https://hokiesports.com/news/2021/6/29/virginia-tech-football-fan-first-...
Fan First Pricing
Virginia Tech Athletics will introduce a new Fan First Pricing model for traditional concession offerings throughout Lane Stadium this fall. While exact pricing is still being finalized, this new model will feature more affordable pricing for some of the gameday staples and prices will be shared throughout the summer. Fans can expect to see reduced pricing on items including bottled water, Coca-Cola fountain drinks, hot dogs, and more.
It looks like more and more college and professional teams have both seen the data from places like the Falcons and seen that you can lower prices and sell more and actually make more money. Glad to see it.
There will also be ONLY cashless purchase options for food.
These enhancements also include a switch to cashless transactions, which will reduce touch-points and increase the speed of service. When data from previous years was reviewed, approximately five percent of all transactions in concession stands utilized cash and this switch allows us to move fans through the lines more efficiently. The current plan for those who do not have credit cards, debit cards, etc. will be to sell prepaid gift cards in the bookstore location on the west side of Lane Stadium. More details on this will be released as it gets closer to September.
Comments
I will be highly upset if they don't consider a turkey leg to be "traditional concession offering"
Turkey leg discounts for the win!
On a side note, those bbq nachos in the south endzone are my go to.
The turkey legs should be complimentary.
It would be a crazy amount of turkeys, but just think about a packed Lane stadium, Enter Sandman and every fan having a real turkey leg in the air while jumping up and down!
I can smell the turkey legs. Right now.
All sounds good. I just want tickets to UNC so I can get blackout once and get a turkey leg once before Soup#2 arrives.
Great first steps. I'd love to see a mobile order and pickup option in the future but of course that would require access to the internet in the stands lol
Are there still going to be roving concessioneers in the stands peddling popcorn, drinks, etc.?
It seems like cash is the most convenient and fastest method of sales there. I don't know how many people would want to pass a credit card down the row.
Alternatively, you could pass the card reader down the row to the customer.
I have received a lot of flat sodas from stands. Always preferred walking out if I could find the right time.
A flat soda never bothered me if there was a little bourbon around
The right amount of bourbon or rum makes the soda go flat anyway.
I mean you can cancel a CC but once someone has your cash...
Nats stadium has started outfitting many of their vendor with the Clover CC payment devices because (at least in my experience) most people don't carry much cash anymore?
People rarely use their chargeback benefit for things actually worthy of a chargeback. The loss on that is going to be in the noise.
For what its worth, Nats Park has roving concessioners with card reader machines and people seem to be friendly with passing cards down the line there.
Edit: I did not see Hammertime's message before posting. Drinking before noon on a Wednesday...
Would it be advantageous to make the season tickets an actual card that you could load up with money like the hokie passport? I like the gift card option. There is just something I hate about using my debit/credit card for multiple transactions in a less than sober state of mind.
Tbh, I'm sure Tech would prefer if we all completed more transactions in a less than sober state of mind. It is a business after all.
I agree. And, I don't mind running up my tab. I am more concerned about dropping my card somewhere in the chaos. At least a preloaded card has a finite amount of money to be ripped off.
So the question we all need answers to: will there be Fan-Friendly Pricing on beerz?
This is so smart. As stated above, the Falcons have reaped the benefits of this with great marketing and sales.
Now we just need a 50/50 raffle with the other 50% going to VT scholarships/athletic funds. IMHO this would bring in so much more additional money for VT.
I can't resist a 50/50 raffle. This should be a no brainer.
OH MY GOD
Have the winner not only get the pot, but also lead the Hokie Pokie before the 4th Qtr.
and toss the coin at the start of the game
If I won the 50/50 raffle, there is ZERO chance I am going to have the balance/coordination to lead the Hokie Pokie after all the beers I would consume lol
Same... every baseball/hockey game (or any sports game) that I go to that has a 50/50 raffle, I'm dropping $20 guaranteed.
Those are pro sports, right? Can they do that with college?
They do it in high schools
Nationals 5050 raffle is open to anyone within the District now, you don't even have to be in Nats Park. Imagine if Tech opened it up to anyone within the Commonwealth. I'd have to imagine they could make some big bucks with that.
