https://www.roanoke.com/sports/college/va_tech/tech-says-limited-crowds-...
The university said fans shouldn't expect full stadiums in the fall — "such events are not possible at the densities to which we are accustomed" — and promised to release specific protocols for attendance later this summer
Hopefully people have been mentally prepared for this.
but I would have to lean — if it's not safe enough for fans and students to come back, I would have a hard time operating a football game under that premise," Babcock said
There is still the potential of no fans or games also.
Forums:
DISCLAIMER: Forum topics may not have been written or edited by The Key Play staff.
Comments
Good luck trying to tell a bunch of people where to stand after they've been tailgaiting. What a mess this is going to be to enforce.
I'm curious how tailgating will be addressed.
Wait until the potential for lots not being open for tailgating gets announced.
I would think all of these decisions need to be communicated before people start picking seats in the coming weeks.
I doubt it will decided, given all the unknowns, but telling big donors (lots 1-6) they can't tailgate or your not sitting where you think, after they've paid up and picked spots, is not a great look.
So we should have waited until July or August for ticket and lot picks? This is being driven by science, public health and public safety.
The politics are co-mingled with the science and public health and safety. So Tech is making decisions based on the science and public safety recommendations, but they're also just navigating the politics of it all.
My understanding is that season ticket holders are picking seats based on normal conditions and they are being told that any change for reduced seating will be figured out later.
I say we borrow an idea from the South Koreans and fill the remaining seats with sex dolls. What's the worst that can happen?
Bunch of drunk teenagers and blow up dolls with ample space around them?... yikes.
True story: at a MBB home game in '96 or '97 (I can't remember which) a group of students got tickets about 2-3 rows up, right in front of the cheerleaders, and snuck in a blow up doll. They were mimicking the cheers during timeouts, like tossing it in the air and catching it, etc. I believe they did it a couple times before the doll got confiscated
Smaller crowds at Hokie games? Fuente has been working on this contingency for years...
Too soon?
LOL, yeah probably too soon, but still deliciously snarky.
It means the fans in attendance have to boo even louder after a bubble screen on 3rd and 12 to voice their collective displeasure.
Bubble screen is 3rd and 8. 3rd and long is a QB draw. 3rd and short is a fade.
And UVA has perfected the concept.
You sir, are my hero.
Fuente has clearly lost the fan base. /s
This👆👆👆👆👆👆
Last year's schedule was dogshit and they all pointed to this year on why it was going to be ok.
And now half the fans won't be allowed into the stadium.
Half? One seat per 18". Now pick a nice lawyer-proof spacing for people. We'll be lucky to see one in four seats allowed.
So glad we've had Penn St on the schedule for 20 years only to have it played in a 15k capacity stadium
Yeah that definitely sucks.
Should have been Wisconsin.
I wonder how this will work. I imagine season ticket groups will stay grouped tight, so it wouldnt end up being 6' per person (or whatever magic number). Or they could just say 50% capacity and require face coverings. I don't think the atmosphere will be as bad as you might think either. The crowd will know they have to ramp up the effort.
With no restriction, I wonder what percent of the stadium would sell out. There has to be some voluntary trepidation right?
It sucks, but hey, that's life. No one say a pandemic coming and fucking up the world.
That is going to be interesting. If Tech sells me season tickets to each game, I am expecting to go to each game or expect a heck of a refund.
It would be just the cost of the tickets.
The athletic department already sent out info on getting a full refund or rolling the money over to the next season if there is an issue.
Reduced capacity is more than I expected, honestly.
There is strong potential for there to be no fans nor season if certain trends happen.
Yes that is what I'm saying. With that being said, there is more evidence growing that says transmission is low when outdoors. Not sure that'll be the case come October and November when it cools down, but it's an interesting trend nonetheless.
Still, wouldn't count on much.
But if you're in a stadium full of people, elbow to elbow, all screaming at the top of their lungs, and few are expelling virus they are shedding in the process, the close proximity combined with deep breathing/exhaling will result in higher transmission to new people.
