32,000 seats installed on bleachers at Lane Stadium; more …

32,000 seats installed on bleachers at Lane Stadium; more …

BLACKSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) – We are just over a month away from college football season kicking off.

Work is underway at Lane Stadium at Virginia Tech to make sure your experience cheering on the Hokies is one to remember.

“The overcrowding is an issue in every stadium,” Virginia Tech Athletics’ Brad Wurthman said, “especially when you’re talking bleachers.”

That’s why you’ll see new seats installed on the bleachers throughout Lane Stadium.

Wurthman says it’s one direct way they could enhance the experience for Virginia Tech football fans.

“That was the intent, was to make sure that people who are here have the best possible viewing experience they can,” Wurthman said. “It creates an opportunity; you know, we certainly compete with couches and backyards and the opportunity to sit at home and watch the game.”

On a single-game basis, the new seats will raise ticket prices a little, but there is no additional cost for season ticket holders.

Nearly 32,000 of the 66,000-seat stadiums are being changed.

“It helps if people are coming in at the end of the first quarter or they missed Sandman or need to grab a hotdog and come back, the ability to say, ‘This is my space’, certainty is nice and an unintended consequence by far,” Wurthman said.

Wurthman says he hopes this project will be a driving factor to people choosing to watch the game in person rather than at home.

“You can watch football on TV,” Wurthman said. “Candidly it is probably a better viewing angle most of the time. But you can’t get Lane Stadium at home. You can’t recreate Enter Sandman at home, you can’t recreate being here with 66,000 other Hokies watching as we make our push to get back to where we should be.”

By Dorothy Brand