Yea I saw that too...these 50/50 raffle amounts are going to get insane like the Vancouver Canuck's 50/50 raffles >>> https://www.nhl.com/canucks/fans/5050
I recently had the opportunity to chat with the (now former) head of innovation for the Atlanta Falcons/Mercedes Benz Done. He walked my through their decision to go cashless a few years ago (before COVID) and it actually saved them nearly $4M per game. It took a team of >10 people about 12 hours after each NFL game to count all the cash that they collected. They also had to pay for armed security. Subtract wages for time 'wasted' making change. Add in extra revenue from customers who don't 'abandon' their order due to shorter lines. Additionally, accounting/taxes is further simplified.
The one unknown was if they would alienate fans by taking away cash option. To address this, they placed 'reverse ATMs' around the stadium where you could put cash in and get a visa gift card out.
Anyways, as someone who despises cash, I'm all for doing this at Lane.
I've never heard of this reverse ATM machine, but that's pretty brilliant!
Wouldn't it be pretty similar to the little cards you get at a metro station? Assuming they still do that?
It sounds like Tech said they'll be offering those around campus, but putting them in Lane itself would be a smart move too.
It has also helped the Falcons that they get an extra 20+ dates a year with ATL United (same ownership group?). They've had the largest weekend attendance globally for soccer several straight weeks at one point before the pandemic. The CFA inside the arena gets to make money outside of Sundays...so win win.
It's also a magnificent stadium. Gets my engineering and architectural juices flowing.
It is the same ownership group. All owned by Arthur Blank.
The costs for handling cash are significant - as well as the security and transport of all of that cash. For an operation that is only running a few handful of dates, developing that infrastructure can be expensive.
sounds like that was a great, interesting job...probably with some great perks. any idea why they are no longer doing it?
He left to work on the GTM team at Google. He enjoyed the job, but it started to slow down after they implemented all his big ideas lol. He wanted to get back to a fast moving innovation space.
If you really despise cash, feel free to send any you get to me. I'll take it off your hands free of charge!!!!
The real question - what beer is going to be available in the stadium? The mob demands to know!
White Claw is the new Zima, no?
I heard there's no laws when you're drinking Claws. Lane might turn into The Purge if they start selling them
I believe they just announced a new version that has 8% abv, so there will definitely be some purging if they sell those.
I was asking about Lane proper. Not Lane North.
Fighting Hokie Lager will be an option. Not sure about the others.
I finally was able to get my hands on the fighting Hokies lager and it is pretty good.
The old school hypocrites on the West side that call security/ushers when people say "that was a chicken shit call" but lead garbage private lives are going to llllooooovvvveee beer sales, lol.
Don't sit in west the
I'll take East side over West any day. They don't mind when my friend and I are loud and standing for much (or most) of the game. Been in same area for 6 years now-35-40 yd line at about the upper portal level and will probably be there for decades to come!
Been standing on the west side for 10 years now and the only time we had a complaint was during the Marshall (extra) game a couple years ago. We were on the top west side seats and were apparently tall enough to block vision for the people sitting inside the top deck. We told them to move or stand inside. The security guard that passed the message agreed.
Some wife beaters/tax cheats/embezzlers on the West side view cursing at a football game as the ultimate sin. That's my issue. Know where you are. You are not at your church, you are in Lane for fuck sake. 99.9% of fans don't drop F Bombs around kids anyway, but these fucking hypocrites will call security in a heart beat . Some dude gave fans around me a lecture for "booing the opposing team" because some teams were cool after 4/16. Know where the fuck you are, asshole. I used to take my kids to rock concerts when they were 10-12 years old. And did I ask the people around us to stop smoking dope? nope because I knew where the fuck I was.
Wow, generalize much?
Oh I'm 100% generalizing. I sit on the West and have for years. You know who else generalizes? The asshole that judges people for cursing at a college football game.
Thanks for the edit. I agree people in general have to adjust expectations for their venue.
edited
I call BS on the only 5% of transactions use cash. Maybe last year in the middle of covid with hardly anybody there. But in a typical year? All of the people going up and down the stands were cash only. The concession stands also had a ton of cash being used.
Unfortunately it is probably going to cost them the $20 cash I used every game to buy 2 drinks and 2 pretzels.
Man I haven't had cash since the '90s.
When I was on a Co-op in 2001 the closest place to eat to work was a subway that didn't take credit cards. I didn't understand it was a subway how do they not take credit cards.
Then in 2008 I worked a job with a mom-pop shop lunch spot that was in first floor of the building. They didn't take credit. It was more understandable but infuriating. I left that Job in 2012 and haven't had cash since unless going to fancy dinners/hotels where I need to tip.
