Virginia Tech Should Look into Improving the Game Day Experience

Lane Stadium is many things, but modern wouldn’t be what I use to describe it. I have been very lucky to visit a TON of college football stadiums. Some are awesome, some are mediocre, and some are straight up head scratching. Each has its unique personality, for the good and bad. When it’s a night game at Lane, and the fans are lubed up, it is spectacular. When it’s a noon kick versus Akron, not so much.

"The best overall game day experience resides in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They do everything so right, except one key problem."

- Roy Hatfield

Let me preface this by saying I have been to three-night games at LSU. They were all great from start to finish. The tailgating is massive and impressive. Hot gumbo and cold beer make for an awesome afternoon. The Tiger walk early in the day sets the tone, and the games usually kick at golden hour. If you have never been to Tiger Stadium, it’s hard to appreciate the scale. It seats over 100,000 and the fans are (for the most part) really friendly. I don’t expect Virginia Tech to compete with capacity, they have trouble selling out Lane Stadium. The entire upper bowl has the LED lighting that has become the rage in the SEC. I’m not sure how that would work at Lane with no real upper deck situation.

While I love the light show and the ability to turn off all the lights and have them instantly come back on, they have their sound system set to 11. It’s SOOO loud, and the bass loosened up my fillings. I hope Virginia Tech doesn’t go in this direction. Even at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, they overuse the mammoth sound system. They also have the instant on/off feature and use it far too frequently to be effective. Touchdown? Lights off. Field goal? Lights off. 3-yard rush? Lights off. O.K., that last one was a joke, but you get the idea. You want mascots? They have that covered as well with LIVE FREAKING TIGER. LSU doesn’t care. PETA be damned:

I am interested to hear what fellow Virginia Tech fans have to say about the current game-day experience, and what they would like to see for next season. Please take time to consider the above and leave it in the comments!