The ongoing seat selection process reveals a lot about season ticket sales. If you have a great selection of better seats when your turn comes, sales are down. If you have NOTHING to choose from, sales are up (or, depending on the section, sales are level).
I am one week out from my selection date. This time last year, I looked at the seating chart to see how things were going and found TONS of better seats, in my section and closer to the 50. In fact, had I not preferred aisle seats, I could have claimed 4 side by side seats on the 50 (east side) when my turn came. Given my preference I was able to move down about 10 rows in my section to claim better aisle seats.
This year however I see hardly any open seats, in my section or better. All the aisle seats are practically spoken for, all blocks of 4 definitely. So either people are renewing their seats more this year, or they're selling more season tickets overall. I suppose fan support is UP (as are the VTAD's marketing efforts).
Comments
Do not discount the possibility that Ohio State fans have snatched up season tickets.
Yup, that is a possibility.
I can't wait until we stomp OSU again, but the idea that their fans are buying up entire season ticket packages just to personally witness the misery? That's just delicious.
When that clock ticks down to zero on a masterful Hokie victory...
Ohio State fans buying tickets is a high possibility. But I also doubt they would have selected their seats yet. I applied to buy season tix and don't donate much and my seat selection date is June 9th. I doubt many Ohio state fans would donate to Virginia Tech just to get a better seat selection.
Excellent counterpoint. Are donations up? That coupled with the lack of seat selection would be a good indication that season ticket sales are also up.
D'oh, forgot about the contribution requirement. Yeah, there is zero chance OSU fans are buying season tix in my section.
Single game tickets are cheaper than season tickets
Single game tickets / Visitor tickets for the OSU game are $110. If you can get one. Any single game tickets will be made available to Hokie Club members first, by point priority ranking. Nobody below Platinum Hokie will see one.
The other option is buying a visitor ticket through OSU, again nobody below some multiple-thousand dollar donation level to OSU is going to see those tickets.
This isn't the national championship. No one is paying for season tickets for one game. They will just buy single game tickets through stub hub or watch it on TV. I know how the donation incentive works.
StubHub is already at $300 a ticket minimum, with the majority of available tickets at a higher price than season tickets at face value. It is already at the point where buying season tickets and selling the other five games is at least a break even proposition, and might wind up being cheaper.
Agreed, thats what my thinking was. Whats another $50 for the 5 other games. Will I try to go to every game, sure. Will I? I don't know. but if I can't at least sell them on a secondary market, or to one of my friends or family members. Also kind of nice to not have to worry about getting tickets for the other games as well.
You aren't an Ohio state fan so that doesn't apply to you because you might use other tickets.
Its just not going to happen, the people that have the money to buy season tickets for two schools would have gotten the single game tickets through OSU.
Whoever said they have to be OSU season ticket holders? OSU fans who want to attend the game at Lane can purchase season tickets from VT for $350, with no further contribution to the program required, or they can buy them in StubHub for $300. If they're in the market for tickets to this game, buying season tickets and selling the other five games might actually be the cheapest proposition.
Possibly the cheapest option with more time involvement and more risk while getting a seat that is no better than what you can get on stub hub for less. The number of people that would fit in to this category will be negligible compared to the total attendance of the game.
Why are you trying to combat everything 'Illinois Hokies" says? Unless you have spoken to every OSU fan, he's only saying that's an option for OSU fans, even if its in the minority. And it could be cheaper, posting on stubhub or some secondary market takes as much effort as getting off your couch, grabbing a beer from the fridge and sitting back down.
Because without a $1000 donation and joining the Hokie Club, their seat selection isn't likely to occur until later this week.
I'm with him, I doubt many people have done this.
I think you are both underestimating demand for these tickets. Even at $200/ticket value for the OSU game, that's only $150 to make up reselling tickets to 5 other games.
My thought process about that is that if you want it to be cheaper you actually need to sell four tickets not three. I think it will be hard to sell tickets to even just three games at face value if they aren't good seats. If we do well and have the makings of a great season then they will probably be able to sell them.
