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Published: January 5, 2009
Brett Eagle's sister and brother-in-law have season tickets on the 50-yard line for Wake Forest University football games at BB&T Field. Eagle's seats aren't quite so good.
"My parents and I sit in the red zone," he said, making a sweeping motion downfield indicating how far away they are from the prime seats.
Eagle is hoping to change that. He is part of a group of about 30 fans taking part in the Last Fan Sitting contest which began this morning at the stadium. Fans are competing to win rights to the four seats of their choice, locked in for the next 15 years.
"I'm hoping to upgrade for myself and my parents," Eagle said. "They always took us to games when we were little."
Contestants must remain seated in their stadium seats for the duration of the contest except for 10-minute breaks every two hours and 15-minute breaks every six hours. They were allowed to bring in 20 pounds worth of gear, but nothing that required being plugged in to an electrical outlet.
Barry Faircloth, an associate athletics director at Wake Forest, said the contest will run through Thursday, and if there's not a winner by then, it will be decided by a trivia contest that focuses on Wake Forest sports.
The maximum value of the contest, depending on where the winner picks the seats, could reach $22,000, Faircloth said. That includes the rights to the seats and tickets for four for 15 years.
Kim Phillips said a "very understanding boss" allowed her the time of from her job at Southern Community Bank to take part in the contest. She said she's participating to improve seats for her husband and her 12-year-old daughter. They usually sit on the grassy hill behind the southern end zone for the games.
"I'm a Girl Scout leader so I'm used to camping out," she said.
The National Weather Service predicts mostly wet weather for the next four days, with lows in the 30s and 40s.
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