Funny part, I know a couple stores that give discounts for cash and charge an extra fee if you want to use credit/debit. The fee's to the store owners have gone from 1.5% of sales price, to 2.5%, to 3%. So they lose money on all of those credit sales unless they are charge a 3% credit fee.
Yeah that seems ridiculous to me. Who is pocketing those fees? It is crazy to think of how much money 3% of all card transactions equates to. Also, does it cost more to process a $1000 transaction than $10? Shouldn't the transaction fees be flat rate?
The banks and credit card companies pocket the money. They use the excuse of since debit cards have been popular there are more and more micro transactions with credit/debit (<$50). I saw somebody pay for gum with a debit card... People used to use cash for small purchases and now everything goes on the plastic. So the number of transactions required to be processed has gone through the roof.
I bought 67 cents worth of limes once with a credit card
When I was at Tech I once wrote a check for $1.20 for a pack of cigarettes at Radford Bros.
It gets worse where I live. If you try and pay your property taxes electronically, it is a several percent convenience fee or whatever the heck they call it. With the outlandish property taxes in NJ, that adds up to several hundred dollars a year if you use a credit card. So yeah, I put the check in an envelope and walk or drive over to city hall to put it in the payment slot.
Similar with some utilities. Love the "save the stamp" comment on the bills. Try to pay electronically and it is something like $3.95 vs. < $0.60 for the stamp. Can give them direct access to you bank account if you want, but I don't like that.
Va Tech tuition and fees paid by credit card tacks on at least 2% I believe. Don't have the exact figure in front of me.
Turns out those cash rewards and frequent flyer miles aren't free. They're coming out of people's purchases.
I doubt it would work for property taxes, but for utilities I've had luck with PayPal. PayPal allows you to connect a bank account or credit card, but the utility company does not know which one you're using to pay so you can put it on the credit card that gives you points/miles/whatever. You get the perks without having to pay the fees. This works for 3 of my 4 utility companies. I recommend it if you want to earn extra miles but want to avoid the fees.
Handling cash has a cost too. Work in the grocery industry. Used to be an almost all cash business when I started. We had a huge cash counting office, with multiple employees that literally counted cash and balanced cash tills all day long. On top of that armored car pickups twice a day, plus all of the change/small bills that we had to order from banks. We also had a large loss prevention infrastructure to keep employees from stealing out cash. That was all pretty expensive.
Now that has flipped. Majority of business is with some sort of plastic. The huge cash offices have been repurposed (most for e-commerce) and only 1 person is on staff to count cash/make change. The armored car pickup is once every two days, and the change/small bill order is once a week. Our LP folks don't focus on internal cash theft as much.
Yes -we pay credit card fees, but we no longer have the costs of all that payroll space and bank expense to manage due to having so much cash. While credit card transaction fees for retailers are higher than they used to be - the benefits of not having cash have offset a lot of that.
I have cash with me at all times, which is needed for: (1) settling all golf games/bets at the clubhouse bar; (2) tipping caddies, cart girls, etc.; and (3) tipping my bartenders/servers at restaurants (I usually put half the tip on my card and the other half in cash...a "little over and a little under"). I know I'm older and old-fashioned, but I generally don't feel comfortable unless I have $100-200 in cash on me at all times. Plus, I'm a very generous tipper.
You don't have a credit card?
I do, prefer cash. Generally use my credit card at the gas pump for the cash back.
Allow me to set the scene, if you will.
Lane Stadium. Packed crowd, first game of the season. The heat of a late summer day lingers. Players are parched. Fans are drinking from two cups. Plastic credit cards are melting from the ambient heat, and some folks are going 3-4 cards deep to find one that can still be used by the machines.
HokeAlum6144 carries no such cards. As the skin begins to boil on Alum's neck, one of the few mobile vendors walks by with their last ice-cold beer. Alum waves a $20, but alas, "sorry, no cash!"
At a business that I run, without naming it, we averaged about 25% cash sales last year.
Houston was pretty early on in selling alc in stadiums. Funny thing is, I remember a game against our cross-town and old SWC rival Rice. They brought boxes of ice cold Bud into the student section and were just giving it out for cash, not ID-ing anybody. Seemed cheap.
Now, it's ridiculously expensive. Eight, nine dollars each bottle. Same went through in basketball.
That being said, fan friendly pricing is great. Make more money over the long term, or in just one game. Good move by Tech.
Family friendly pricing is really a necessity when the TV product is so good (ESPN announcers aside). It gets harder and harder to justify the expense and hassle of in person attendance. Stadium operators should be doing everything they can to remove barriers to attendance.