1) there's no bad seats in Lane stadium :P
2) you're right about how our season goes, if we're playing well demand will be much higher than if we're limping along 2-2 after September.
But even if you sell your unwanted tickets at a discount, say Furman for $20, Duke for $30, Pitt for $45, UNC for $45 and NC State for $60 you'd be at $200ish, meaning your OSU ticket was $150 net. (NC State is a Friday night game against an opponent we don't get to play often so that's more likely to be face value)
for reference:
OSU face value = $110 ($90 for season ticket package)
Furman = $45 ($40 for season ticket package)
ACC games (4) = $60 ($55 for season ticket package)
I never said many have or will, just saying its an option for them, whether is 1 or 1,000 fan(s)
I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't try to turn an opinion based debate in to animosity.
Im sorry you see it that way
So as a Hokie Club member I have to pay $550 for season tickets ($350 for the tickets plus a $200 donation) but if I am not affiliated with the school I can get away with just the $350? I have donated more than $200 to the Hokie club in my years does this cover that $200 donation?
Anybody can purchase the 350 season tickets, but its too late to get the option to pick where you sit
I called the ticket office again and got some clarification. The extra $200 basically was for some club option and the right to choose where you sit. This is the first time I have considered season tickets since I have moved (9hr drive vs 5 hr drive). I probably would have bought them by now had I known this.
Forgive the stupid question: Where do new season ticket holders sit? I assume they'd be pretty poor seats, right?
whatever is left in East and then in South. I spoke to a Hokietickets.com rep about week ago (the time I bought mine) and he said I have a very good chance of being in East still
Thanks! Did you request East, or is it purely chronological? Bought mine about two weeks ago.
Yea I requested East first in the box where you can leave comments at the last page of the purchase. If you bought them 2 weeks ago, you should be money
You have to make sure you get that left side of your face nice and tanned.
Oh I mean West since I don't think they give you the option for East (I could be wrong)... I've sat there long enough though, time to tan up my right side!
You guys gotta keep me posted. I just selected mine for the first time earlier today. Got addicted to watching the stadium fill up. It was a bit of a surprise to see the bottom of the east fill up before the west though.
I am a new season ticket holder and just selected my seats today. As of aboout an hour ago, there were still plenty of seats in the top of the west stands (sections 20 and 2). There are a few seats left in the lower half of the east stands (sections 3, 5, 17, and 19) and a bunch in the top half of the east stands. There's not one section for new season ticket holders, you can select any open seat once it's your turn to select.
Edit: corrected east vs west stands - thanks Fett Man
Think you got the East and West reversed. Even number sections are the west (home side with the press box) and odd is the East in the sun burning your face for noon games.
Another reason to dislike noon games
Let's be honest, noon games burn both sides. Only the East siders get fried during 3:30 games as well.
I purchased season tickets for the first time a couple weeks ago, and I was told that I wouldn't get the option to choose seats this year. They just show up in my mailbox in August. Maybe because I'm not a HC member?
That's correct. Hokie club members select seats. Non-Hokie club members do not.
I selected seats and i'm a non-hokie club member.
your move Egbert!
Bishop to Queen 7, check.
Checkmate, I think.
did you buy season tickets in the past at any point?
This was my first year buying seasons tickets and I was able to choose my seats without being in the Hokie Club. It was mentioned in another post that it's based on when you bought them - it appears that buying them earlier in the year allowed you to choose your seats whereas buying them now you won't get to.
Apparently that is some new thing.
At least $1000 for Hokie Club membership followed by $50 for each game. That'll get you a season seat pretty far off the 50 yl and pretty high up.
I don't think there's many willing to do that to come to one game.
At this point non- Hokie Club members can get season tickets between the portals in many cases.
edit: I should clarify - I'm referring to non-hokie club members who purchased season tickets back when they first went on sale to the public. If you bought tickets today, I think it's a safe bet that you'd wind up above the portals or in the SEZ.
And if you look at stubhub tickets in Sections 27-39 (above the upper portals) are listed for $300-500. So it's not like $300 gets you a ticket in Section 11. That would be more like $450.