Personally, I say play in the Beamer barn (or other smaller indoor arena that can accommodate the game) and set up hordes of screens that can display people logged in watching, pipe through what they are saying and shouting into a decent sound system to provide some crowd noise, and open up the lots to tailgating for people that want the atmosphere as long as they keep distance and mask up around each other.
These trends aint happening dude, we all know it
support?
There's a reason he hasn't replied.
At this point I think I would prefer the season be pushed back to the spring if it meant having a better chance of a full stadium. Figuring out who get tickets and who doesn't is going to be contentious.
Spring season isn't fair to players and isn't safe either.
Subjective. Fair to players may mean playing in front of the crowd that they envisioned when they signed on to Tech. Game day atmosphere is a selling point and taking that from them isn't "fair".
Also, who are we to say what is and isn't safe 7-8 months from now?
Just put out strong guidelines, but let the ticket holder decide what risks the ticket holder wants to take? If they have every home game full house this year I'm in.
It's not fair because kids who want to go to the draft can't be expected to play a full season in the spring. It's not safe because how do you ask them to play till June or July then turn around and play another season starting in August. Plus there would be no spring practice for early enrolles.
To add to this, football would then, presumably, be competing with basketball for the major attention. And if the football season were to be played fully n the spring, then you are affecting the whole structure of the draft and incoming players from college. Not to mention, turning around underclassmen that come back playing 12-14 games in the spring, then 12-14 games in the fall, within 10 months or so. The idea sounded good for splitting, but there's too many moving parts and other effects along the way.
A season that starts in mid January would end in mid April, with bowl games through the first half of May. Still a short turnaround, but I would imagine the NFL would adjust their offseason schedule to accommodate.
Figuring who gets tickets will be easy for VT - check your HC status And contribution level. It's not going to be anymore than that.
Maybe combined with box owners. But yep mostly HC member ranking.
I bet there are some elder HC members that wouldn't mind not having tickets if there is no penalty
Imagine Fuente's level of relief to learn that there will be reduced department revenue this year, limiting any major changes for the 2021 off-season.
Two way street - he may have wanted to make some changes on the offensive side of the ball, and he might be limited.
TL;DR I'm pretty sure the recent protests across the country have shown us that it's ok for large crowds to gather again.
Not sure about that. We will probably know in the next week or so whether your statement is correct.
Just because folks have done mass gatherings in protest doesn't change the fact that we're in the midst of a pandemic of which we still don't know a lot about. It is entirely possible that we will see a large 2nd wave that could be attributed to the large protests from the last week or so.
i ain't skeered....plus this thing has like a 99% survival rate and those at risk should probably stay home anyways. but lets not ruin it for the rest of us...
^^^^^WINNER^^^^^
I ain't skeered either... But if Blacksburg turns into a hot spot it's not just about avoiding lane stadium for those who have comorbidities.
the 3rd down yelling/chanting would be scary, tbh. An infected individual is sharing the virus with everyone within a 6 ft distance of the yelling projection with everyone having an open mouth.
Sure most students and alumni under 60 won't get it bad, but its the interaction with friends and family over 60 or those with comorbidities.
It all just depends on the stadium setup, the rate of transmission, PPE, and whether contact tracing is in place.
I don't know about you but when I'm a dozen Beam and Cokes deep, my spittle travels a solid 25 feet on the key play at 3rd and long.
Strong alcohol kills the virus, you should be safe to be around then. :)
Y'all don't start yelling until 3rd down?
good point.
We are already seeing a second wave as a number of states saw highs for infections in the last 2-3 days.
Junkies talked this morning about the Penn State Game. Lurch said he has two hotel rooms and they are going regardless, will just tailgate somewhere and then go watch it at a bar if they close the stadium.
Lurch better root for VT since his daughter goes there and he didn't even go to PSU
He talks them up in basketball and football from what I have heard especially because his oldest is going there
the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry... I can see things changing week by week, game by game... day by day
Quarter by quarter?
LOL yes. Expressionless Fuente moment by expressionless Fuente moment.
