Duke athletics director Joe Alleva said Wallace Wade is due for a structural upgrade, a project that will include new restrooms and concessions areas.

"I hope we have the architectural plans for [stadium improvements] in the next year for sure," Alleva said this week. "Once we have that, we'll start raising the money. It all comes down to money."

Alleva said he wouldn't know how much the project would cost until plans are drawn. He hoped to have plans within the next year. Work couldn't begin without funds, though. Duke requires the athletics department to raise the money before construction begins.

Most recently, Duke raised funds for a new basketball practice facility and athletics academic building behind Cameron Indoor Stadium and a new field hockey facility on Duke's East Campus.

Alleva said Duke will break ground on the field hockey building and begin clearing trees for the academic building next week.

"Once we get those two projects going, that'll give us an opportunity to start working on this project, I think," Alleva said.

The Blue Devils (0-1) travel to Winston-Salem on Saturday to meet Wake Forest (1-0) at Groves Stadium, a facility that hadn't been touched since opening in 1968. Wake is now in the middle of a six-phase project to spiff up Groves.

Plans were announced last month to build a new tower for luxury suites and press facilities at Groves Stadium by June 2008.

"Our football program is heading in a good direction, and I think fans can see that things are very positive," Wake Forest athletics director Ron Wellman said. "Obviously, that's a factor when you're looking at these type of projects: Are we going to have that type of support to succeed?"

Wellman said he thinks fans are ready to support the Groves project. Wake Forest is 27-32 since Jim Grobe arrived to coach in 2001. Grobe has brought stability and some success to the program.

That kind of fair-to-middling progress on the field has been beyond the reach of the Blue Devils in the same time frame. Since 2001, Duke is 9-49.

Not bigger, but better

The stadiums at Duke and Wake seat the fewest people in the ACC. Wallace Wade, which has been scaled back from 57,000-seat capacity in the early years, now seats 33,941. Groves seats 31,500. Still, no one at Duke is suggesting the Blue Devils, with an average attendance of 20,678 at football games since 2001, need a larger stadium.

Roof and Alleva do agree that improving the stadium is something else they can do off the field to attract fans while the football team catches up on it. They know winning is another way to goose the fan base.

"I'd like to make Wallace Wade Stadium kind of like Cameron Indoor Stadium," Alleva said. "We don't need any more seats or a bigger stadium. But we need new restrooms. They're old and dilapidated. We could probably use a better president's box. Concessions stands could be improved."

Can benefit recruiting

Roof says a nicer stadium could help recruiting like the $20 million Yoh Football Center, built in 2003, does.

The Yoh Center -- from his fourth-floor office, Roof can show recruits a panoramic view of the stadium that includes the Duke Forest beyond the campus -- was Duke's first substantive show of support for the struggling football program in the new century.

"I thought it was important that Duke show its commitment to football. They did that," Roof said.

Duke has to connect the dots, though: Great facilities attract great recruits, great recruits turn into great players and great players win football games.

Roof has produced three of the schools' best recruiting classes since he took over for Carl Franks at the end of the 2003 season.

"I think that was a direct result of the building," Roof said. "We just got to keep looking at ways to make everything better. And I understand we have to do our part on the field."

Wallace Wade opened for business in October 1929. It's the only place besides the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., to host a Rose Bowl game.

The last time Duke made any substantive changes to the stadium was in 1981. At that time, the athletics department spent $4 million to build a new sports medicine facility -- the Finch Yeager building -- which also houses the press box. Aluminum seats and restrooms were added, and concrete was added and sealed to strengthen the structure.

Since then, the stadium has seen a handful of cosmetic touch-ups. This summer, Wallace Wade was painted, landscaping was added and new iron gates were installed all around it to replace 60-year-old chain-link fences.

Roof said he believes the money is a good investment.

"Probably half the kids that visit here are like, 'I never knew it was so nice here,' so I guess they have some preconceived notions [about Duke football]," Roof said. "[Good facilities] are a necessary part of college football. There's no question about that."

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