Virginia Tech fans sound off on Sugar Bowl tickets
My story on Virginia Tech’s slow ticket sales for the Sugar Bowl ran in today’s newspaper. You can read it here.
Earlier this week I requested reader feedback on the situation, hoping to glean some insight from the people actually buying the tickets. The response was overwhelming. While a short list ran in the paper, I have a much longer list that I’ll put online here. (And even this doesn’t cover the scope of emails I got.)
Some of these are slightly edited for length or to highlight a certain portion that I thought was best. Thanks to everyone who took the time to write in. It gave me a good perspective on the situation:
To the letters:
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It is ridiculous that better seats can be bought, usually cheaper, through the secondary market. We bought our tickets through the Hokie Club to support the club and VT. We are Golden Hokies and put in for Club level and ended up in upper level. There doesn’t seem to be enough good seats allocated to the schools.
Kevin Bircher, Durham, N.C.
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I would have LOVED to go to the Sugar Bowl and explore the big easy for a few days, but a Tuesday right after the holidays is almost impossible to swing if you have a job. Chalk this miss up to unlucky timing.
Cliff Grunstra, Norfolk
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I don’t think students have much of an excuse not to go as we will be on break, New Orleans is drivable from Blacksburg, Tech offered students a good deal on lower level tickets, and lodging isn’t hard to figure out, as I got a good deal on a hotel a block away from Bourbon Street and walking distance from the Superdome.
Andy Pratt, Blacksburg
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I’m a little different than most of your readers in that I live in Denver. I haven’t seen the Hokies play in person since the mid-1980s (when few cared). I’d love to see VT and take my young son with me. But that means I have to choose … VT at home in Blacksburg with my son or the Sugar Bowl? I can only do one. And if the Sugar Bowl was reasonably priced I might pull it off. But airfares aren’t, and the killer is the day of the game. No way we can go midweek. I already have meetings scheduled that day that I can’t change, and my son is in school Jan. 4.
Scott McCarty, Westminster, Colo.
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I do have this to say about the methodology for Virginia Tech’s ticket sales. Given the history of the past couple of years, to put them up only to a select few initially was stupid, stupid, stupid. It should have been apparent there would be no lack of tickets to go around so open the sales up immediately to one and all. If you want to reward the big donors, you reserve the choice seats and fill those requests from the reserved allotment but you sell the rest to all takers. Was it not obvious last year that people have become savvy to the market and are easily able to find secondary tickets at considerably cheaper prices? A few more brilliant ideas like that and we will swiftly become known as a non-traveling team.
Paul Kohler, Midlothian
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1. The game is played on a Tuesday (must miss work M-T-W)
2. Airline prices are through the roof
3. You cannot pick specific seats via VT Ticket Website
4. Prices (tickets, airline, hotel) swing wildly; best if purchased within minutes of likely destination announcement, or very late
5. Economy is in the crapper
Tim Hughes, McLean
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I think that the Hokies recent history of late season and bowl game swoons against top competition may be affecting the reputation that we travel well. Eight 10-game win seasons puts the bowl season bar a bit higher. Frank Beamer’s ACC regular season success could be his worst enemy.
Ed and Carol Miller, Port St. Lucie, FL
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If the game were on a weekend, I would have made the effort and possibly driven to save money. However, I cannot justify taking the time off from work after a holiday and the high cost of the overall trip. Not to mention, my family blew our “bowl budget” on the ACC Championship in Charlotte.
David Adkins, Richmond
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Simply put until the coaches can consistently prove they can compete at the highest level with solid game plans, game-time focus and an unmatched intensity it will be hard to make the financial investment required for these games. … Ten win seasons are nice, ACC championships are even better, beating UVA annually is priceless, but it appears our coaching staff are content with these goals. The fans have reached a point where they want and expect more in big-time games. Far too often we are left disappointed with what comes across as an uninspired, unmotivated performance on the national stage.
Joel H. Broyhill, Ashburn
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VT fans have become savvy to the system. When you charge $120 for nosebleed seats and you don’t actually get to pick your seats you better have demand. Neither the Orange nor the Sugar Bowl have the demand so you can basically pay about 70% of face and pick your seats on StubHub. VT fans are very familiar with this after having been to so many big bowl games over the last several years. The bowls need to create more demand or lower their face ticket prices if they want to create more demand. The bowls are able to over-charge for tickets because so many of them are guaranteed from the two schools playing.
Chris Zettervall, Virginia Beach
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I’m a long time season ticket holder and frequent Bowl attendee. However, after watching Tech’s offensive debacle against Clemson, it is very difficult to get excited about spending a couple of thousand dollars to watch a repeat of either the Clemson game or last year’s Orange Bowl.
J. L. Miles, Williamsport, Md.
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I personally believe ticket sales are down because of the date of the game (Tuesday Night), and the expense of airfare. My airfare is roughly 2/3 of my expenses for the game; if the game were in driving distance (or flights were cheaper), I think you’d see many more fans.
Ben Rosenthal, Blacksburg
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The singular reason is the day and time when this game is being played. I have two kids in school that I need to drive around. Also, having taken too many extended vacations last year, my wife and I did not want to start the new year with yet another extended absence. We like our jobs and paycheck. If this game had been on Jan. 1 or 2 we would have been one of the first to go, and we would have bought it from Tech.