I think people are underestimating how difficult a trip it would be for many OSU fans. Beyond having to dish out quite a bit for tickets, there's the long drive, trying to find hotel accommodations anywhere close to Blacksburg (since Hokie fans already snatched up everything in a 30-mile radius a while ago), and probably having to ask for time off the next day. VT makes it pretty difficult for opposing fans to come to town. Even LSU had to come up in a convoy of RVs.
I actually see it as a pretty easy trip for many OSU fans.
Cleveland is 6.5 hours from Blacksburg
Cincinnati is 5.5 hours
Columbus is 5.0 hours
Not much different a drive than many VT fans make from DC area , or the 757.
Totally doable on Monday morning with plenty of time after arriving to tailgate. Nobody's driving home after the game anyway. And yes there are plenty of hotel rooms available in Roanoke (and in Princeton, WV - on the way home for many OSU fans).
LSU takes a convoy of RV's to every away game though... even home games.
Eh, we'll see. There are surprisingly few rumblings from OSU fans saying that they're gonna come except for people who live in the Carolinas. Most have been citing the reasons I mentioned. Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places.
You make a good point about hotels in WV. Roanoke is going to be the wrong direction for people coming from Ohio.
No more difficult a trip than for VT fans from NOVA, VB, and DC. All those places also have large amounts of anOSU alumni.
Edit: According to google maps to drive from VB to Blacksburg takes 4 hours 54 mins, to drive from Columbus to Blacksburg takes 4 hours and 54 mins.
And that is if you don't get stuck at the tunnel, somewhere in richmond, or somewhere on 81.
Going to Columbus you never get on 81. 460 West and then 77 North.
He was referring to the trip from Virginia Beach to Blacksburg.
Exactly. I've made it from Blacksburg to Norfolk in 4 hours flat, but trips the other way can be almost double if you aren't smart about what time you leave. Between tunnel traffic, road construction (destruction? c'mon VDOT), and general WTF of 81, I always tried to leave before 11 am to make it in under 5 hours.
It's safer to take 664 tunnel if its not too far out of the way
Take the southern route, completely bypass rt 64, Richmond and all the tunnels by staying south.
When I've gone from Blacksburg to OBX I used to take 460 all the way across southern va.
The place I worked at when I lived in Bburg would get shipments from the docks down in the 757. The drivers much preferred to come up 460.
This is true. Just had my seat selection today, graduated in 2014 and am not a hokie club member. And I got section 5 row UUU. There were plenty to choose from as well.
How did you get to select your seats? I bought mine weeks ago for the first time and was told that I wouldn't be able to select seats this year.
Who said you couldn't select seats? The ticket office should send you a selection date/time but it will take a while. Mine took two months after I bought season tickets (this is my first time buying them).
I do believe if you ordered them by a certain date you were allowed to select your tickets thru the site, anytime after said date and then you were sent best available. I think it was early-mid may. I could be wrong but I ordered mine (first time) and was told I could select them. Also got selection email. I did join the hokie club last week but I had already received information on the selection process.
Welcome to the Hokie Club.
Thanks!!
Now we need you to recruit 10,000 of your closet friends.
That's a damn big closet.
That must be it. I joined the Hokie Club, too, but won't get priority until next year, either (deadline for that was December).
Hundreds of them do it each year for the Mich. game.
There's also a greater supply for Michigan tickets, an easier trek, and the satisfaction of knowing that you're depriving Michigan fans of tickets. VT fans buy ticket packages from UVA as well, but not nearly as many do it for other games.
We got discounted season tix from UVA for south of $100. It was worth it for 38-0 bro.
I'm sure some did, but I'm also guessing the numbers of those who did are very low. Let's be honest, its the biggest home game in Lane Stadium since the 2005 Miami game, and this Hokies squad finally has a little hype and expectations to it after spending a few years away from the limelight. The fanbase is jacked up for this game more than any I can remember since probably that 2003 showdown with Miami.
Plus, people are buying up tickets for this year to ensure they get Bristol tickets for 2016.
For good seats? That's just ridiculous
Well, we were all set to buy them but they ended up not being in the budget. Stupid reality.
