You need to spend the $ to be relevant. and spend more $ to be something big.You do not want to be irrelevant. It will affect everything - negatively. And by the way, the " ridiculously priced tickets, license fees and parking" are only going higher with this success. The days of 40 dollar tickets, 2 dollar hot dogs and free parking are way long gone. Buck up or let the next guy get in.

You shouldn't have an issue parking close to the stadium.

I went to the University of Richmond vs. Fordham game this past Saturday. UR is historically one of the top programs in FCS. They aren't having such a great year this fall at 4-4 (one of those losses was to FBS UNC), but it's certainly not disastrous. UR's stadium seats just under 9,000 and they had ~maybe~ 1,200 in the stadium. The student section was EMPTY. Literally zero. No energy, no halftime entertainment, no band, nothing. Saw maybe a handful of folks tailgaiting. If we did what you are suggesting in your post above, this is the kind of thing you could expect. NOBODY wants that. Amazing to think that back in the 70s' and early 80's VT and UR were on fairly equal footing. I have NO desire to be back on their level again. ** Edited by Culpeper Hokie at 11/4/2025, 3:25:35 PM ** Edited by Culpeper Hokie at 11/4/2025, 3:57:50 PM ** Edited by Culpeper Hokie at 11/5/2025, 1:26:07 PM

are easy

There's a point where competitive and hard becomes not worth the effort/expense...no one in big-time athletics is willing to be the first to blink though.

like. It's the front porch of the University, and while I know you disagree with me, it's paramount for the brand.

into a corner there. And while there are certainly some academics who would like big time athletics to disappear, I think that's relatively few. I don't want it to disappear, I just don't buy it's criticality to the reputation of a university...that somehow athletic success translates in any significant way to academic success. It's the front porch for some people. Many don't give a rip (or are actually annoyed by it). A sports message board is really representative of the greater population that cares about universities. The front porch also has little to do with the quality of the house. I used to live in a million dollar lake house. The front porch was pretty unimpressive. Even if you think athletics is paramount, there's a point where it's too expensive isn't there?

any University. It's not something they have to do, and last time I checked, there is no degree for being an offensive lineman. There is no doubt that there of fans of every big time athletic school that takes the athletics part to a different level, and to some, it's like a religion. Out here in flyover, KU basketball is not only a game, a University institution, but it's a social institution that brings like minded people in the community together like nothing else out there. If you get out of the suburbs, and know people in farm/ranch small town America, it's just different. They show up to the bars, town meetings, and even church wearing either KU or K-State gear. Almost all of them have never attended either University, or any University for that matter. It's part of the social fabric. That should not be dismissed, especially with the university academic types. The power schools recruit their players nationally. The top academic schools do the same for their students. Reputation, brand, and ya, regional pride can make all the difference when recruiting students. I know that you dismiss that, but if a talented kid grew up cheering for KU basketball with his family, friends, and community - where do you think he will look first for his secondary education? Those fans that did not attend the school (these are not casual fans), actually make donations to the universities, leave them money in their wills, and are die hard fans that follow these athletic programs their entire lives. No one I have ever heard of leaves money for the KC Chiefs when they pass, so why is it they leave their estates or parts of their estates for purple or red/blue? Athletics, especially in the South and Middle America is much more profound than some will ever give credit too.

I was married to a woman from Cozad, NE, so I've seen that up close...and it's definitely a different world. I've never dismissed that athletics is important to lots of people...it certainly has been and is to me (although that relationship has certainly changed over the years...especially recent years). I could also point to big northeastern cities and their suburbs and the millions of people there who don't really care about college sports. People on a board/site like this seem to forget that not everyone is like them. I was one of those nationally recruited (for academics) students. Yes, I looked at PSU because I grew up a huge PSU fan and it was a pretty short drive away. Yet I went to VT, a school I don't think I had ever heard of before I cracked open one of those big books in the guidance office in search of good engineering...and whose athletics were pretty much a nothingburger nationally at the time...certainly in football. But, again, I'm not saying athletics isn't helpful in attracting students...I just question *how* helpful and where the line lies that defines where the dollars, like VT has recently committed to, don't make sense anymore. Is that rather indirect way of "branding" the university really the most effective path? I don't really take issue with a lot of what you're saying...my primary issue has been with how people link the academic success of a university to athletic prowess (and conference membership)...how many people on these boards seem to think that VT's academic reputation somehow owes more credit to football than to, you know, the actual academic work it does. I would think you could see how that might be kind of offensive/insulting to an academic. ** Edited by Pylons at 11/8/2025, 8:22:09 AM

Because that's what you're asking for. I'm sure TPTB at VT would vastly prefer that everything revert to the 2004 status quo, but that's never going to happen. They're operating in the giant sewer that all their peers have to operate in.