Shankar Narayanan, Ann Arbor
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Reason for not going: cost, cost, cost. The cheapest flight for two from Raleigh was a total of $600. We had a steal on a room in the Quarter at $179 plus tax and three-night minimum $600. Tickets, two at $150 each-sold those and would have purchased in New Orleans or on Stub Hub. Parking at Raleigh and gas $100. Total: $1,600 I have not opened a beer yet. I would be at $2,200 to $2,300 total for a three-day football game trip! No way!
Stan Finch, Altavista
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To me the biggest problem is the coaching. The players are different but the results seem to be the same. Beamer and his staff routinely get out coached and outplayed in big games. The ACC Championship game was outright embarrassing. It is not for lack of talent. Virginia Tech has put plenty of players in the NFL at all positions. Beamer seems to be an expert at wasting and squandering talent. … I am going to the Sugar Bowl to support my team. I am expecting us to lose. Maybe we will win and I will be pleasantly surprised. At least if I keep my expectations low I will not walk out of there too pissed off and disappointed.
Lt Col Phil Millett, Crestwood, KY
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I’m a student here at Tech and after the ACC Championship I was really excited for the possibility to go to ‘Nola for a bowl game. Then the student ticket prices game out. $95 for a student ticket and some are over $100? That seems like an oxymoron. The ACC Championship Tickets were $35 and $40!!! Not to mention I can’t afford to road trip and find a hotel near the game with a ticket that’s going to cost me that much on top of everything.
Greg Andia, Greensboro, N.C.
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I think the biggest drawback is the day it is played on. These bowls used to be Jan 1 and being in financial reporting for a company with a year end close, it makes it very hard to attend. I’m off Jan 1 and Jan 2 and could attend but since its not, I can’t take off work at that time of year to attend a mid-week bowl.
Kevin Trolaro,Metuchen, N.J.
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Losing to Clemson was just as deflating for the fans as it was for the team. Yeah, the trip to New Orleans would be expensive and yeah, I’d have to burn a couple days’ vacation, but if Tech actually showed up and won a couple big games, I’d be on a plane to Louisiana.
Matt Wimmer, Roanoke
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It does bother me that when I buy tickets through the school I pay more and get a less desirable seat. I do appreciate that I’m surrounded by Hokies and not the general population, but that wasn’t the case with my club seats in Charlotte last week.
Paul B. Johnson, Fairfax
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The main problem is based in the bowl ticket pricing philosophy and system. I fail to understand how and why reduced price tickets are available from sources other than the VT ticket office. This is not a VT problem alone, as we are seeing historically strong traveling programs other than VT also having trouble selling their ticket allotments (i.e., Clemson, West VA). The ticket price discrepancy needs to be addressed by the bowls and universities.
Jeff Lyon, Chesterfield
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VT has now been to a big bowl 5 of the last 8 years. Because this has become less of a novelty thing, fans are not looking at each game as a “once in a life time” opportunity. In 1995, VT was in a big bowl for the first time and was well represented. In 2000, it was the MNC and was looked at as once in a life time opportunity and we flooded the place. So much so that they opened the arena to over 10,000 fans who couldn’t get tickets to the game to watch it on the big screen there. Since then, we’ve been in 5 of 8 BCS bowl games and now, unfortunately, our fan base may be becoming a little spoiled and is choosing to wait for a dream matchup or an MNC game before going to a game.
Scott Bush
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There is no single reason that stands out more than the others for why I’m not travelling to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl. It is more an accumulation of the following factors: 1) would require using three vacation days; 2) overall cost of the trip (lodging, flight, food, tickets); 3) having just travelled to Charlotte to watch a pathetic display by VT in the ACC Championship game; 4) burned out by VT’s longstanding streak of poor performances in bigtime non-conference games; 5) have already seen VT in the Sugar Bowl.
Mike Leonard, Fredericksburg
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It is horrendously expensive this year, and we had to get creative to make it work for us. We live in New York City, but the only affordable airfare for us was to fly one-way from LaGuardia to Jackson, Mississippi. We’ll rent a car and drive the three hours to New Orleans. Our trip home is even more indirect — we’re driving from New Orleans back to Jackson, flying to Baltimore, and then taking the train back to NYC. Talk about planes, trains, and automobiles — if that’s not love for the Hokies, I don’t know what is.
Kerby Houff, New York, NY
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On the Monday after the Sugar Bowl announcement, I was thinking of going. I logged onto Expedia and found an AirTran flight from Richmond. The flight even had a decent schedule. I went through the clicks to select flights to and from New Orleans and when I got to the confirmation page I got a warning that said “the price of this ticket has changed.” Yep, it changed alright. It more than doubled. The price went from a face value of $270 or thereabouts to over $680 per person. No thanks.
Gary R. Reinhardt, Richmond
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I bought a ticket to the game. I bought it through StubHub because it was cheaper than through the school. I don’t care as much about Tech fulfilling the 17,500 ticket allotment as there being lots of fans at the game, and I will be there.
Daniel Kennie, Alabama
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I feel that the ticket situation, while not optimal, is still successful for VT, given recent years lack of success. The Sugar Bowl is mid-week, right after a long vacation for many.
Kenneth A. Byrd, Blacksburg
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I can’t go for two reasons: 1) The game is on a Tuesday night. That means I’d have to take a minimum of three vacation days from work. The first three days of the year. No way. I have three weeks to use for the entire year. If the game was on New Years Eve or New Years Day, I would have gone because it would be rolled into my holiday. 2) It’s too expensive. By the time I pay for Hokie Club dues and season tickets, I’m already spending more than I should (I’d like to put my kids through college and retire one day). Now there are 12 regular season games, a championship game, and a bowl game. That’s a lot to ask of working folks.