Perhaps the most appropriate use of this gif thus far.
So you're gonna buy us season tix?!? Thanks Illinois! This is the best!
I'd donate to a kickstarter to help someone buy tickets. Money should never be the reason folks miss out on Hokie football.
I have heard ticket season ticket sales are up this year.
I just ordered season tix through their website earlier this week. How do I find out when my selection date is?
They email you.
Just bought my first post grad (ugh it hurts to say that) season tickets a couple of days ago with two of my buddies and Im super stoked. Seemed like a no brainer since we were determined we were going to the OSU game no matter what, and the fact the they are going for about $300ish/person, whats another $50 for the whole season. Anybody know when they send them out? All at once? A couple business days after purchase or a couple of days before the game? Thanks in advance!
According to my email they will send them out in August for who hokie club members. We should have them no later than the middle of the month!
Im not a Hokie Club member, so Im not sure what that mean for me.
They mail them to you through FedEx all at once.
The tickets come in a white envelope in sheets. One sheet per season ticket.
I reseated last Wed (June 3) for my 4 seats and went down 4 rows and towards the 50 by almost a full section, east side, section 5 odds last year moving to even # with the last seat in sec 7. I was pleased!
I was in a meeting when my selection time came up, after 90 minutes of no action by me, the ticket offce picked seats for me. I'm previous ticket holder but didn't have tickets last year. Wound up in Section 15 between the portals.
They actually called me after an hour into my window since I forgot. They allowed me to go and select my seats while they waited on the phone.
Did the same for me, but I couldn't answer.
Their stated purpose in picking seats for me was to make sure I didn't lose out on decent seats to everyone behind me on the picking order.
Not upset that they picked for me, but I would've been happy to take care of it this afternoon myself.
This is why you block off your calendar during your selection time.
even the best laid plans...
Just finished my selection.
BRING ON FOOTBALL SEASON ALREADY!!!!!
Silver Hokie. Picked 4 seats back in May.
Couldn't do any better, on the 40 section 13, upper level.
I got the exact same seats as last year. There were a few singles that were batter and maybe a couple 2s but, that's it.
If there was much of a drop on season ticket, Hokie Club members, I can't see it this way.
My selection time moved up by 2 days from last year, but they could have also started the process later this year.
I kept my seats in the same area. Section 18, row SS. The only thing I had to select was which parking lot.
So if I am NOT a Hokie club member (sorry, don't have $1,000 just to donate just yet) and purchased the $350 season tickets, will I be able to pick my seats that are still available? Or is that just for Hokie Club members?
It only costs 100 dollars to join the Hokie Club. It's my first year with that amount and I'm still only like 8,700 on seniority list. Which was plenty high enough to get season tickets and potentially a parking pass.
You'll get to pick your seats. I think it's pretty much first order = first pick at this stage. You might even be able to select your seats immediately upon ordering. To the best of my knowledge Hokie Club members are done selecting seats, and folks with a few priority points for being previous season ticket holders should be done soon if they're not already.
There will definitely be more season tickets sold this year because of the OSU game, but each individual's experience in availability of better seats is going to vary based on their individual HC ranking.
Big picture- based on the HC priority sheets I received in Feb 2014 and Jan 2015, it looks like there was a slight decrease in Hokie Club members year over year (9759 vs 9700). That said, when you dive into the detailed numbers at each giving level, there was a larger decrease at the top giving levels, which was offset in the overall member count by an increase in the number of base Hokie Club level members. So, the availability of better seats at each individual's selection time will be vary from person to person based on his/her HC ranking. Personally speaking, I had much better seats (and parking) available this year than last, but I'm a Golden Hokie and my ranking increased 250 spots from last year.
All that said, there is definitely more excitement from the general fanbase heading into this season. Obviously a large part of that is driven by the fact we're opening season at home in primetime vs Ohio State, but hopefully our onfield play in 2015 helps continue that momentum into 2016.
We don't have cable anymore, so my seats may change per game. Bar, couch, etc
Getting tickets was never the problem for me. It was all the other stuff, so I never got into it. I let my skins tickets go this year, cause that ended up being a waste.
