VT is now accepting applications for the Fan Focus Group. Deadline: July 14th.
If you have good ideas like just allowing APFOW to bring in bottles of whiskey and quit pretending like we don't all know what's in his ass pocket, apply HERE and make your voice heard.
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Comments
I've said it before and I'll say it again: We all know the ass pocket is gettin' used.
I applied a few days ago. I'll let you know if I'm chosen and I'd be more than happy to report any concerns or enhancements that TKP members have. Did anyone else apply?
I did, I try to use my out of state season ticket holder as a niche market, it hasn't worked.
I just applied now. Will let everyone know if I get selected.
I'm just going to leave this here...
Thank you for mentioning this, I was thinking the exact same thing
Did anything tangible come from the first focus group?
I would guess we would have to wait till this football season? Unless they made changes to basketball last season???
Well, it's year 3. So, there should be some feedback from last season.
Excellent question. I remember hearing about the sign-up in years before, but never heard anything on TKP or my personal circle of Hokie friends afterword.
If any of you were in the previous focus groups, please comment with your experience and whether or not you believe anything came out of the previous groups.
here ya go...
List of 2015 changes
List of 2016 changes
Awesome. Thx!
If anyone in our TKP FAM gets selected, please suggest they remove ECU from our future football schedules.
Whit has heard this a lot and answered it several times, it isn't going away anytime soon.
Doesn't have to go away.
Just move the 2018 game to 2026, the 2020 game to 2038, and the 2022-2024 games to 2050-2052.
This is such a great idea that I downvoted you so that when I gave you a turkey leg, it looked like I gave you 2.
Surely if Wisconsin can do it with us, we can do it to Eastern Carolina, right?
Sure find a better replacement for 2018 and 2020 and I'll bring it up to him and Fuente when I go up. I always say don't take them a problem take them a solution.
Ok then, unrelated but, here's a solution to generating additional revenue: no one is broadcasting vt football Internationally, so vt should offer a paid live streaming service for anyone abroad. This caters to VTs unique pool of military alumni stationed around the world as well as other almuni that may live or find themselves abroad during the Fall. Can have football package, football and bball or full sport coverage. My understanding, which could be wrong, is we are not limited by any agreements to do so.
Thank you HF! looking forward to the new options to watch the Hokies
I had a similar idea based on something the university of Dayton does for basketball. It has international students do a live internet broadcast of basketball games for foreign students who have gone back home.
That's a great consideration.
Most games nowadays are on the ACC network or one of the ESPN variants. Hopefully, the combination of ESPN and the ACC Network will make all of the games available internationally.
For military members, AFN does a pretty decent job of it (for free), for the higher ranked teams/major network games, and bowl games. I caught a surprising number of VT games on AFN when they were winning/ranked, but not the smaller profile games.
All I have to say is I'm damn thankful for AFN and the fact that VT has the Corps of Cadets (which I attribute to so many VT games being featured on AFN). I was able to catch the majority of games while overseas.
Memphis looks like they have a few openings in their upcoming schedules, and it would probably be more fun to play them sooner rather than later.
Heck, we could reach out to Army or Air Force if we want to have a little fun with Corps Homecoming games. (For that matter, if we're going to play any FCS teams, why not VMI one year?)
It might not help with "strength of schedule", but at this point, I'm down for variety of opponent, in lieu of having both ODU and ECU on the schedule 7 of the next 9 years.
Whit has heard it several times because it's a legitimate concern. We gain nothing from playing them besides the satisfaction of beating them. If we win it just looks like a game we're supposed to win. If we lose it goes down as a bad loss. Playing ECU doesn't help us with recruiting either. We already have 4 ACC teams in the state of NC. Why not play in a state that we don't frequent? I believe Whit understands this and will not schedule anymore future games with them. I also believe that splitting wins with them is coming to an end. We now have an offense and they fired their HC (for some odd reason).
What other AAC or similar is going to add prestige to the schedule? As for games in NC, we play Duke and UNC on same rotation so when they are both in Blacksburg without ECU sometimes Tech would play no games in the state of NC. If you look in years where ECU is away Duke and UNC are home games.
Not sure if we should blame the ACC or Pitt/Syracuse for that. We had a fine rotation until those two schools came on board and screwed it up.
Miami. That is the team that screwed up the alternating Duke/UNC trips.
How so? If the ACC hadn't expanded in 2013, the rotation wouldn't have needed to change up.