Chuck Jarrett, Lynchburg
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The tickets are quite costly. To get a nice seat your looking at $150 a ticket. That is pretty outrageous. You multiply that by how ever many friends were thinking about going and we can have a hell of a tailgate party in the comfort of our home.
Adam Sharrow, South Hero, Vt.
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Reasons the ticket sales are slower? One, thousands are buying from other sources for less. They are also probably going by where we’ve gotten tickets in the past, upper deck, end zone, etc. Tech fans are getting savvy about how to get good seats in my opinion.
Mark Edwards, Smithfield
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I tried to get tickets through hokietickets.com right after the announcement, but they were not available to the public. At the time I was checking, StubHub was priced similar to the school’s prices in decent seats. I decided to wait for the school to open up their sale to the public. By that time flights were at $800 out of L.A. If flights were normal, I know a bunch of us SoCal Hokies would come.
Tawab Abawi, Hermosa Beach, Calif.
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When VT played in Sugar Bowl last time, fans knew the week leading up to the Miami game that if VT won the game and the ACC they would be heading to New Orleans. We had an extra week to think about and plan for the bowl game. This year the Sugar Bowl came out of nowhere and we were not prepared for the possibility of VT going to New Orleans.
Harrison Poole, Virginia Beach
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Die hard Hokie. Not going to New Orleans because of the money and the fact that at least three vacation days would need to be used. As a blue collar work I don’t have many vacation days to waste.
Jeffery McClintock, Smith Mountain Lake
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My past experience with bowl games is that pre-ordering them through the VTTO doesn’t guarantee me tickets since I’m not high on the priority list. Therefore, I find it easier to buy them immediately after bowl game is announced through after-market or third parties, especially since I need to have tickets before I spend money on airfare and hotel. If VTTO would confirm pre-orders before bowls are announced (guarantee I will have tickets), then all I would have to do is get travel and hotel arranged immediately after bowl selection.
Kevin Stone, McLean
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In order, reasons for not attending: 1) Just dished out money to attend ACC championship let down. 2) The cost of Trip to N.O. (Air fare, hotel, food, tickets). 3) Reseating for season ticket holders. 4) Time of year. 5.) Performance in big games has been a let down.
Barry Brady, Roanoke
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The date that this game is on does not make it convenient for many people to attend in person. The costs for travel, hotel, meals, and tickets are not worth it when one can watch the game on TV in HD while setting in the “easy chair.” And lastly, after seeing the way the Tech team played in both of their games against Clemson, you have to wonder what will happen against Michigan.
J. C. Cheely, Camden, SC
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I for one will not spend a dime on another Hokie game until we go out and hire a real offensive coordinator.
Kirk Davis, Blue Ridge
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It’s on January 3. The holidays are over by then. It’s time to go back to work, not to New Orleans.
Dominic Tiburzi, Columbia, Md.
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My thoughts on any ticketing process is the game they play with buyers. After searching “best available”, the only ones left are $300 nosebleeds, or something ridiculous like that, two days after the game’s been announced. You know there is better than that left. Stop trying to jerk people around and fool them into believing that’s all that’s left.
Cheri Hawkins,Ashburn
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The one factor I didn’t see mentioned, that has kept me from many other bowl games, is the fact that the game itself is meaningless. During a regular season where supposedly “every game matters”, none of the bowl games, outside of the National Championship game, have anything on the line. I would rather spend my money on a big time out of conference regular season game, such as the Boise St., Alabama, and LSU games in prior years, that have a bearing on whether we get to play in the “national championship” contest.
Brian Ward, Virginia Beach
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I am a two time Tech grad. I root for Tech. For some years I purchased two season basketball tickets. Having said that I will not spend a dime on VT. Not now. Not ever. The re-seating of long time fans in favor of well-heeled bandwagon fans is more than shameful. It is nothing but pure unbridled greed and this did not affect me because I saw where this was headed some years back. Loyalty is a two way street, something VT needs to remember. I’ll watch the game. I hope they win but they will never get another penny from me.
John R Lloyd, Blacksburg
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I’m a Golden Hokie. My seats in Lane Stadium are fairly good (Section 16, Row ZZ). I’m used to having a decent view of the field. In the past when I’ve attended big games, such as those at FedEx Field (Boise State), Charlotte (East Carolina) or in the Georgia Dome (Alabama), I’ve made my purchases through the VT Athletic Department only to be given seats that cost way too much for the location and view. Even when I’ve opted for the “middle tier” seats I feel like I’ve gotten the short end of the stick. The Boise State game did me in, being stuck in the corner end zone and paying $105 per ticket. After that game I told myself no more; I’ll only buy the tickets from third parties or directly from the stadium.
Richie Weldon, San Francisco
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I do not plan on attending the Sugar Bowl in support of the Hokies due its scheduled date. ESPN and the BCS have assured themselves reduced ticket sales by moving the major bowls off their historic dates (New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day) in favor of single game draws on television ratings. I get paid holiday leave for the actual holidays. I don’t want to exhaust my vacation to this particular destination during a time of year when air travel is absurdly expensive and driving is not an option at 13+ hours.
