https://hokiesports.com/news/2021/9/8/general-virginia-tech-adjusts-foot...
Dear Hokie Nation,
Our department has been diligent about reviewing areas for improvement from Friday night's victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels in conjunction with all of the staff responsible for making Lane Stadium come to life. On any given night, operating Lane Stadium requires over 1,000 people. We appreciate their work and their commitment to continuous improvement.
We also acknowledge that not everything worked as perfectly as we had anticipated. There are areas we will continue to refine and improve. Some of these issues were visible (for example, the challenges of separating students/general public and long concession lines), while other issues occurred behind-the-scenes. Regardless, our only objective is to provide a wonderful experience for our guests. When we say "This is Home", we mean it and we take that responsibility seriously. Our commitment to a first-class experience defines what we do and how we prepare. We apologize to anyone who did not have a tremendous experience. We've heard you, we witnessed much of it first-hand, and we are working diligently to rectify it. Thank you for your support as we continue to improve.
They are responding pretty quickly to complaints.
Comments
Well that was swift and decisive. This should help tremendously
"We are installing seat tarps at the bottom of the student section below Sections 25 and 27 to clearly define where students can and cannot sit. Students - you can sit ABOVE the tarp that says "Welcome to the Terror Dome.""
Smart and less permanent than paint
"Welcome to the Terror Dome"?
Corey Moore, circa 1999 vs Clemson I think
Linky
Correct
Timestamped link
Bruh. Welcome
Oh good, now we can quit bitching about and get back to our regularly scheduled hatin' on...whoever MTSU's coach is.
You obviously don't tkp very much lol
Rick Swarthbuckle posts his replies under the wrong comment.
Ricky Pirateface knows we can do both, cause we've had practice.
The tarps seem like a good improvement. I think it's easy for people to forget that literally half of the student body had never been to a game in Lane Stadium before last week and most of those kids were not only excited to sit with their friends but had also been told nothing but "it's general admission" for weeks leading up to it by fellow students and likely never read the fine print. They shouldn't have been dicks to people whose seats they stole like some of the reports but it's easy to see how that would have been confusing/conflicting info when they had no frame of reference for how everyone (even students) had an assigned seat before the pandemic. I would bet most of the upperclassmen who knew how things worked in 2019 and earlier were in North and weren't the problem.
No no you got it all wrong didn't you hear we're becoming west virginia in terms of fan hostility /s
Half the student population? Sone forgot about the super seniors /s
Yep, the students who were standing in the seats I bought yelled at me that they ran out of wrist bands in the student section (pointed to the north endzone) and that since the north endzone was full that they had no seats.
The students did not believe me when I told them that half of students don't end up in the NEZ and half of the students section is in the upper east stands. They thought I was lying to get them to leave our seats.
If that hadn't of acted like a bunch of entitled dickbag pricks, I would have felt bad for their freshman lack of knowledge on the situation.
Tarps that read "Welcome to the Terror Dome"
LETS FUCKING GO
FUCKING HOKIES
Can we also get a "STICK IT IN" Tarp?
I'd suggest staying away from the front row though
The Gallagher section
There is a specific name for those tarps...
The best bulletin board I ever saw in a dorm was, "Wrap your Hokie before your pokie"
I'm pretty sure I dated the RA that put that up. She was so proud of that.
I'd be proud too! Was the dorm Harper? I think I remember it being my dorm and not a friends
It was Slusher wing. Having said that, there could have been multiple, or she ripped it off and took credit. She was....ehhhhhh....well I broke up with her, so we'll leave it at that.
I was in Slusher Wing, 4th floor, 2000-2001. She wasn't my RA though mine was a dude.
This is going to be interesting as section 3R (my section) is season tickets. I wonder if they mean 3L only.
I get the impression it's going to be clearly marked. I'm also certain that the ushers are going to know the rules.
pretty simple .. below the lower portal in sections 1 & 3L = season ticket holder section.
even with the portals and above = students
below the upper portals in sections 23R, 25, and 27L = season ticket holders
even with the portals and above = students
I wasn't at the game so I can't comment on any of the things that went wrong, but I am very happy with the swift response from Whit. Mistakes happen, but the response is what matters.
Where was this during the Paper Plane Fiasco of 2014?
As long as we're on the subject of changing things up in Lane.....
Could we please paint the end zone backgrounds maroon? Would that be too much to ask going forward? The white letters this past weekend reminded me too much of the cheapass Weaver days where we barely did more than the absolute minimum to the field.
While we're at it, can we also put more paint on the sides of the field?
UNC Example:
Our field:
did UNC get good at photoshop or are all the seats in their stadium painted baby blue?
