Longtime Syracuse fans continue to show support through basketball’s doldrums.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Up above the mesosphere of the JMA Wireless Dome and into the very top layer of the 300 section exists a level of Syracuse fandom known to a select few. The cheers are loud, the drinks are cold and the loyalty spans decades.
Welcome to 311-Heaven, where most members of this crew have gathered as season ticket holders since the dome was opened in 1980. The fandom is so long in the tooth it’s become an identity.
“We’ve been here forever,” said longtime season-ticket holder Jack Davis. “This is what we do.”
The core group of fans have gathered in section 311 since the dome’s inception, with new members joining along the way. Beginning in the first athletic season when Syracuse moved basketball and lacrosse to the dome along with football, the group had seats scattered throughout the dome but would agree to meet in section 311.
“We’d always meet right here for football,” Davis said. “Then we moved our basketball seats up here too.”
One thing the fans up here know is the bird’s-eye view of the court isn’t a bad one, sitting on top of the action with an uninterrupted view. Longtime Syracuse fans are likely familiar with the “311 Heaven” banner that hangs above the section on the concrete edifice, giving visibility to an otherwise far-off locale of the dome.
A few years after the dome’s opening, banners were allowed into the building. The 311 Heaven banner — help up by bungee cords through grommets — is the last of its kind these days.
“There were seven banners in the dome back then. We’re the only ones left,” Davis said.
The crew has some help with the banner as the ushers take keep it in a certain location following games for safekeeping. It’s brought out before every game and hung just before tip. A three logo gets slapped on the banner for every three point shot Syracuse makes. There are only 18 of those three logos, but fortunately for the banner’s sake, Syracuse has yet to eclipse 16 made threes in a single game. Nobody knows how the banner scenario would unfold if Syracuse made more than 18 threes in a game.
“We were worried we were going to run out of them this year. They proved us wrong,” Davis remarked.
Syracuse, by and large, has struggled this season. Sitting on a 10-12 record, it marks a program worst since having a conference affiliation. That spans over 50 years and represents a program low since men’s basketball has played in the dome. Fans have responded in kind by checking out, with fewer fans showing up to games.
Across 12 home games this season, Syracuse men’s basketball has a total attendance 214,891 — or 17,908 per game. Just over a decade ago, Syracuse’s average attendance figure came in at 26,253 per game during the 2013-14 season; a record year where Syracuse got off to the best start in program history at 25-0.
Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images
The days of Syracuse gathering 35,000 fans for basketball games are over. With new chairback seating installed in 2024, the maximum capacity for attendance has been whittled down to 30,219 from 35,642. That capacity crowd figure won’t be a factor — for this season at least — as Syracuse won’t breach 30,000 for Duke tonight.
That hasn’t stopped Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry from thanking the fans that still show up. Twice this season he’s opened press conference by thanking fans, even after a season-low 13,935 vs. Georgia Tech.
“I want to thank the fans that came out tonight. It meant a lot to this team to have people in the building. It’s been a lot of noise in a tough period of time. I just want to thank the fans that came out tonight for our team,” Autry said then.
In spite of an under .500 record, the fans of 311 Heaven keep showing up. Barring rare exceptions — some members reside in parts north of CNY where extreme snowfall makes driving to the dome difficult — these folks make it to every home game. Although the walk up the hill is becoming more of a challenge with age.
“He wants a gondola up that hill!” One member of 311 Heaven jokes about Davis.
“Yeah, we’re getting older.” Davis acknowledged. “We aren’t the kids we were when we first came here.”
Still, in spite of Syracuse’s struggles, increased cost associated with going to games in a post-pandemic sports era, it still remains as tradition for 311 Heaven.
“It’s just what we do,” Davis said. “We’ll keep doing it as long as we can.”
As a member of the media made headway toward the dome’s troposphere down the steep steps from atop the 300 section, one final suggestion was made from the heavens.
“Next time,” Davis shouted, “bring beer!”