James H. Davenport II, Portsmouth
It is ridiculous that better seats can be bought, usually cheaper, through the secondary market. We bought our tickets through the Hokie Club to support the club and VT. We are Golden Hokies and put in for Club level and ended up in upper level. There doesn’t seem to be enough good seats allocated to the schools.
Kevin Bircher, Durham, N.C.
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I would have LOVED to go to the Sugar Bowl and explore the big easy for a few days, but a Tuesday right after the holidays is almost impossible to swing if you have a job. Chalk this miss up to unlucky timing.
Cliff Grunstra, Norfolk
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I don’t think students have much of an excuse not to go as we will be on break, New Orleans is drivable from Blacksburg, Tech offered students a good deal on lower level tickets, and lodging isn’t hard to figure out, as I got a good deal on a hotel a block away from Bourbon Street and walking distance from the Superdome.
Andy Pratt, Blacksburg
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I’m a little different than most of your readers in that I live in Denver. I haven’t seen the Hokies play in person since the mid-1980s (when few cared). I’d love to see VT and take my young son with me. But that means I have to choose … VT at home in Blacksburg with my son or the Sugar Bowl? I can only do one. And if the Sugar Bowl was reasonably priced I might pull it off. But airfares aren’t, and the killer is the day of the game. No way we can go midweek. I already have meetings scheduled that day that I can’t change, and my son is in school Jan. 4.
Scott McCarty, Westminster, Colo.
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I do have this to say about the methodology for Virginia Tech’s ticket sales. Given the history of the past couple of years, to put them up only to a select few initially was stupid, stupid, stupid. It should have been apparent there would be no lack of tickets to go around so open the sales up immediately to one and all. If you want to reward the big donors, you reserve the choice seats and fill those requests from the reserved allotment but you sell the rest to all takers. Was it not obvious last year that people have become savvy to the market and are easily able to find secondary tickets at considerably cheaper prices? A few more brilliant ideas like that and we will swiftly become known as a non-traveling team.
Paul Kohler, Midlothian
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1. The game is played on a Tuesday (must miss work M-T-W)
2. Airline prices are through the roof
3. You cannot pick specific seats via VT Ticket Website
4. Prices (tickets, airline, hotel) swing wildly; best if purchased within minutes of likely destination announcement, or very late
5. Economy is in the crapper
Tim Hughes, McLean
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I think that the Hokies recent history of late season and bowl game swoons against top competition may be affecting the reputation that we travel well. Eight 10-game win seasons puts the bowl season bar a bit higher. Frank Beamer’s ACC regular season success could be his worst enemy.
Ed and Carol Miller, Port St. Lucie, FL
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If the game were on a weekend, I would have made the effort and possibly driven to save money. However, I cannot justify taking the time off from work after a holiday and the high cost of the overall trip. Not to mention, my family blew our “bowl budget” on the ACC Championship in Charlotte.
David Adkins, Richmond
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Simply put until the coaches can consistently prove they can compete at the highest level with solid game plans, game-time focus and an unmatched intensity it will be hard to make the financial investment required for these games. … Ten win seasons are nice, ACC championships are even better, beating UVA annually is priceless, but it appears our coaching staff are content with these goals. The fans have reached a point where they want and expect more in big-time games. Far too often we are left disappointed with what comes across as an uninspired, unmotivated performance on the national stage.
Joel H. Broyhill, Ashburn
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VT fans have become savvy to the system. When you charge $120 for nosebleed seats and you don’t actually get to pick your seats you better have demand. Neither the Orange nor the Sugar Bowl have the demand so you can basically pay about 70% of face and pick your seats on StubHub. VT fans are very familiar with this after having been to so many big bowl games over the last several years. The bowls need to create more demand or lower their face ticket prices if they want to create more demand. The bowls are able to over-charge for tickets because so many of them are guaranteed from the two schools playing.
Chris Zettervall, Virginia Beach
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I’m a long time season ticket holder and frequent Bowl attendee. However, after watching Tech’s offensive debacle against Clemson, it is very difficult to get excited about spending a couple of thousand dollars to watch a repeat of either the Clemson game or last year’s Orange Bowl.
J. L. Miles, Williamsport, Md.
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I personally believe ticket sales are down because of the date of the game (Tuesday Night), and the expense of airfare. My airfare is roughly 2/3 of my expenses for the game; if the game were in driving distance (or flights were cheaper), I think you’d see many more fans.
Ben Rosenthal, Blacksburg
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The singular reason is the day and time when this game is being played. I have two kids in school that I need to drive around. Also, having taken too many extended vacations last year, my wife and I did not want to start the new year with yet another extended absence. We like our jobs and paycheck. If this game had been on Jan. 1 or 2 we would have been one of the first to go, and we would have bought it from Tech.
Shankar Narayanan, Ann Arbor
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Reason for not going: cost, cost, cost. The cheapest flight for two from Raleigh was a total of $600. We had a steal on a room in the Quarter at $179 plus tax and three-night minimum $600. Tickets, two at $150 each-sold those and would have purchased in New Orleans or on Stub Hub. Parking at Raleigh and gas $100. Total: $1,600 I have not opened a beer yet. I would be at $2,200 to $2,300 total for a three-day football game trip! No way!
Stan Finch, Altavista
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To me the biggest problem is the coaching. The players are different but the results seem to be the same. Beamer and his staff routinely get out coached and outplayed in big games. The ACC Championship game was outright embarrassing. It is not for lack of talent. Virginia Tech has put plenty of players in the NFL at all positions. Beamer seems to be an expert at wasting and squandering talent. … I am going to the Sugar Bowl to support my team. I am expecting us to lose. Maybe we will win and I will be pleasantly surprised. At least if I keep my expectations low I will not walk out of there too pissed off and disappointed.