They have been able to fill up that stadium on occassion
But yes, they did
With that said, as long as we're on the subject of long term plans for Lane, I'd love to see us increase the size of our NEZ bleachers to contain all the students there into one large General Admission section, and then install maroon chairs, much like you see at UNC, for the remainder of the stadium with increased width seats and built in padding for the high dollar sections. Along with that, on the East Stands, I'd love for us to use white and orange seats to create a VT logo on the stands, much like the Eagles logo at Lincoln Financial Field.
Also, and this part may be radical, but if we're going super nuts, put a modern style roof over the seats, like they did with Hard Rock Stadium, and add in some bars/lounges in the corners for the fans.
Modernizes the stadium, seating capacity might net out with the increased student bleachers but decreased capacity elsewhere with individual seats, and positions it for the 21st century.
But that's just my (arguably terrible) opinion.
Roof would be LOUD.
Especially if we invent the future and design it to retain/direct noise like in some NFL stadiums
We don't do that anymore.
Chairs make it a little harder to jump up and down and scream your head off while standing.
Their seats are blue. Duke is the same way. It's how they cheat and make the stadium look like it is full when in actuality the Hokies have descended on en masse to achieve Lane South and Lane Southeast.
And yet loluva has learned nothing...
Shhh....let's not give them any ideas.
I agree. I've always hated the cheap ass look of our field, especially in contrast to what I consider the best stadium in college football. The look of the field sucks.
Yes but lets not go to astro turf like they have done please
100% agree. Turf is terrible! It causes so many injuries and is now potentially linked to cancer for young athletes that regularly use turf.
Using turf sounds like terrible slang for drugs.
Took a few mins and tossed this together. IMO, its a massive upgrade over what we currently have on Worsham Field
Love it! Cassell just had a pretty big court redesign and that's really expensive. Seems like buying a little extra paint for Lane is a no brainer.
I think your red zone stripes calling out the slanted stripes on the shoulders is a pretty cool, and congruent, call out - but I hate those stripes and would rather do away with them, in which case your red-zone striping would need to be adjusted
I honestly did not intend at all for that to be red zone striping, but damn if it isn't.
As for the striping, I don't much care either way for them. The only part about it all that annoys me is how there wasn't an ounce of thought put into how to end the stripes on the back of the jersey and they did it the most ham handed way possible.
I like this look a lot. I'm a huge fan of the old, rugged look we have, but as was stated in an earlier comment, recruits love this type of stuff.
I like it plain. It gives it a dark, rugged look, like a street fight about to go down, but whatever works intimidating the opposition, I'm all for it
Visitors don't get to enjoy the colors, they don't get to enjoy being on the field. It's loud. There's a fucking cannon. Meanwhile, our players get to enjoy shoving them in the dirt. Straight into it.
Being good intimidates an opponent. Everything else is window dressing. And in an era where everything circles back to recruiting, something we typically suck at, maybe its worth freshening up the facade to at least look to be at the same level as our peers.
At one point during the cheap Weaver years, the lack of paint was related to the state of the art subsurface drainage system under Worsham. Now, since then it has relaxed some whether by changes in paint material, new research, or some type of warranty period expiring. I do not know if there are any remaining restrictions to exactly how much paint is used.
Didn't he also justify it by saying something about all that extra paint being "slippery"?
Yes, that was the reason he gave on Tech Talk Live
But even the green part was painted back then.
Yes we painted the entire field green a few times. Which was hilarious when every time someone got tackled, they had huge "grass" stains.
Martinsville Speedway used to paint the grass between the curbs in the turns and the inside wall green. Not a leaf on a tree outside the track during the (early) spring race but it looked like Augusta in the turns lol they have since concrete'd those grass areas...shame.
Early in the season when the grass is a lush green, white is great. But later when the grass dies, then paint the EZ
If we're discussing the appearance of Worsham Field, can we talk about how it looks like absolute ass come mid-November and later??
I get that it's Blacksburg and it's cold but damn I don't see other schools in colder climes with yellow fields late in the year. Except Heinz Field that shit looks awful by the end of the year.
My wife lived in Pittsburgh her first year out of college. That is the coldest place I have ever been in my life, and I walked to class at Radford in -2 degrees with wet, shoulder length hair. Pittsburgh just hits different. How grass has ever grown there is beyond me.
I'm not sure how many or which stadiums have this technology, but places like Lambeau Field have an underground piping system that keeps the ground above freezing temps. My uneducated guess is that fields that look halfway decent in the late fall and winter have implemented some type of turf-heating system.
Pretty sure Worsham was one of the first in the country to have a modular system to allow for draining and heating.
You are correct. Pretty cool article about the technology if anyone is interested.
Edit: I also found this fun trip down memory lane. The definition of state of the art facilities has changed drastically in the last 20 years!
versus
Wait, that bottom pic is real? That looks like something done in an entry level CAD course that a student would have submitted for a mid year presentation.
Is isn't real, but that is the concept that was announced this past April. Fuente wants a Dave & Buster's feel.