Unless Miami threw some sort of fit during that time and demanded a change that necessitated our rotations getting screwed up.
Yep. Miami made some noises about the travel they had to do each season.
They joined the ACC, I have no pity for Miami. Move them to the Atlantic and swap over Louisville. Then Miami gets to play FSU every year, and has to travel to Syracuse and BC as well!!!
There are better ways to ensure a game in NC every year:
- Schedule a couple neutral-site games at Bank of America Stadium
- Set up 2-for-1s with App State and Charlotte (or 1-for-1 if you're desperate) to switch it up a little
- Convince UVA to move to NC, a state where they might be a little more competitive
- Get the ACC to adjust the rotation once the current one ends (or once we add another team or two) so that Duke and UNC away games happen in alternating years (though, let's be real, this is far and away the least likely option)
Ok, maybe UVA won't pack up and leave the state, but it certainly wouldn't hurt their chances at a "state championship". Here is their record against each NC school since the last time they held the Cup:
- Duke, 7-6
- NC State, 2-2
- ECU, 1-1
- UNC, 5-8 (though they haven't beaten the Heels since 2009's 16-3 thriller in an otherwise dismal 3-9 season)
- Wake, 1-3 (again, not since 2007, but Wake was ranked #17 for that game)
So you would rather schedule Sun Belt teams than AAC teams and are worried about how the strength of schedule will look with ECU on it?
Recently, App State has been a better team than ECU, and Charlotte is in CUSA, which isn't regarded quite as well as the AAC but not too far off.
And I'm mostly annoyed with ECU because we play them Every. Damn. Year. A little more variety would certainly help. Just offering some alternatives to playing the Pirates, assuming that wanting an annual game in the state of North Carolina is really that big of a priority.
Whit and Weaver have both said many of the same things regarding it. Having a game in NC is important, having a game where Tech isn't paying a school to play is important, Greenville is less than half the trip time from Chesapeake area than it is to Blacksburg, it's easy for VA and NC Hokies to get to, it provides a mid tier opponent we don't have to pay and it's easy to help fill the schedule.
My brain understands and comprehends your facts, HF...but my heart says that facts are stupid and not relevant.
Are you saying that you agree with ECU being on our schedule in perpetuity? Sometimes I think I'd rather see Rich Rod on our sidelines...
/s, but only a little
That I understand why they are on the schedule. And
i don't understand the frequency at which we play them. It just gets old
I understand the why. Weaver chose them out of convenience, and Whit extended it out of convenience. We want a more frequent presence in NC that we can sell to recruits (and, more importantly, their families). We want another away game close enough for a large portion of our fanbase to attend. Just... why does it have to be ECU every single season. Make it two years against ECU, two years against someone else. Or schedule a game in Charlotte against USCe, UGA, UF, UT... Hell, we could even make a home-and-home non-conference series against NC State if nothing else.
It takes two teams to schedule a game some of those schools might not want a game against us.
If other schools can say no to us then we can start saying no to ECU.
And schedule who? Who is going to be willing to come to Blacksburg in 2018?
I bet Liberty wouldn't mind giving up one of their trips to New Mexico for a trip to Blacksburg.
Whit should NEVER schedule Liberty in any sport again until they have a new AD.
You could've stopped there.
On a tangent, this reminded me of this clip from Family Guy
So no P5 school wants to do a home and home with us? I refuse to believe that. We're a consistently good football program with a traveling fan base. I know you can't schedule these games at the drop of a hat, but we need to start organizing dates instead of scheduling ECU for the next 10 damn years.
We have P5 games: 17 WVU,18 ND, 19 ND, 20 PSU AND Michigan.
The only reason people care about ECU is because they have beaten us a couple times. We wreck their shit a few more times like we did this past season and very quickly people won't be agitated by it anymore.
Experts care if you lose to someone like ECU. Experts don't care if you win close against someone like ECU. But a 50burger opens eyes, as it did last year. And we roll off a few more slaughters like that in the coming years and the Pirates are going to pay us to not play them anymore.
If we are talking games with other schools, can we all agree to play Navy at FedEx or M&T? Hell a Navy game in Virginia Beach or an aircraft carrier. Don't care how you do it Whit, just make it happen!
This would be awesome, except not at Fedex. Never at Fedex.
Arbitrary but:
One week and 50 days!!!
Please put an end to the paper airplanes.
This going to be good.