Lt Col Phil Millett, Crestwood, KY
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I’m a student here at Tech and after the ACC Championship I was really excited for the possibility to go to ‘Nola for a bowl game. Then the student ticket prices game out. $95 for a student ticket and some are over $100? That seems like an oxymoron. The ACC Championship Tickets were $35 and $40!!! Not to mention I can’t afford to road trip and find a hotel near the game with a ticket that’s going to cost me that much on top of everything.
Greg Andia, Greensboro, N.C.
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I think the biggest drawback is the day it is played on. These bowls used to be Jan 1 and being in financial reporting for a company with a year end close, it makes it very hard to attend. I’m off Jan 1 and Jan 2 and could attend but since its not, I can’t take off work at that time of year to attend a mid-week bowl.
Kevin Trolaro,Metuchen, N.J.
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Losing to Clemson was just as deflating for the fans as it was for the team. Yeah, the trip to New Orleans would be expensive and yeah, I’d have to burn a couple days’ vacation, but if Tech actually showed up and won a couple big games, I’d be on a plane to Louisiana.
Matt Wimmer, Roanoke
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It does bother me that when I buy tickets through the school I pay more and get a less desirable seat. I do appreciate that I’m surrounded by Hokies and not the general population, but that wasn’t the case with my club seats in Charlotte last week.
Paul B. Johnson, Fairfax
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The main problem is based in the bowl ticket pricing philosophy and system. I fail to understand how and why reduced price tickets are available from sources other than the VT ticket office. This is not a VT problem alone, as we are seeing historically strong traveling programs other than VT also having trouble selling their ticket allotments (i.e., Clemson, West VA). The ticket price discrepancy needs to be addressed by the bowls and universities.
Jeff Lyon, Chesterfield
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VT has now been to a big bowl 5 of the last 8 years. Because this has become less of a novelty thing, fans are not looking at each game as a “once in a life time” opportunity. In 1995, VT was in a big bowl for the first time and was well represented. In 2000, it was the MNC and was looked at as once in a life time opportunity and we flooded the place. So much so that they opened the arena to over 10,000 fans who couldn’t get tickets to the game to watch it on the big screen there. Since then, we’ve been in 5 of 8 BCS bowl games and now, unfortunately, our fan base may be becoming a little spoiled and is choosing to wait for a dream matchup or an MNC game before going to a game.
Scott Bush
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There is no single reason that stands out more than the others for why I’m not travelling to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl. It is more an accumulation of the following factors: 1) would require using three vacation days; 2) overall cost of the trip (lodging, flight, food, tickets); 3) having just travelled to Charlotte to watch a pathetic display by VT in the ACC Championship game; 4) burned out by VT’s longstanding streak of poor performances in bigtime non-conference games; 5) have already seen VT in the Sugar Bowl.
Mike Leonard, Fredericksburg
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It is horrendously expensive this year, and we had to get creative to make it work for us. We live in New York City, but the only affordable airfare for us was to fly one-way from LaGuardia to Jackson, Mississippi. We’ll rent a car and drive the three hours to New Orleans. Our trip home is even more indirect — we’re driving from New Orleans back to Jackson, flying to Baltimore, and then taking the train back to NYC. Talk about planes, trains, and automobiles — if that’s not love for the Hokies, I don’t know what is.
Kerby Houff, New York, NY
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On the Monday after the Sugar Bowl announcement, I was thinking of going. I logged onto Expedia and found an AirTran flight from Richmond. The flight even had a decent schedule. I went through the clicks to select flights to and from New Orleans and when I got to the confirmation page I got a warning that said “the price of this ticket has changed.” Yep, it changed alright. It more than doubled. The price went from a face value of $270 or thereabouts to over $680 per person. No thanks.
Gary R. Reinhardt, Richmond
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I bought a ticket to the game. I bought it through StubHub because it was cheaper than through the school. I don’t care as much about Tech fulfilling the 17,500 ticket allotment as there being lots of fans at the game, and I will be there.
Daniel Kennie, Alabama
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I feel that the ticket situation, while not optimal, is still successful for VT, given recent years lack of success. The Sugar Bowl is mid-week, right after a long vacation for many.
Kenneth A. Byrd, Blacksburg
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I can’t go for two reasons: 1) The game is on a Tuesday night. That means I’d have to take a minimum of three vacation days from work. The first three days of the year. No way. I have three weeks to use for the entire year. If the game was on New Years Eve or New Years Day, I would have gone because it would be rolled into my holiday. 2) It’s too expensive. By the time I pay for Hokie Club dues and season tickets, I’m already spending more than I should (I’d like to put my kids through college and retire one day). Now there are 12 regular season games, a championship game, and a bowl game. That’s a lot to ask of working folks.
Chuck Jarrett, Lynchburg
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The tickets are quite costly. To get a nice seat your looking at $150 a ticket. That is pretty outrageous. You multiply that by how ever many friends were thinking about going and we can have a hell of a tailgate party in the comfort of our home.
Adam Sharrow, South Hero, Vt.
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Reasons the ticket sales are slower? One, thousands are buying from other sources for less. They are also probably going by where we’ve gotten tickets in the past, upper deck, end zone, etc. Tech fans are getting savvy about how to get good seats in my opinion.