Cut mine off just last night. Got me Sling TV and kept the most basic, basic TV package Comcast would give me to keep my internet cheaper. Saving like $80 a month. It's exciting.
Did the same thing. Also got an in-attic 60 mile antenna for like 40 bucks. Now I'm seeing Pluto TV being suggested by Amazon Fire TV, looks like a free app, but I haven't downloaded it (yet). All reports are that it shows only b-side channels, but, hey, as long as I'm not paying Comcast...
EDIT: Installed Pluto TV, and it is a whole lot of b-side channels, but there is channel that shows nothing but cat videos and another one that shows nothing but dog videos, so....win?
I admit, I'm a little nervous about the Game of Thrones finale on Sunday since Sling has been freezing up and then reloading a bit. My wife would be super pissed at me if it screwed up then. I've got it running on a Roku stick, I'm considering running out and getting a Roku box. Do you think that would help? I've never had that issue running video on my PS4, but I understand this is streaming live TV so it may be a little different than Netflix or Youtube.
Wish I could speak to the Roku box idea, but I have no experience in the matter.
Do you know the upload speed of your internet service? I have read that streaming requires higher minimum upload speeds. Verizon advertises equal download/upload speeds because it means better streaming than cable. I could be misinformed however.
I don't know exactly what speed I'm pulling in but its always been enough to stream, game online, have multiple devices going, etc. We had Verizon DSL years ago and there's no way it could handle it better than cable. I'm thinking maybe a better modem would be a better investment overall since mine's kind of a middle range one. Either way I'm gonna feel like a fool if it screws up right as GOT is starting a certain cliffhanger scene on Sunday.
I stream Sling on my Roku and my Amazon fire stick. It may be your Roku if your download speeds are above 3.7 mbps, and you are getting buffering or freezing. It rarely if ever buffers on my fire stick but I do find an issue from time to time on my Roku. (My connection tests at 50 mbps download). The Roku 3 is supposed to have a faster processor but the older Rokus have a much lighter processor. (I have a Roku 2). The only two apps that seem to ever have streaming issues for me are Watch ESPN and Sling. So I figure the live streams require a bit more oomph to work at a high quality. Hope that helps.
Here is the resolution to picking seats whether you are a Hokie club member or not. Just got off the phone with a Hokietickets.com sales rep and she said it doesn't matter whether you are a member or not, If you purchased your seats on or before May 20th, then you will be able to select your ticket(s) location. Everyone after that will get best seats available based on purchase date.
For people buying season tickets but not a member of the Hokie Club can I ask why? What keeps you from donating 100 to the Hokie Club to become an active member?
I just graduated in 2014 and saw that season tix were open to the public so I went ahead and got them to lock up the ohio state game. However, I am planning on joining before the end of the year so I can keep the tickets from here on out.
Make sure you check on the recent graduate rates, two years for price of one.
I fall into this category and it is mostly because I don't see myself being a season ticket holder for more than a year. Most of my reason to buy revolves around the OSU game and that the cost of that game will be close to the entire season ticket anyway. It is at least a 7 hour drive to Blacksburg for me which is reasonable to come up once a year (twice this year), but not every game every year.
Being a member of the Hokie Club does more than get you season tickets. I would highly recommend giving it another look even if it's just at the 100 dollar level.
budget. I'm selling my extra car this summer though, and once that payment is off the books, hokieclub here I come.
Well today I received another email from VT Football to order season tickets. Since April I have gotten 11 emails now
Does anybody know the timeframe when non-Hokie club members that didn't pick their seat location get their tickets? Im sure its the same time as everybody else, I just want to know where I will be sitting.
For me, when I went to go purchase season tickets online, at the checkout page it listed where my seats would be.
I'm not sure if that was because I'm a Hokie Club member (albeit not that influential), or what, but I was able to know where I'm sitting from the moment we ordered the tickets
Give the ticket office a call, they should be able to get you that info
Section 20, Row EEE.... lol first post grad season ticket holder problems