As the arms race in college athletics has sparked more construction leading to bigger and better facilities around the country, I was curious where Virginia Tech stood against its peers in the ACC. With that in mind, I have decided to produce a series of posts that will provide a comprehensive breakdown of each ACC school and its athletics facilities across all sports.
Under Whit Babcock, Virginia Tech has completed the football practice facility, recently undertaken renovations to the Merryman Center and Jamerson Athletics Center, and announced upgrades to English Field. At some point this year, VT will supposedly release a Facilities Master Plan that gives insight to the goals of the athletic department.
This series may take a few months to complete depending on work & family obligations, but I thought that it would be a good idea to spur discussion among the Hokie fanbase. For those of you who share an interest in college athletics facilities , I would encourage you to check out the following links:
The Business of College Sports - Facilities Archives
Athletic Business - Facilities
For the purpose of this upcoming series, we'll go in alphabetical order (except saving VT for the very end). Be on the lookout for the first post coming soon, highlighting Boston College.
Comments
I think this is a great idea! Looking forward to it already!
This will either bolster or weaken the value that facilities have in recruiting. To help that argument you could maybe include some recruiting class rankings over the past couple of year or a before and after analysis around the time that a university completed a major facility upgrade, both basketball and football.
Interesting thought.
Given the level of research & image finding that these posts are likely to take, I wasn't anticipating going to that level of detail unless I stumble upon it. If that's part of the conversation people would like to contribute along the way, that would be great!
Looking forward to Syracuse. We know they play in the Dome, but on the drive in/shuttle from the parking lots, you pass a giant shiny facility named after a "Carmelo K. Anthony" or someone to that effect, no idea who that is (/s). Looks like you could do all kinds of things in there, but I didn't see inside.
I really like these posts vtdlang. Over the years I have noticed that TKP has greatly benefited from "members" starting "like-kind" threads that have eventually turned into ongoing stories within the website (such as the weather posts, etc.). Exploring the facilities of the ACC and the NCAA as a whole helps everyone understand what each school has to work with.
Keep on doing your thing, as a guy that has always been very interested in the facility specific details that programs have, I look forward to these.
First time I've ever heard that phrase
Before diving into the actual facilities themselves, it's worth taking a quick look at the sports that the ACC sponsors. On the men's side, there are 13 sponsored sports while there are 14 sponsored sports on the women's side. For various reasons, not every ACC school participates in every sport.
On the men's side, the 13 ACC-sponsored sports are:
Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Fencing, Football, Golf, Lacrosse, Soccer, Swimming & Diving, Tennis, Track & Field (Indoor), Track & Field (Outdoor), Wrestling
On the women's side, the 14 ACC-sponsored sports are:
Basketball, Cross Country, Fencing, Field Hockey, Golf, Lacrosse, Rowing, Soccer, Softball, Swimming & Diving, Tennis, Track & Field (Indoor), Track & Field (Outdoor), Volleyball
One thing to note about these sports - fencing in the NCAA is a coed sport with teams having men's and women's squad. Semantics, but still something to know...
In addition to those lists, there are a number of sports not sponsored by the ACC but are fielded as a varsity sport at ACC schools - those will be highlighted when appropriate throughout this series.
I think something interesting to add would be average attendance for football and basketball and what percentage of the stadium is full. That would show demand and hint at whether the stadium is too big/too small/just right and what the right size stadium/expected crowd is for each school.