Mark Edwards, Smithfield
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I tried to get tickets through hokietickets.com right after the announcement, but they were not available to the public. At the time I was checking, StubHub was priced similar to the school’s prices in decent seats. I decided to wait for the school to open up their sale to the public. By that time flights were at $800 out of L.A. If flights were normal, I know a bunch of us SoCal Hokies would come.
Tawab Abawi, Hermosa Beach, Calif.
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When VT played in Sugar Bowl last time, fans knew the week leading up to the Miami game that if VT won the game and the ACC they would be heading to New Orleans. We had an extra week to think about and plan for the bowl game. This year the Sugar Bowl came out of nowhere and we were not prepared for the possibility of VT going to New Orleans.
Harrison Poole, Virginia Beach
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Die hard Hokie. Not going to New Orleans because of the money and the fact that at least three vacation days would need to be used. As a blue collar work I don’t have many vacation days to waste.
Jeffery McClintock, Smith Mountain Lake
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My past experience with bowl games is that pre-ordering them through the VTTO doesn’t guarantee me tickets since I’m not high on the priority list. Therefore, I find it easier to buy them immediately after bowl game is announced through after-market or third parties, especially since I need to have tickets before I spend money on airfare and hotel. If VTTO would confirm pre-orders before bowls are announced (guarantee I will have tickets), then all I would have to do is get travel and hotel arranged immediately after bowl selection.
Kevin Stone, McLean
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In order, reasons for not attending: 1) Just dished out money to attend ACC championship let down. 2) The cost of Trip to N.O. (Air fare, hotel, food, tickets). 3) Reseating for season ticket holders. 4) Time of year. 5.) Performance in big games has been a let down.
Barry Brady, Roanoke
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The date that this game is on does not make it convenient for many people to attend in person. The costs for travel, hotel, meals, and tickets are not worth it when one can watch the game on TV in HD while setting in the “easy chair.” And lastly, after seeing the way the Tech team played in both of their games against Clemson, you have to wonder what will happen against Michigan.
J. C. Cheely, Camden, SC
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I for one will not spend a dime on another Hokie game until we go out and hire a real offensive coordinator.
Kirk Davis, Blue Ridge
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It’s on January 3. The holidays are over by then. It’s time to go back to work, not to New Orleans.
Dominic Tiburzi, Columbia, Md.
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My thoughts on any ticketing process is the game they play with buyers. After searching “best available”, the only ones left are $300 nosebleeds, or something ridiculous like that, two days after the game’s been announced. You know there is better than that left. Stop trying to jerk people around and fool them into believing that’s all that’s left.
Cheri Hawkins,Ashburn
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The one factor I didn’t see mentioned, that has kept me from many other bowl games, is the fact that the game itself is meaningless. During a regular season where supposedly “every game matters”, none of the bowl games, outside of the National Championship game, have anything on the line. I would rather spend my money on a big time out of conference regular season game, such as the Boise St., Alabama, and LSU games in prior years, that have a bearing on whether we get to play in the “national championship” contest.
Brian Ward, Virginia Beach
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I am a two time Tech grad. I root for Tech. For some years I purchased two season basketball tickets. Having said that I will not spend a dime on VT. Not now. Not ever. The re-seating of long time fans in favor of well-heeled bandwagon fans is more than shameful. It is nothing but pure unbridled greed and this did not affect me because I saw where this was headed some years back. Loyalty is a two way street, something VT needs to remember. I’ll watch the game. I hope they win but they will never get another penny from me.
John R Lloyd, Blacksburg
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I’m a Golden Hokie. My seats in Lane Stadium are fairly good (Section 16, Row ZZ). I’m used to having a decent view of the field. In the past when I’ve attended big games, such as those at FedEx Field (Boise State), Charlotte (East Carolina) or in the Georgia Dome (Alabama), I’ve made my purchases through the VT Athletic Department only to be given seats that cost way too much for the location and view. Even when I’ve opted for the “middle tier” seats I feel like I’ve gotten the short end of the stick. The Boise State game did me in, being stuck in the corner end zone and paying $105 per ticket. After that game I told myself no more; I’ll only buy the tickets from third parties or directly from the stadium.
Richie Weldon, San Francisco
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I do not plan on attending the Sugar Bowl in support of the Hokies due its scheduled date. ESPN and the BCS have assured themselves reduced ticket sales by moving the major bowls off their historic dates (New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day) in favor of single game draws on television ratings. I get paid holiday leave for the actual holidays. I don’t want to exhaust my vacation to this particular destination during a time of year when air travel is absurdly expensive and driving is not an option at 13+ hours.
James H. Davenport II, Portsmouth
December 18, 2011 - 11:00 AM
The Hokies really are a big time football program! If the BCS at-large bid didn’t prove it, some of these excuses from fans do.
When VT was an up-and-coming football school, fans were hungry to support their school anytime, anywhere, against any opponent. But now it’s clear that people would rather whine about the offense, whine about the coaches, whine about the last game, whine about the day of the week, whine about the opponent.
Maybe they’d rather play in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl. Hey, at least it was on a Saturday!
I agree Rob. I was a student during the really ugly years. 40 years later the excitement of big-time football has turned to expectation. Coach Beamer is absolutely correct when he says it shows how far VT football has come. We also have enough alumni and fans scattered across the country to compete with just about any other school.
The Bowl system results in phantom sell-outs every year and their ticket deals put many schools under the gun. But no school walks away from a bid because the publicity and TV exposure is too valuable.