Look at it this way: it's better than not having a season at all
I wonder how this affects CFB programs financially? The SEC and Big10 famously make most of their money on tv deals, but not sure how that comes into play.
I wouldn't worry about CFB as much as say rowing or tennis. CFB and CBB fund all the other sports so most schools will try to keep them as funded as possible.
Interesting...I know post about fan seating, but not a single post about how in the world the players, coaches, trainers, and all other support staff can even actually practice, or be in groups together, in locker rooms together, or walk thru tunnel, or be on sidelines, huddles, or heck, even play the game against another team (which I assume has all same issues in addition to traveling via buses or planes). I just don't see how any football as we know it can occur this fall. Not sure how players can really practice or play against each other - unless what? they test every player and coach or support staff person every day before practice? And what happens when one player tests positive? contact trace the team and quarantine everyone player hit in practice?...I just don't see contact sports happening at all this fall. Maybe if they play flag football in empty stadiums (with 6-ft long flags attached to their waists, TIC). Question is which school will be the first to just say it ain't happening, and then the dominoes will start falling. Moving it to spring and/or having a short season in the spring is a more realistic option because we don't know what situation will be at that time. Worrying about nfl draft, spring practices, or the following fall season is not important if they did want to try to play some sort of football season. The is a pandemic in case everyone forgot. In NC we just lost a, 8-year old, 2nd grade girl last week to Covid-19.
6' is our new O-line spacing.
I (drunkenly) bought tickets for the PSU game a couple weeks ago. If it gets cancelled, I will be refunded my money, so I'm not worried about that.
I am interested to see how they allocate who gets in if there is a limited capacity? Donors first then students? Any remaining going to people who bought single game tickets? how many of each group gets tickets?
I bought them off StubHub but I was surprised they were allowing the selling of individual tickets with the uncertainly of capacity allowed, let alone the game/season.
There are no individual tickets for sale. Someone sold you their season tickets for that one game.
either way... individual seats or buying them off somebody who had season tickets... I am not sure how they will decide which tickets will be allowed in.
If the tickets I bought were season tickets, where do I stand in the pecking order of which tickets are allowed? Do I get in because they were season tickets beforehand? (assuming there are people allowed in stadium)
How is there specific seat tickets already? With it being a reseating year is it people selling that have already gone through seating process?
Investing in seat futures?
I'm curious to see if this changes consumer behavior long term. If half of the fans who have season tickets don't get them this year, and they enjoy the experience of watching the game from home, are they going to renew next year?
As a guy who watches a lot of games on TV, it's definitely cheaper and more convenient, and you see more of the game, but it's not anywhere near the same experience.
Which is why I still drive for hours and get hotel rooms sometimes to attend games.
What percentage of the seating capacity is filled by season ticket holders?
It used to be 100% of the available tickets after the students, away and staff allocations. The last 8 years or so, not so much.
I will always go to whatever games I can in person-both home and away - with the only restrictions being financial and ticket availability(mainly on away games) and partially based on vacation time available(though since I have 5 weeks paid vacation as I've been with my company for 27+ years now) that is not usually an issue.
In 2016, I made it to every game except the away game at Syracuse and my goal was to make it to every game(both home and away) this year as well- but that may be difficult depending on capacity issues at stadiums.. (even years are easier since for in=conference schedule three of the away games are Duke,UNC(both closer to Richmond than Blacksburg) and Pitt which is a fairly easy 4-5 hour drive. The longer trips this year would be Louisville and Murfreesboro but stiil not bad. The odd years are tougher with Miami and BC highlighting the distance travel. Of course the VT-UVA games are "home" for us every year!
Bottom line- nothing beats the in-stadium experience for me despite the cost and travel time!
Go Hokies!
I'm definitely worried, being a 2nd year Hokie Club member with a very low ranking, that I will not get the opportunity at tickets this year. Would really be interested to know how many season tickets were sold this year. Also what would the capacity of students be? Would they still be obligated to give away tickets to teams?
