RALEIGH--At Carolina and Duke, it's still a simple matter to buy a ticket to a football game, but at N.C. State, it requires a calculator, an actuarial table and a searching re-examination of your life's priorities.

That's because Duke and Carolina remain basketball schools with plenty of empty football seats for the same-day buyer or a casual fan who wants season tickets without contributing to the booster club.

But N.C. State, while still intent on excelling in basketball, also wants to be a national power in the costly sport of football. That means a major buildup in football facilities -- a new fieldhouse, new practice fields and a big video scoreboard. That's all up at Carter-Finley Stadium now, mostly built with millions in borrowed money.

Now it's time to pay it back, which has brought a push to sell lifetime seating rights. It's a deal in which fans pay at least $2,000 per seat for the right to buy a season ticket annually for life.

Most fans can afford the expense, but not all. Recent State graduates, senior citizens, working people just scraping by and anyone with a thrifty streak now realize that the day of the casual fan is over.

Now every State season-ticket holder is being asked to contribute. If you don't, get ready to watch the Pack's ascent on TV.

That was the thrust of a recent letter from the Wolfpack Club to the fans who have been laggards about buying lifetime seating rights. The stadium is filling up with people who have bought the rights. If you're not on the list, you may soon not be in the stadium. The letter urged those without rights to buy by the May 14 deadline.

Most Wolfpackers, being good foot soldiers in Amato's army, decided to pony up for the lifetime rights, plus pay at least $300 a year to the Wolfpack Club. That allows them to purchase a $215 season ticket that will get them into five games.

For some who paid, the decision was likely preceded by a kitchen table discussion about what luxuries they would cut back to afford football. And if it wasn't, there may be some interesting discussion coming up in which spouses bring up the cost of the football tickets.

Some have opted to avoid the expense. Either they can't afford it, or it's just more than they want to spend for a Saturday afternoon's entertainment. Some calculate they can buy tickets to a few games from scalpers for less than what the Wolfpack Club requires.

A few thousand club members may still get season tickets without paying for the lifetime rights, but they'll be consigned to temporary bleachers and three sections on the South end of the stadium. There they'll sit like debtors in the public stocks -- the fans who wouldn't go all the way for football greatness.

How far a fan must go for greatness isn't clear. The $2,000 price is fixed, but the minimum Wolfpack Club contribution could drift upward, as could the price of the tickets themselves.

Those costs and whether tickets will be available to those without lifetime rights was the subject of an extended discussion in one Wolfpack Internet chat room. Some fans wondered whether spending thousands on football tickets was the best thing for their families. Others said the price was too much for graduates just starting out. Some asked whether longtime season-ticket holders in their 70s will want to invest in lifetime seating rights, even if they could pass on a balance of years if they don't use their seat for 20 years.

One fan wrote that his family income is more than $75,000, but he felt he could not afford the added cost of keeping his four seats on top of a mortgage, two cars, insurance and student loans.

Bobby Purcell, the Wolfpack Club's executive director, said the club will work out payment arrangements for fans who find the price a challenge. "It's our intention that nobody is going to be left out," he said.

The increase was made necessary by years of postponing improvements, Purcell said.

"If we are going to build what all our fans want it to be, we can not stay stagnant," Purcell said. "We stayed stagnant too long. What we're doing now is what we should have been doing for 30 years."

But what the Wolfpack Club describes as an investment is really a fancy word for gambling.

Coach Chuck Amato has fans pumped up. This season's schedule has a big-time feel with Miami and Ohio State coming into Carter-Finley. But buildings and schedules are not enough. The Pack has to win or face a backlash from fans who gave until it hurt but didn't get what was promised.

Once, it was enough to just be entertaining and competitive. Going to a game could be a simple, same-day decision. You could go to Carter-Finley, sit on the grassy slope and enjoy the afternoon as much as the game.

But that was back when football was just for fun. Now at Carter-Finley, the money, the fans and the consequences have all gotten serious.