No one can rightly blame the fans if a game does not legitimately sell-out. The Bowl business model is whats broken (or out of whack) – not the fans.
There are some definite legitimate excuses but considering that Sugar Bowl reached out on a limb to take a undeserving VT team, if VT fails to sell out it will just give more ammo to the critics. I understand getting tired of the lame Orange Bowl but I heard all this outcry of how badly VT wanted to go to the Sugar and now it looks bad for the school to have low ticket sales. I undertand the night of game and cost but it didnt’ stop your fans from going in 95 and perception is reality if you don’t sell out. God forbid Beamer and Bud lose another big game to Micigan.
Jeff H. I hate to disapoint you but Beamer, Bud, and Tech have never played Michigan before.
The Hokies have come a long way but they have a long way to go to position themselves as a top tier team. Once they get a big time win, it will help immensely. I would love to go to the Sugar Bowl but just can’t see spending $2500 – $3000 to see them get humiliated like last year in the Orange Bowl. Gonna watch it on my 52″ HDTV instead.
I wonder how many times it must be said before people understand – the ticket sales total as reported by the VaTech ticket office in no way correlates to the total tickets purchased by Hokie fans. StubHub, TicketMaster, ebay, Craigslist, and a host of other online vendors have tickets available that VaTech fans use as much or more than the VaTech ticket office. The reasons for this have been listed ad nauseum on this and several other VT related message boards.
There will be 20K-30K Hokie fans in the stands, wearing their orange & maroon, at the Sugar Bowl. For those interested in reality, and not just in innacurate labeling, you can turn on the TV and see for yourself. Of course, that doesn’t jibe with the anti-Hokie sentiment that has risen on this board since VT drubbed UVa in November.
As for ‘deserving’ to be in the Sugar Bowl? Who says Michigan ‘deserves’ to be there? That question is never ever discussed by the same people who constantly blather on about VT not ‘deserving’ a bid. VaTech is 11-2 and ranked in the top 15 in the nation by all polls. I’d say that is ‘deserving’ of a top bowl bid. Are others also ‘deserving’? Sure they are, but there are only ten spots available in the BCS bowls. More factors than W-L record come into play. But then, everyone here already knows that. Some just like to pretend anything they can and ignore all the realities they can in order to complain about the Hokies.
6 – you are right to a certain extent, but many, many of the reasons cited do not have to do with the ticket prices at all, whether acquired through Tech or some other vendor. The economy as a whole, the timing of the game (it’s in the middle of the week), the fact that folks would have to use extra vacation time, the uncertainty of which Tech team will show up (the one that drubs average UVa teams, or the one that twice gets thumped by a good (but not great) Clemson team), the cost of flying to NOLA, the cost of the hotel rooms, the cost of food in NOLA…all, it seems, are at least as big as the cost of the tickets, and if THOSE are the reasons, then there may be fewer fans than hoped for.
I think the BCS needs to think about future schedules, and at least take the timing of the game into consideration. They don’t have any control over the other factors, but they CAN control the schedule.
As far as Tech deserving it, they have nothing to apologize for. I hope they beat Michigan.
Whine, whine, whine! What do you undeserving VT fans want? The Sugar Bowl in Blacksburg? Give me a break! If VT is that good, which they are not, the fan base following should be no problem. Fair weather loud mouths would be a better definition of a loyal VT fan. Come on, spend all those thousands to watch another “great” VT loss to a high caliber school. That was what you’ve been bragging about all year, support this bs team. Bunch of frigging cry babies, always an excuse.
To Rob and all of the apologists:
VT fans are and always will be grateful for Beamer and what he DID to build the program and put it on the map. That will not be forgotten. But you can’t have it both ways. Beamer himself seemingly every season talks about winning a national championship and how they are not far off. So VT fans have every right to have those level of expectations. That means sometimes playing well and getting a win every once in awhile when they have the opportunity to play on a big boy stage against big boy football teams. They have failed miserably over the years and I fully put the blame on the coaches. They look often unprepared, flat, and they never seem to make adjustments. Half of the time they aren’t even competetive. It’s just the same ol’ stale and predictable brand of football VT has become. Fans have every right to be irritated with these performances. The 10 wins are nice, but please get over that as virtually the only defense for any valid critisism. Tech plays in the ACC and has at least 3 or 4 lower level non-conference games. There are your 10 wins right there. Its the few games each year that requires that extra prep, coaching, adjustments, and creativity that measure how good a coach really is. I don’t see whole lot of quality with this coaching. Until serious evolving takes place, it’s going to be a lot of the same disappointments.
“…The 10 wins are nice, but please get over that as virtually the only defense for any valid critisism…”
If winning isn’t a good defense for criticism, what do you expect fans of ANY team to use as a better defense for criticism?
“…Tech plays in the ACC and has at least 3 or 4 lower level non-conference games…”
EVERY upper level team plays 3 or 4 light non-conference games. Hell, Alabama only played 4 teams TOTAL with winning records! And one of those was Georgia Southern! And then they didn’t beat all 3 of the remaining +.500 teams on their schedule… and now they’re in the national title game??
Hokie24, give me a break!! Again we appreciate the 10 wins and the wins are nice. But when you want to be treated like a big time program and we are always told Tech is a big time program you have to show you can beat other big programs or great teams along the way. Stop making excuses!!