It really wouldn't surprise me to see all students get shafted in this situation. Not allowing students would allow the athletic department to reduce stadium capacity by roughly 15-20% with the least financial burden possible since student tickets are so much cheaper. Combine this with the fact that student tailgates on center st wouldn't be nearly as big of a problem and I don't think it's too far-fetched to see this happen.
I'd be shocked to see students get the cut; the long term implications could be deadly for HC. Especially given that students have to pay a mandatory athletic fee.
My thought is that you'll see the cuts come from a variety of places:
I think that, for the long term health of the donor base, you need to compromise across the different groups.
My 60-year-old father bought his season tickets, but I'm fairly sure only to continue his season ticket buying streak. He's expecting a voluntary transfer to next season, and if he doesn't get that he'll almost certainly sell them all.
As for me... I'm probably not gonna bother trying to fly home for a game this year, even if it means the end of a 22-year streak of seeing at least one game in Lane.
I ordered my 3 seats today. Let me know if you will need one for a game.
I'm in a different boat - I'm an 18-year HC member with an upper-half ranking. If I get seats I'm not sure I want them. I have a kid with asthma and both of my parents are high-risk.
I'm curious to see if there will be a voluntary opt-out for people that don't want to go this year but want to keep the seats for (presumably safer) years to come
Time to invest in VR headset and it would be as if you were right there. Just don't go around breaking TV or jumping to your death if VT loses.
If I could get VR that didnt make me nauseous I would pay good money for this. Feel like you are at the game without the drive, being able to sit down and still see, not having severely drunk people bump into you. Come one VT get this going. Bonus points if you let me sit with all my friends that are in their living rooms.
Yeah, the older I get, the more sensitive I become to gaming. I can't play FPS or even games like Assassin Creed as the motion makes me get ill as the game progress. So I had to give up gaming.
I haven't tried VR even though my wife said it's fun.
a professional soccer team, i believe in denmark, brought in a giant tv and had a massive zoom call with fans on a giant screen, wouldn't hate something like that for HC and/or season ticket holders who can't be in attendance
link
Isn't that kind of what Fuente did on some Fridays?
If all 65k fans are willing to say that they're all there as one family unit, put on some masks and fill the stadium to max capacity. DONE.
We have proof from the card stunt saying THIS IS HOME
FAM!
Has any study determined how effective masks are at reducing the spread of covid-19, especially in an outdoor setting? Maybe we'll find out soon with all the massive protests that have been going on.
But let's assume a few things for sake of argument. Let's assume
(a) the virus doesn't spread easily in an outdoor setting (because they've been saying that for a while).
(b) masks are effective
(c) asymptomatic people do not transmit the virus very readily, especially with a mask (it's hard to prove but I've heard people argue this, especially because asymptomatic people don't cough and such)
If those assumptions are correct, I feel like we could have games in closer to full capacity stadiums (*fans required to wear masks*). Also what if stadiums could institute some type of outdoor screening/temperature kind of setup.
Yes, this is a lot of what ifs and no, I don't think we'll have games with full capacity stands. But *IF* we don't see a spike in cases over the next week from the protests, logically outdoor games with similar spacing, masks, etc. shouldn't cause a spike either.
Then they should apply those lessons to ticket scanning.
But your not just talking about the time sitting in your lane seat. Bathroom, concession lines, tailgating, hotels and restaurants. Not to mention the thousands of workers needed for each game from public safety to volunteers working the concessions and beyond.
So the ACC has already been meeting with companies that offer this program. The screening systems can screen a person as fast as it takes to scan a ticket and can do up to 12 at a time.
I predict it will be like going through TSA at first but as we go forward times to get in stadium should improve.
(Source: My buddy met with the ACC)
Sounds like your buddy is going to make a lot of money soon!
I think you are correct! He was able to get out in front a lot of his competitors.
And his companies stock is? ;)
Hope it doesn't measure BAC
"Sorry Officer, I was just trying to sanitize my insides with whiskey before coming to the game!"
You misspelled Occifer.
Correctly worn masks are effective....I see very few of those lately