Oh sorry, I meant a real architect's render, not that it was a real pic.
still, it looks like it could have been a room in Second Life
My bad. Your comments makes more sense after reading it carefully. Opps!
Finally something I am able to contribute!
The reason you notice the field browning late in the season is because of the type of grass we use on the field. We we decided to use the kickass drainage system under the field we also chose to switch to bermudagrass. Bermudagrass is the premier sports turf across the south because it has lateral stems that mesh together tightly and provide greater traction in cleats. It can also me mown shorter than Bluegrass which makes it function more like a track surface than a grass field. Making the change gave us a competitive advantage but came with a disadvantage, bermudagrass goes dormant and brown in October. It still meshes together and plays fast but it is ugly on tv. To make it look better we overseed with ryegrass each fall. It takes time for the seed to germinate so if it gets colder faster than the grounds team expects you get brown fields in October. Some teams dye the field but that often looks worse than what we get. The ryegrass also has a week root system so it will look worn out in the last couple weeks but will recover to look great at the spring game and graduation.
TLDR: Tech chose a grass that goes brown at the end of the season to make Mike Vick and Kevin Jones even more elusive.
Just got this in my email; From Frank Shushok, Vice President for Student Affairs: Help set a high standard for game-day behavior
https://vtx.vt.edu/articles/2021/09/students-shushok-090821.html?utm_source=cmpgn_news&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=vtUnirelNewsStudentCMP_student-090921
spot on...I hope this resonates with those who acted like juveniles this past weekend.
If you went to any of the hokie baseball games the students where hostile there as well. As a whole I've noticed there's been a crap ton more fights in sporting events since people have been allowed to go too sporting events again. The lockdown (not saying its bad cause it did slow down covid enough) changed alot of people's attitude and it's showing
The root cause isn't the lockdown, but something about the past 18 months has absolutely brought out the batshit insanity of the general population. Being locked in your house for 24 hours a day with 24 hour news constantly streaming has a whole lot of people on edge and legitimately hating their fellow people.
Yep it's weird
These days, 24 hour news are just attractive anchors trying their very best to push your buttons while reminding you that everyone else is evil and moronic.
So we got that going for us.
Wolf Blitzer is a total babe. My fanfiction wouldn't be allowed to be posted here.
I think he's literally grandfathered in.
Whatever the cause, I agree that people seem more hatable than ever. Nobody takes responsibility for the consequences of their actions and words. The default seems to be "this is how I am, and it's your fault for having a problem with it." You almost have to react with the same mindset just out of self defense
Regardless of the why...it needs to be resolved and hopefully the measures put in place help. There will always be outliers though.
Wow, that was well done!
Make all the seats orange and maroon
Apparently a UNC fan complained that the stadium wasn't fair. It was said that the noise was so loud the offensive line couldn't hear the play calls and that we should be quieter.
I saw this as well, and I would love it if it were real
Poor pitiful Karen.... Being loud is exactly what (College) Football is. I mean I know she is not accustomed to football fans since she is a Tar Hole, but still. Good riddance to her. I am sure that she requested a manager on her way out.
Saw this on the VT subreddit this morning. Some tarheel apologized for her by saying she didn't know what a real football game atmosphere was since all she in triangle area is Duke, Carolina and NC State.
Maybe next time a football fan will get the seat.
Maybe next time a Hokie will fill the seat!
Changes at Lane including more wins?
So far we're off to a good start. Good on the Athletic Department to realize that was a problem the last few years.
Will my wife be able to take her small hand held purse into the stadium? It's actually called a "wristlet". Trying to find out before we get to the game tomorrow. Any answers would be greatly appreciated!!!
https://vt.edu/commencement/2021/prohibited-items.html
Ya know what I noticed last Friday? No turkey gobble on 3rd down. Who decided to get rid of that? Because I'm hand writing a letter to their address. It's not big, but I want I want some sort of gobble during the game. Maybe not every 3rd down...but come on. Big third downs? *gobble gobble* "STAND UP AND SHOOOOUTTTT!" Would do.
Any updates from yesterday?
I'm curious if the experience at Lane was improved, crowd, lines, students, etc.?
Concession lines were definitely reasonable and there was nary a student in our section.
But how much that is changes versus 15,000 less people is unknown.
They were redirecting non-students around through the west concourse so we wouldn't get trampled. Agree with DCIMSA concession lines were normal and you could move through the concourse and actually see the different stands. Had a drink guy walking the stands (but not overly frequent)
I agree about the lines and everything. My remaining gripe is the timing of when they need to shut off the music as it constantly seemed to trample the PA announcer as play was getting ready to start.
Also, maybe we don't do one of our crowd interaction games during an official review since those don't have a specific time limit.
Given all the shenanigans that happened for the UNC game, overall I would say the university responded well for only having one week to work on it. The points I brought up are really minor in comparison.
There was a fairly loud stick it in chant going down