Bitter blog - A few more details about the Hokies' soon-to-be-completed indoor facility

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Nice info, Andy. What a great addition this is for our athletes.

That thing is awesome. My wife and I get to go on a tour of it in a few weeks. We are looking forward to that.

Pain is Temporary, Chicks Dig Scars
Glory is Forever, Let's Go Hokies!!

COMING SOON... 80,000 STRONG

I kid...

Bleeding burnt orange and chicago maroon

Holy crap on a cracker, that would be LOUD!! This, we need to do this. Bring the Terror back to the Terrordome!

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

This does make me wonder... have we built ourselves into a spot where we cannot expand Lane Stadium any further without complicated issues arising elsewhere?

We can't expand the North End Zone any more than it currently is, or we'll begin to encroach on our only outdoor practice field. We can't really make any significant expansions on the South End Zone due to its current state. We cannot expand on the East Stands without bringing it up to code, which could be massively expensive, and we cannot expand on the West Stands without partially tearing down the 2004 expansion that we did for the indoor seating.

"When I was growing up, Virginia Tech was a school that was kicking ass and taking names, and it's time we get back to that" - James Franklin

If I had to guess I'd say we'll expand on the North or East side in the far distant future. Practice fields, money, and building codes be damned. Obviously this is speculation but with enough money they could add luxury boxes plus a second deck to the east stands, or just add a second deck.

I've always wondered if they would mirror the south end zone expansion on the north side. I'd say eventually they'll just encroach on the practice fields and adapt practice somehow.

Put practice fields in the stadium woods!...I kid.

I thought the north end zone could have been done a bit better. Concrete with Hokie Stone on the exterior and somehow try and connect to the east and west.

I said the same thing, but I think some engineer team (VT or not, im not sure) said that the way South was construct that way because it kept more noise in compare to a bowl like shape. Then again, I could be totally wrong too

Bleeding burnt orange and chicago maroon

Sure. If they didn't connect it, they could have built it better instead of metal bleachers.

If there's a money, there's a way. ...I think that's how it goes... If there were no possible way to expand outward on the north side, there is always building upwards. I'd hate to see it as I hate the steeper slopes for the stadiums, but it is easily possible with our current layout.

I went to google earth to get a better idea and compared it to the worst stadium i can think of, Neyland. Comparing the two foot prints I estimated a 560,000 sq.ft. area for Neyland and 540,000 sq.ft for lane. That is very similar in size. Granted they don't have as much sideline space, but they do have almost 40,000 more seats than we do. It's all do to that terrible terrible, and I do mean terrible, slope. You could trip at the top and Sam Rodgers might not be able to stop you from falling all the way to the bottom (he would, but it would be difficult). I hope we never have to do that, but if you are looking for a stadium that maximized the smallest amount of space, Neyland is the one to compare to.

I haven't compared the two, but I've been in Beaver Stadium up here in State College and I can tell you, without a doubt, that the "109,000" people they claim can fit in the stadium is nonsense. Sure, they'll stick that many people in there, but you only get about ten inches per seat, which is barely enough to fit a small child.

I don't know if there is a standard for how wide a "seat" must be to be counted for attendance, but Beaver isn't too much larger than Lane (although it definitely is) and they claim to have 40,000+ more seats than Lane does.

Remember, steeper slope means shorter sightline distance.

Oh, by the way, the subject matter of your post overlaps into my sightline "study" of BMS. I'm gonna need some credit.

IIRC, there is about 30 ft of concrete between the back of the North stands and the edge of the practice field. Tear down the north bleachers and a two-tiered section could be built with the existing scoreboard put right on top. Could even widen it without closing it into a bowl.

Plan for the worst and hope for the best, not the other way around.

I know I feel like this, let's hope recruits do as well...

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

"On the inside, all that remains is the installation of the graphics package. It will include photos of players and great moments in Virginia Tech history. That will be done in July by Forty Nine Degrees, a graphics design company out of Ohio."

Wha...? A company from Ohio knows something about great moments in VT history?

A picture is worth a thousand words. A gif is worth a million.