Friday Night Lightning, Fan Safety, and Enter Sandman

Editor's Note: On Saturday I received an email from TKPer LWatson1689. Based on his work experience, I wanted to share his opinion on Friday night's ballyhooed delayed Lane Stadium opening because of the weather. In his own words: from 2004 to 2011, Lee Watson worked for NASCAR as part of the Track Services Team. He was directly involved in managing events in NASCAR's Sprint Cup, Nationwide, and Camping World Truck Series. For many races in that time span, he was either on the track in NASCAR's Chase Vehicle or in NASCAR Race Control. He has a unique perspective on what it is like to bridge between broadcast television, a host facility, competitors and emergency personnel — especially when it comes to weather. Lee currently works for Virginia Tech, but he is not part of the game operations staff and has no role in Virginia Tech Athletics. On game days, he's a ticket-holding fan just like everyone at TKP. — Joe

On Friday night one of our most beloved traditions, the Hokies' entrance to Enter Sandman, was completely derailed by a fast-moving storm system that happened to cross the New River Valley just prior to game time. In a simple statement issued by the athletic department, Virginia Tech took the brunt of the responsibility for what happened Friday night.

The safety of both teams and all fans is our always our utmost priority. Per ACC protocol in pregame meetings, both teams were advised of the potential for a weather delay.

At approximately 7:15 p.m. a lightning strike was confirmed and ACC and Virginia Tech lightning policies went into effect. Fans were subsequently advised to shelter.

A combination of the head referee, Virginia Tech Office of Emergency Management, campus safety officials, Virginia Tech Athletics game management officials along with weather service experts were involved in the decision-making process to proceed with kickoff at 8:05 p.m. after a warm-up period mutually agreed upon by both teams.

Once weather service officials confirmed that the threat of further lightning strikes had passed, stadium gates were opened to fans.

We appreciate our fans' patience throughout this weather delay and while weather can pose an inconvenience, ACC and Virginia Tech protocols were followed to ensure the safety of participants, teams and fans while attempting to minimize any game delay as much as feasible.

That hardly tells the story. Game decisions, especially those that are weather-related impact everyone and are among the toughest to make.

Those of us in the New River Valley won't argue that Friday night's storm was fairly violent though short-lived, and the decision to have fans seek cover and safety rather than opening the gates was a wise one. Several real positives were visible Friday night, including a Hokies win.

The "Beamer Barn" proved to be a serious home-field advantage, an aspect ESPN actually discussed. The Hokies stayed loose in the indoor athletic facility while N.C. State was stuffed into the visitor's locker room, and quarterback Jacoby Brissett took practice snaps in the adjacent tunnel next to turf equipment.

The gates opened at 7:45, with only 20 minutes until kickoff, and that's when things got bizarre. Kudos to Virginia Tech's social media accounts. They were clear throughout the process that the game would kick off at 8:05 PM unless there were more lightning strikes. There were no bands, very few fans, the Star Spangled Banner and a highly-abbreviated Sandman after the Hokies were ready to play. The coin toss and initial kick took place in a comparatively quiet Lane Stadium.

Every sanctioning body, sports team, and venue operations group has a foul-weather plan. NASCAR's is one of the more well-practiced. Every weekend, even if weather is not considered a serious hazard, there are plans in place. NASCAR's David Hoots holds court in his conference trailer with other NASCAR officials, broadcast partners, weather gurus and the track each week so that they know the exact broadcast window, including clearly laying out a "hurry up" plan. They know what the latest possible start time can be, what alternate networks are in play, and what happens if it runs long or has to be postponed. The "hurry up" is implemented after a weather delay, track drying, etc... and it condenses the normal pre-race festivities down to five minutes or so.

Contrary to what many might think, the game operations staff at Virginia Tech wasn't just winging it. They were following their own version of the hurry up script. In fact, the game operations staff was functioning on a pretty high level if Whit Babcock wasn't directly involved — which his statement to Andy Bitter indicated, "But in hindsight, if I could go back, I might have inserted myself in the process to delay it a bit." And even though we didn't get a normal entrance, the game operations staff did their job – they kept people safe and still pulled off the event on schedule. Whit Babcock's statement to Bitter also included, "We just got locked in on football..." To fans, that may sound odd but to Whit, his staff, and even Coach Beamer and the team, the actual football game and VT athletics is their job. Fans are a beloved, wonderful, and essential element — but the game itself is the actual job. You cannot overstate the simple fact they kept everyone safe; weather fatalities can and do happen. Lightning killed one fan and injured nine at Pocono Raceway in 2012. And to someone's credit — our team came out to the third quarter with a very rousing Sandman.

We love our entrance. We love Enter Sandman, and jumping. We didn't get that opportunity to show our love for the team in the usual way Friday, and it was frustrating and disappointing for Hokie Nation. Social media was aflame; many fans wondering why they couldn't delay the start 20 minutes. Simply put, it wasn't part of the plan. The fact the kickoff occurred on schedule made it, in a word... weird. Had there been lightning at 7:45 PM, and the kickoff pushed to 8:35 — would people have been as upset that our usual entrance was trumped in lieu of the hurry-up? In any televised sporting event, there's a schedule. In NASCAR, a David Hoots schedule almost carries the weight of law. We sometimes forget that there are business agreements, contracts with advertisers on television, legal obligations, and even noise ordinances that can come into play. There's a budget. Those police officers, parking attendants, and ushers from all across southwest Virginia are being paid; multiply all those game-day employees by an extra 45 minutes and you have a major increase in expense.

Universally, it is in everyone's best interests to pull the event off as close to on-schedule as possible. That's reflected in the final line of the statement from Virginia Tech, and it is a very telling one, "...while attempting to minimize any game delay as much as feasible."

Initially I was quick to point the finger at ESPN. Historically, they've found it hard to make everyone happy with everything from kickoff times to swapping games around between networks at will. ESPN sets college football games in a 3 hour, 30 minute window according to ESPN Vice President of College Sports Programming Ilan Ben-Hanan. Friday night's game was set for a three hour window, with ESPN's SportsCenter playing in each subsequent hour from the end of the game until 3:00 AM when the N.C. State–Virginia Tech game re-aired. So although normally quick to throw their broadcast weight around, this time they were innocent.

ESPN spokesperson says the network was not involved in the decision on when to kickoff tonight's #Hokies game vs NC State.— Mike Barber (@RTD_MikeBarber) October 10, 2015

ESPN leans on an internal "Guidelines and Conditions" group to make a lot of these decisions. The Guidelines and Conditions team has a wealth of tools at their disposal, including moving games between traditional broadcast channels, ESPN3 and WatchESPN as needed. They also have a small degree of latitude with kickoffs, in conjunction with conference officials. That latitude is usually somewhere around five minutes or so, but almost never more than that. Why so short? Because the game needs to finish somewhere close to on time so it doesn't disrupt further scheduling.

The bad news? The early forecast for Saturday at Miami shows a better than 60 percent chance of the Hokies playing their fourth consecutive game in poor weather.