And please don’t compare Tech and Alabama in any way what-so-ever!! Do you actually watch the games? Did you watch the 2 Clemson games this year? How about the Stanford game last year? I could go on and on… Bama beats up virtually everyone they play and the one game they didn’t this season was a 9-6 game that could have gone either way against the best team in the country. Tech sleepwalks through half of their games, then when it comes time to play on a big stage they get worked. Until they stop this trend, you and all of the other excuse makers have no defense. Unlike you, I along with many other Hokie fans have higher expectations.
Sorry Mike, I’ll go with H24 on this one. I, like many Hokie fans, have high expectations, I just don’t think the world is ending when they don’t come to fruition.
You seem to be quite opinionated about VT and you say you are a Hokie fan. It’s alright to have opinions but no need to be insulting. Hokie Respect.
“You seem to be quite opinionated about VT and you say you are a Hokie fan. It’s alright to have opinions but no need to be insulting. Hokie Respect.”
I am a VT fan, always will be which is why I want to see them take it to the next level. But this is why it gets frustrating each year when that does not happen. The world isn’t coming to an end buddy, I just have higher standards for them than you do apparently. You continue to be content and I won’t be and we can leave it at that. I hope the Michigan game is a stepping stone. We shall see.
Mike, nobody is happy to see VT not always improving like you (and I) want. You don’t have some special high expectation that the rest of us don’t, please don’t worry about that. But I’m also not gonna pretend that we are some bottom feeder groveling at the feet of the Alabamas and LSUs and USCs of college football, because we aren’t. Buildling a program starts with winning, no matter who the opponent is.
I’ll compare VT to Alabama and whoever else all day long. It won’t always be a good comparison for VT, but VT is a worthy team against anyone else out there, even though we may take plenty of complete shellackings. I know Alabama is great, nobody is saying that they aren’t. Nobody is saying that VT would beat them this year. But let’s not ignore the true strength of some of these “superpowers’” schedules either. Sometimes, the perception of “they’re in the SEC, so they must have played 11 or 12 top 5 teams this season” just isn’t true. In the case of Alabama’s schedule this year, it REALLY isn’t true.
But like you said, VT does seem to sleepwalk through many of their games… but they win, and they’re winning more often than anyone else is college football over the last 15 years. Spin that anyway that you like, but you can’t ignore W’s and L’s.
People want to bang on VT’s stat against top 5 teams, but then they have NO CLUE WHATSOEVER how ridiculous of a stat that is. Tell me this Mike, we all know that VT is 2-25 (about 7.5% win %) all time against top 5 teams in football. What winning percentage would you consider as acceptable for a team to consider themselves as being “successful” against top 5 teams?
Hokie24, I certainly respect your comments and opinion. I can tell you are a true fan.
I’m not saying Tech should win ALL or even most of these big games. When you play excellent/elite teams loses happen. But year after year when Tech has the opportunity to show themselves off and prove they belong in that top 10 class, they do not win ANY of these games. As I said before, they often meltdown. It’s not necessarily the losing, but it’s HOW they lose a lot of these games. It is the same on-going theme. My whole point is that if Beamer is going to talk about winning national titles and he wants to get treated like a top 10 team year in and year out then they have to be able to have some quality wins in big games against other top teams nationally to hang their hats on. I hope one day they will start making it happen, I just think they’ve missed a lot of years and games trying to get it done. I like Beamer and appreciate him making the program what it is. But if he is going to talk about being a national champ one day, he needs to start doing all of the things it takes to get his teams to that level. Based on some of these performances I’m seeing on the field I don’t believe he is doing that. I really hope I can be proven wrong one day, hopefully starting with the Michigan game.
I can get along with what you’re saying there, Mike. Even though our record currently isn’t wonderful against top 5 or top 10 teams, at least we are putting those teams on the schedule. The only way to guarantee that you won’t ever beat those top teams is to not play them. VT can’t really do a lot about the rest of the ACC, but they do put good OOC teams on the schedule (outside of this season) like Alabama, LSU, etc. And the future schedules have some tough teams on them too, like Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Alabama again. I hope that we keep playing those types of games. I want to win those games, but I’m just as happy losing as long as the team plays well. That’s the only way we’ll start getting wins on them is to keep them on the schedule.
Heey if u think vt is a big time football u had a change to go to the sec.i guess this was a no win?
Please, Hokie 24, understand the point Brian and Mike are making. Saying you are just as happy losing as long as the team plays well is farcical! They lose because they do not play well. Do you think we played well against Stanford or the two games against Clemson this year? You could not have been happy after watching those games. Once you admit you’re unhappy with our performances in these lopsided losses (which is OK- frankly there’s something wrong if you’re not pissed off),you will begin to understand what Brian and Mike are saying.
Not everyone is willing to accept mediocrity, thank God.
yea im with most of you in tht we never look prepared in these bigger games. Its like we dont utilize our talent. I mean i dont thk ive seen david Wilson do a crossing route to utilize his speed all year i mean he runs a 4 2 forty. We never used Eddie Royal skills nearly enough then in his first game in the Pros he caught like what 12 passes in tht monday night game. i mean i can understand why we lose our top in-state talent year in year out.can you blame them? We dont use our most skilled players enough Davis Coles etc those are the playmakers in these Big games then go out and get blew out. Real Hokie fans are tired of being Unprepared and gettn stomped in these big games and then have to listen to ESPN saying how we can never win big games when all we need is to take advantage of our skill players skill sets much more!!!!!!!!