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Camp Fargo highlights growing student support at ASU


Journalism junior Eric Gregori and marketing senior Anthony Borglia play Fifa on an Xbox 360 outside Wells Fargo Arena on Sept. 23. The two have been camping outside of Wells Fargo Arena since Sunday and will be one of the first three students to receive tickets for the ASU vs UCLA game to be hosted on Sept. 25. (Photo by Andrew Ybanez) Journalism junior Eric Gregori and marketing senior Anthony Borglia play Fifa on an Xbox 360 outside Wells Fargo Arena on Sept. 23. The two have been camping outside of Wells Fargo Arena since Sunday and will be one of the first three students to receive tickets for the ASU vs UCLA game to be hosted on Sept. 25. (Photo by Andrew Ybanez)

You can call them crazy. You can criticize them for wasting time and skipping classes. You can throw out whatever derogatory adjective you can make up.

They will continue to wait.

A group of ASU students is chasing front-row seats in sections 32 and 33 for the school’s Pac-12 South clash against UCLA. Beginning Sunday night, some camped out outside Wells Fargo Arena to secure a premier ticket for Thursday’s game.

Students received notoriety last season at Camp Fargo for waiting in line before the Pac-12 championship game. But it wasn’t the first campout game. The initial occurrence was in 2012 when No. 2 Oregon came to town, and the practice was done for most of the 2013 season. The reason attention came during the Pac-12 championship game and for this game is the extended length of the campout.

At camp, the biggest misconception is students don’t attend class. But that’s not the case.

“We all go to class,” said junior Megan Colvin, who sits among the first group in in line. “Our biggest stipulation (to attendees) is spend your free time out here and you stay the night out here. As long as you’re doing as much as you can to be out here. During the day, if you need to go to class, go to class.”

Sophomore Patrick Carlson, also with that group, estimated he’s there 18 hours per day.

The funny thing is that the coveted prize that students spend most of their week vying for (front row seats), don't actually contain the best view of the game.

In Sun Devil Stadium the student section extends from the goal line to the 25-yard line in the southeast corner of the stadium.

But for those dedicated fans, being close to the action has a more intimate feel.

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“Players kind of see you before the game when they’re warming up, and they can turn around and give you a little wave, throw a pitchfork, something like that,” Carlson said. “It’s just a fun atmosphere in general.”

The tents are growing as the event gains more publicity and kickoff nears. The line wraps around the basketball arena. There are power outlets and Wi-Fi connectivity so the students aren’t shut out from the rest of the world. Most importantly, it provides a unique bonding experience with fellow fans.

“We all just like mutually love each other,” Colvin said. “We’re all friends. You get to meet new people who love sports as much as you do. It’s a good environment and it’s nice to see other people rally for the same thing, because I’ve never really seen that at ASU before.”

The campout started a social media firestorm, and there’s a new Twitter account for the event (@CampFargo). The recent attention has encouraged others to join in. Experiences like this cultivate fan support and enthusiasm, something the program badly needs.

ASU’s athletic department was 49th in ticket sales ($9.6 million) among 52 public power five schools in 2012-13, according to USA Today. In contributions, ASU ranked 42nd ($12.7 million) among those same schools.

Those low figures are in spite of the increased attendance at the games. That took off in 2011, when ASU re-branded itself, and has sustained itself in two ways. The first is coach Todd Graham connecting with fans in ways his predecessors couldn’t. Second, the creation of the 942 Crew has organized student support, and not just in football, for smaller sports, too.

This is an era where college students attend less football games, according to the Wall Street Journal. ASU ranked first in the Pac-12 (though USC, Stanford and Utah weren’t listed) in average student attendance in 2013.

But the students don’t make the University’s athletic department money, outside of the $75 mandatory semester fee in exchange for free student tickets to all home athletic events. The student support is a good sign for the long-term future of the program, because they’ll eventually become the boosters.

Although the overall process of waiting in line for tickets isn’t economically efficient, Colvin said having reserved seats would turn the student section into any other section.

“The best part about the student section is you’re packed together, you’re all there cheering on the same team,” Colvin said. “It’s not like you just show up right at game time. … I think that’s the best part of Camp Fargo is instead of just showing up on game day; we’re getting pumped up for it all week.”

 

Reach the columnist at Justin.Janssen@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @jjanssen11

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