The hottest rumor on the message board the last few days has been the rumor that Tech's September 5th home opener with East Carolina is going to be moved to the home of the NFL's Washington Redskins, Jack Kent Cooke Stadium.  Supposedly, Tech AD Jim Weaver floated the idea at one or more Hokie Club meetings around the state.  The deal, no doubt put together by some promoter with too much money in his pockets, would involve moving this year's Tech home game to JKC Stadium, and next year's ECU home game to Ericsson Stadium in Charlotte, home of the Carolina Panthers.

Although Mr. Weaver always requests people to refrain from posting what he says in his speaking engagements on the Internet, eventually, things leak onto the message board.   If it's a big topic, people will whip each other into a frenzy over it, and the topic of possibly moving the ECU game qualifies as a bona fide frenzy-whipper.

Like most message board rumors, I chose to ignore this one.  The idea of moving a Tech home opener to Northern Virginia is so ludicrous and has so many shortcomings that I couldn't really see it getting off the ground, anyway.  All Mr. Weaver has to do is call UVa Athletic Director Terry Holland and ask him, "Hey, Terry, how did it work out when you moved that home basketball game to Richmond this year?"  (Answer:   Holland moved a home game with the University of Richmond from Charlottesville to Richmond, and the Spiders beat the Cavaliers.  The move not only enraged UVa fans, it cost the Hoos an embarrassing loss that they may not have suffered at home).

In any event, the hand-wringing over the ECU situation reached such a crescendo on the message board that I thought I would pass along what I've heard on the topic.  And what I've heard indicates that it's not going to happen, so we can all just calm down and go along with our lives as normal.

I have had three discussions via email and the telephone on this subject.  The two email discussions were with Hokie fans who had talked directly to Tech insiders (coaches or Athletic Department officials), and I called someone in the Athletic Department myself.   Here's what they said:

• One person who spoke with a Tech football coach told me "(1) the ECU-DC-Charlotte rumor is an option that is being considered, and (2) it is far from a done deal."
• Another person who spoke to a Tech Athletic Department official was told: "There will be no change in the schedule. Tech was approached about moving the game, but in the end decided against it."
• The person I spoke with, who is not a higher up in the Athletic Department, but is well-connected, said, "I haven't heard anything about it.  Usually, this kind of stuff at least makes the rounds by word of mouth, and I haven't heard a thing."

None of these items equates to, say, Bill Roth mentioning it in the Hokie Huddler and saying, "It's not going to happen," or Mr. Weaver going on the Hokie Hotline and shooting down the rumor, but you can see that the general nature of my information on this subject seems to say that yes, it was a possibility, and the idea was floated around a little bit, but it won't happen.

Moving a home football game (in fact, two, if it is true that ECU was going to move a game as well) isn't something that you do at the drop of a hat.  A lot of parties with a lot of varied interests have to agree to it, and a lot of money has to change hands.  My guess is that some promoter dangled a preliminary seven-figure number in front of Mr. Weaver, to which he scratched his chin and said, "Hmmmm," and that's about as far as it went.  Mr. Weaver has spoken in the past about the importance of having at least six home games every year, and I can't see him suddenly backing down from that stance, even if a large dollar figure was offered.

There are other factors at work here, too, mainly timing.  I have been told that season ticket order forms will be mailed out by March 30th, and must be returned within 30 days.  If Tech was contemplating moving a home game, it would create major issues where season tickets are concerned, and would require some serious planning and discussion of how to deal with the season ticket problem.  As of today, that would leave just 11 days (or less) to announce that the game is being moved and resolve what to do about the tickets, and I think that's just way too short of a fuse to pull off something like this.

Bottom line?  Stop worrying about it.  I don't think it's going to happen.   I'm not Mr. Know-It-All, but I just don't think it's going to happen.

Other Juicy Tidbits That I Heard Through the Grapevine:  football season tickets are going to be discounted a bit more this year, a whopping $18 total, or $3 per game (versus last year's $6 total, or just $1 per game).  But before you go out and blow the extra $18 bucks on dinner at Denny's, hold your horses.  The tickets might be discounted more, but the price of non-discounted tickets is going up, and so is your total cost for season tickets.

Last year's four mediocre home games (Arkansas State, etc.) were $22, and the premium Miami and Syracuse games were $25.  The total cost for all six games was $138, but season ticket purchasers only paid $132 (Yessiree, I went out and blew my wad at McDonald's when I heard that).

This year, the three mediocre games (Rutgers, Temple, and Pitt?) are going up in price to $25, and the premium games (ECU, WVU, and UVa?) are going to be $27.  That brings the total cost to a whopping $156, but season ticket holders will only pay $138.

So cancel that Denny's trip, because you season ticket holders will actually be paying $6 more this year.  But the upshot is, all indications are that parking will still be free.

TSL News and Notes Archives