sun Devil Stadium when the phrase was coined. While students have camped out for tickets since well before the phrase, the naming made the activity a tradition.
This season, Camp Fargo has grown, as students started lining up days in advance to get into the Blackout game against No. 12 UCLA on Sept. 25 and, now, the Maroon Monsoon on Oct. 18 when the Sun Devils will host No. 23 Stanford.
The camp has its own Twitter account and has generated the kind of buzz usually reserved for some of the traditionally exuberant student sections in Durham, North Carolina (the Cameron Crazies) or College Station, Texas (the 12th Man).
The first campers arrived to set up Saturday night, almost exactly a week before kickoff against Stanford.
Economics sophomore Siaffa Kroma and his friends set up their tents Monday. Kroma has camped out for all but two games in his tenure at ASU and enjoys both the football and social aspects.
“I wanted to come out for the game, of course, and get a good seat,” Kroma said. “It’s fun to come and hang out with people, meet new people and just have a good time. It’s interesting.”
At 1 p.m. Wednesday, the campsite was quiet except for the sound of Luke Bryan and Journey blasting from a nearby speaker. There were about 20 tents set up around the edge of Wells Fargo Arena, anticipating Saturday morning’s rush.
Football players, such as junior running back DJ Foster, walked by over the course of the afternoon, peering over what their play has wrought. The walkway around the arena, which has been gated off for the campers to stay in peace, was lined with blankets, snack food, TVs and even an empty inflatable pool.
Students are scattered through the camps doing homework, listening to music and napping. As people arrive to camp, security greets them with the ground rules of Camp Fargo.
There are simple instructions students must to follow to participate in Camp Fargo. Upon arrival, campers are told that there is a check-in every four hours to make sure that someone is monitoring their tent. If there isn’t a person there, the tent will be pulled from the line and campers will have to reinsert themselves (yes, all the way to the back) in the line.
Fans have taken to scheduling rotations to ensure someone is watching the tent at all times. Finance freshman Ryan Murray and his friends did just that.
“One of our friends specifically set up a schedule of what times everyone is going to be where,” Murray said. “We actually have a couple more guys heading out here in an hour. Whenever someone is free, they make their way out here, even if it’s for just an hour.”
As the afternoon progressed, a few more tents sprung up around the arena. People were given the same instructions about maintenance, and associate athletic director Bill Kennedy made his way around to the campsites greeting new and old campers and thanking them for their support of the athletic program.
Kennedy said that the crowd gathered is comparable with the past few and attendance is rising steadily overall at the camp and in the stadium, making ASU one of the few schools that can boast an increase in student attendance.
“I think we’ve got a good turnout for this one, considering that it’s only Wednesday and the game is not until Saturday evening,” Kennedy said. “Obviously, it’s growing pretty well. We obviously appreciate all the student support and the fact that they are passionate enough about football that they want to come out here and make sure they get good seats.”
Good seats are in the eye of the beholder, Kennedy said.
“Depending on your definition of good seats, there are lower bowl seats available for people who don’t camp out; once we get through all the campers there are plenty of lower bowl seats,” Kennedy said. “Also, the upper bowl, those are very nice seats. In fact, they’re probably better seats because you can see more of the game, and they’re closer to the 50-yard line.”
Why, then, are students camping out to be the first?
“I think what happens out here is that there are people who are very excited about the game, you have people that want to show that excitement and this is a place to do that with other people who are excited about it,” Kennedy said. “You have a tremendous sense of community, you have some pride about being an ASU student and coming out here and, I think, because of the energy that picks up as we go through the week, people understand it’s a fun place to be, and we appreciate that they want to come out here an express those feelings.”
People started getting back to their sites around dinner time as the sun set behind University House, and some who had been around all day went off to take care of homework or go to meetings. The first few tents in line were the first people to get back to their tents, with others coming in later. An Eric Hosmer jersey hung from the top of one tent, signaling the Kansas City Royals’ trip to the World Series.
Some watched and listened to the NLCS game between the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals, while others tuned into hockey games and Cartoon Network’s “Adventure Time” or played video games. Some worked on homework while others tossed a football around in front of Sun Devil Stadium.
Murray said the best part of Camp Fargo is the camaraderie that is built up between campers.
“It’s cool being able to hang out with other people, even if you don’t know them,” Murray said. “I mean, everyone is here for the same reason: to go watch the game.”
At 11 p.m., as the day came to a close, students remained out and about, milling around the arena and stadium, keeping the spirit going. In that moment, the true purpose of Camp Fargo presented itself: bringing ASU students together in a new, creative way to support a common interest: Sun Devil football.
Reach the reporter at mtonis@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter@Tonis_The_Tiger
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