The fact that "pricing" at an event attended by - ummm- fans - became and is "unfriendly" to those same fans is ridiculous when you think about it. We are going to price concessions ridiculously to the only people by definition that buy them. lol. I am a supply/demand guy in general, but when you say "our prices are now going to be fan friendly" I lol.
yeah the terminology of the sales effort is goofy. It's basically an admission that prices weren't friendly to fans before.
There weren't see my pretzel and coke for $10.
I'm not arguing that they were friendly. They weren't. I just think it's a weird admission. Instead of saying "fan friendly" just call it new lower pricing. But it doesn't matter. I'm glad they're doing it. I can't wait to find out how much a beer and a turkey leg will cost me
Hokiesports article
Beers available in Lane:
Fightin' Hokies Lager
Devil's Backbone IPA
Bud Light
Coors Light
Miller Lite
Michelob Ultra
Blue Moon
White Claw Black Cherry
$2.50 options at concession stands:
hot dog
popcorn
nachos
Coca-Cola fountain drinks
bottled water
Is the White Claw a Zima replacement? Cause that is mighty nice of us to carry a beverage for 1 game every 2 years.
Na just a college aged female's water replacement. Gotta stay hydrated.
I love white claw - 100 calories for a refreshing 5% drink. I also love lots of other alcohol, but white claw is solid.
The seltzers are pretty good sometimes. They will get you white girl wasted if you aren't careful though being 5% and very light to drink.
I read Mountain Dew is coming out with a Hard Seltzer drink....
This is wonderful news, and I can't wait to enjoy this at some point. I wonder if they'll start cracking down more on airplane bottles now that they've made mixers and food cheaper though. Second and third-year me would have killed for that.
Am I the only one that thinks its a little weird we aren't carrying the Hardywood Fighting Gobbler beer?
My bad, copy and paste error. That was the first beer on the list!
That's what I get for not clicking the link lol
Big oof on that beer list, no local non-Inbev choices?
edit: looks like we can get fightin' hokies lager
I wonder if this is a price point thing (trying to keep it cheap) or if this is a contract/agreement with Hardywood thing?
I havent seen a beer price point. I know they wanna keep general concessions down but beers will likely stay marked up to reduce sloppy drunks.
I think I remember reading that DB was $8 a tallboy at baseball games. I can't imagine they change much from that price point. It's also a good deal.
Devil's Backbone in Nats Park requires a hard credit check and collateral.
Yea I wish they would've done Hardywood's IPA instead of Devil's Backbone since we partnered with them to make the Fighting Hokies Lager. Also DB is AB-inbev.
Is Hardywood also made in VA? DB is made in Rockbridge County.
Yes, Hardywood is VA. (Richmond)
Looks like I'll be getting my claw on in Lane now!
I'm a big fan of these changes. In the past my strategy was to maybe buy a coke so I could make a cocktail with smuggled airplane bottles of whiskey and that was it. If the prices are reasonable I would actually buy a beer and concessions, therefore actually spending money. It's a win for both parties.
I am still laughing at the idea of credit card sales are going to increase the speed of transactions. My past experience over on the west side has been the cash is faster.
Depends how they set it up. If you could have multiple ordering kiosks taking cards, it could be faster or at least more efficient than multiple cashiers.
We are going to have to see how it works out and if it completely eliminates the milkshakes, waters and sodas going through the stands.
Four dollars for a coke? Send a five down and call it a day.
So for those that attended the beatdown of UNC, what was the new concessions experience like? Prices reasonable? Fast wait times? Turkey legs still dabombdotcom? Do you have to purchase a beer bracelet and/or limits to drinks? Give us all the details.
Line for beer was ridiculous. 30 min plus the whole game. Got fed up and stayed in my seats. No idea on other concessions.
This. The concession lines were horrible. They must improve that.
Seems like they were likely overrun by folks, so I wouldn't throw too much shade on the folks working the booths.
It's not like they should have been surprised by the number of customers, I don't know that "overrun" would be the right explanation. Maybe "under prepared"
I mentioned in the FAM thread that there were things to work on.
Concessions was a huge issue. Lines were enormous. Like zigzagging under the east stands. My wife missed almost the entire second quarter taking our son for popcorn and a drink.
If you saw gaps in the seats on tv, it's because people were stuck in lines at concessions. They have to find a way to keep that to a minimum. Both for sanity and for the sake of keeping the crowd involved in the game.
