Lane Stadium — Attraction in Blacksburg

In preparation for the first the game of the 2022 Season, I got a behind the scenes tour of the University Club at Virginia Tech and the rest of Lane Stadium. (Unfortunately Google and Apple don’t play well together in terms of video sharing format so all I have are a few stills!)

All I can say is “Amazing!” First off, I was welcomed by the Head Chef, the Club Manager and General Manager…..all of them OFF DUTY! Their hospitality and pride of ownership was obvious as they stopped to accommodate me.

Overall this is an affordable yet luxury members only club. Ask about their packages. They serve food to their guests all week long. It is excellent for networking and private events too. The main dining venue has spacious seating, where you can have a conversation without screaming across the table. There is a central bar with top shelf liquor featuring colored backlighting as an accent. In this room, the walls from floor to ceiling are glass, and anyone in the room can take in a view of the entire stadium and field. There is step down area to box seats for when the University President hosts parties at home football games that are fantastic and they do not obstruct the view of his other guests on the dining floor. Windows through out the stadium hallways give one a birds-eye view of the surrounding athletic fields and VT campus.

It’s worth noting that the kitchens were clean, organized, and well equipped. They were not cluttered. Regarding accessibility, there are nice stairs, but the elevators were also large, clean, and fast. Handicap accessible.

Side note and unrelated to Club Membership (yet fun for a football fan): The Press Area was just as nice!!! The Press Box isn’t really for the general public or members, but I wanted to see how VT hosted and the facilities were great. The Press get great views of the field, a clear view of the scoreboard, comfortable seating, and a ton of room behind those seats to walk around and stretch one’s legs, get food/drink or make use of dedicated restrooms. Definitely a class touch of hospitality. We’ll done VT.

Get a membership, eat great food and meet people, go to a game! You won’t be...

Unimpressive and in many ways, a hassle.

I bought my tickets directly from VT, and received an email to download my mobile ticket. After much frustration with that process, I was able to determine I actually had “print at home” tickets. That was fine, but it would’ve been nice to know from the beginning to save frustration of being worried something happened to my tickets.

We decided to park in a garage for convenience. it wasn’t convenient. The idea of using a certain parking app and only paying via the app is fine. Instead of using removable signage in the garage to tell people their zone number, VT requires fans to download the app and show payment verification before entering the garage. You can imagine the back up this leads to. it would be way faster to simply go back to taking cash. Or use signage in the garage like every other app based garage does.

The ticket taking process at the stadium is well managed after some years of challenges.

During the first quarter many of the soap dispensers in the bathroom, we’re already out of soap

The scenery at Lane Stadium is stunning as you look off towards mountains and many trees. This makes it a terrific venue. VT continues to have the best team entrance in college football.

The general product of college football is not fan friendly. Just because you are able to review every play, doesn’t mean you should. New rules need to be set to minimize the plays that are eligible for a review. The number of plays being reviewed ruins the pace of the game. The NCAA needs to fix this process.

All in all, this is a fun place to take in a game with respectful fans, however, VT seems all about the money and not about the fan experience. VT the least you can do is improve your...

The venue itself is beautiful, located on a picturesque campus. However, our experience attending the Metallica concert was mixed due to poor organization. We arrived early to secure a spot close to the stage, only to end up in a long, slow-moving line. After waiting for what felt like forever, we were told that the entrance we had been directed to was designated for ADA access only. By the time we reached the correct entrance on the opposite side, the other line had already started moving, and we lost our chance to get close to the stage.

After the concert, leaving the venue was equally frustrating. The traffic flow was poorly managed, making it difficult to exit the area. Given the hassle, I’m not sure I would drive more than three hours to attend another event here.

Shout out to Ace, the grad student who helped us navigate through the confusion! We also met some interesting people while waiting in line. And Metallica- WOW! The concert itself was...