There were no sales in the stands. Or at least there were none in my section. It makes me appreciate the water bottle policy. The three of us each took one in. I'm not missing part of a game for a measly water bottle.
In other news, the mask policy had zero effect on the goings on. I saw a very small percentage of people in masks. They did have people giving them out at the gate I went in. And drunk people are still really into high fives and other contact.
Was it merely a volume issue? Or are there less vendors? Less workers? Concession wait times weren't a enormous problem pre-Covid. Hopefully they are just working out some kinks/rustiness?
Maybe, but i didn't bother due to excessive lines. Lines were so long i didn't try.
Supposedly they were making network improvements for the wireless tickets. Not that i noticed.
Thought I would go after I got to my seat. Saw the long lines going in. Definitely wasn't missing 'Enter Sandman' to start, so didn't go. When people on each side of me said they waited more than 40 minutes for 2 drinks and nachos, I just didn't go. Others from my tailgating group waited over an hour for 2 bottles of water and a pretzel. Had to settle for peanuts as pretzels were gone.
I think it's a volume issue. With no in stand sales of water and sodas, all those people were forced down to the concessions. So more customers + same number of concessions = total disaster.
I gave out no less than 40 high fives last night.
Yeah, the line at the concessions were ridiculous. We were in the west stands and after BB's TD pass to Mitchell in the 2nd, my wife wanted to go get a drink and nachos. She was gone almost 45 minutes at which point I left my seat to look for her. When I found her she still had roughly 20 ppl in front of her, at which point I just told her it wasn't worth it.
Additionally, I wasn't too impressed with the speed (or lack thereof) of the cashless concessions. Before the game it took us 30 mins before the game to get our pregame beers...it took over a minute for the payment to process
Concession lines were outrageously long. Domestics were $8 Premium domestics $9.
So it sounds like pricing is in line with many of sporting events. But reading over the comments here and elsewhere, it sounds like they've got a big congestion issue they are gonna have to work out going forward. Probably should have more roaming vendors. If they aren't doing it for covid reasons, well that's just stupid considering there's 66,000 people stuffed into one area. 20 (?) vendors roaming the stands isn't gonna make a difference in those circumstances. I guess they don't want to pay them or maybe don't want to pay for card readers for the vendors to use.
Yeah pricing was better than Nationals and concert prices, by a lot. Roaming vendors would be cool, but would literally sellout before they could get to the section according to how many beers I saw in the stands and how long the lines were.
For those that were not at the game, they were longer than you are imagining they were. My dad disappeared during the 2nd quarter. Like, gone...the whole 2nd quarter.
I am pretty sure people are still waiting in those concession lines today. LancerHokie tried to get us drinks and she couldn't even find the end of the lines. It was an utter shit show.
If you want concessions (food or beer) get it before the game starts or in the beginning of the first quarter. The lines just kept getting longer and longer and they couldn't keep beverages cold because they were going through them so fast. It was 45 minutes to an hour wait after the first quarter.
Milkshake line was quick though.
I would think about 30 students walking the stands with beer carriers last night would have cleaned up with tips. Checking IDs always allows that down. Wristbands would speed things up dramatically.
Concessions line was a shit show for sure
My thoughts on a solution from the West stands perspective...
https://twitter.com/markewoods12/status/1434164033633112070?s=19
Full menu isn't quite as easy. If you're cooking, then you'd had to have a hood with suppression under it. If they're looking for an easy way to deal with it, make it snacks and booze. No hot foods other than things like pretzels, popcorn, or hot cabinet type things.
The full menu is a significant renovation to the space.
Yea agree. But don't forget that space is on an exterior wall (I think) = easier to vent.
Either way, that space is much more valuable as a concession stand than store IMO.
The hokie store on the east side was converted to a club/lounge only accessible for "business partners". I agree that something similar should be done with the West side Hokie store. They can sell Hokies merch in the Hokie village before/after the game.
Sounds like they need an exact change only line. You can roll some drinks that way.
In the SEZ they had 2 people working the concessions. My wife left for water and Coke midway in the second quarter and did not return until the start of the fourth quarter.
Pretty sure some people around us either found a quick line or gamed the system. They'd leave every twenty minutes or so and come back with more drinks ten minutes later. They might've paid someone to stand in line for them for all I know.
VT definitely made money off them that's for sure.
West or south stands? Maybe had a friend with a suite.
West stands in the top corner by the north endzone. That could explain it for sure, but they walked down to the concourse everytime