BLACKSBURG, Va. — A couple hundred yards from Lane Stadium, the tailgating area affectionately known by Hokies fans as "Chicken Hill" is buzzing.
Maroon and orange-clad fans gather, sharing drinks and swapping stories from years gone by, eagerly awaiting Virginia Tech's matchup with Georgia Tech. The smell of roasting turkey legs wafts in the crisp fall breeze. Every once in a while, the boom of Virginia Tech's Corps of Cadets' iconic cannon named "Skipper" cuts through the noise of Enter Sandman blaring from car speakers in every corner of the lot.
Standing in the shade of a tree whose leaves appear ready to cheer on the Hokies, Mark and Nancy Walker wait for late-arriving friends. The couple has been coming to games in Blacksburg for over 25 years, sometimes making the seven-hour round-trip journey from their home in Ashland, Virginia.
"This is just what we do," Mark says, gesturing to the scene unfolding around him. "It's all we know."
The Walkers are season-ticket holders who are determined to continue coming to games every weekend, despite the Athletic Department's "Invest to Win" initiative, a framework to increase prices for football and men's and women's basketball season tickets starting in 2027.
The initiative, according to the department's announcement, is intended to significantly increase athletics revenue and improve the long-term outlook of its teams.
"We want Virginia Tech to compete for championships and be among the nation’s elite," the announcement reads. "Achieving that requires resources that match our ambition. Invest to Win is the next step in building the financial foundation necessary to recruit and retain elite student-athletes, support our coaches and programs, enhance the fan experience and pursue sustained competitive success."
All told, department officials have said the initiative will raise an additional $20 million. While the new ticketing model will help the department's bottom line, it will largely be the fans who foot the bill.
This effort doesn't bother the Walkers, though. To them, the gameday experience is well worth the price of admission.
Both alums of the Virginia Tech Class of 1985, the Walkers have been coming to football games long enough to remember when the Chicken Hill lot was dirt, and the parking spaces were marked off with spray paint.
Their tickets are at the 50-yard line on the East side of the stadium where they've sat for the better part of a decade. Their commitment, they say, won't be affected by the planned increase to their season tickets because they support the department's efforts to remain competitive.
"If you look at some other team's rosters, they're making 40, 50 million a piece," Mark said. "We're at 30, which doesn't sound like a lot in comparison, but it's 10 more than it was last year and we need more."
The lion's share of revenue generated from "Invest to Win" will almost certainly support football NIL and revenue-sharing expenditures, which are currently somewhere between $25 and $30 million, according to The Athletic.
The couple comes to town for every home game, which is much easier now that they've purchased a townhouse in neighboring Christiansburg, eliminating the need for all-nighter drives after games. When they can't make it, though, they'd rather give their tickets away to Hokie friends rather than make a profit on the open market.
"I can't prove that my seat is going to a Tech fan," Mark said. "That's a non-starter to me."
The Walkers aren't the only fans who aren't bothered by the "Invest to Win" price increases.
J.P. from Salem, Virginia, who asked us only to use his first name, has been a season-ticket holder since 1982. Coming to football games for more than 40 years, his family is full of die-hard Hokies. All of his children grew up coming to games, and now they're alums.
J.P. said he's already renewed his tickets for next season, not giving much thought to the hit his wallet took.
"What are you going to do?" he said, holding a 2000 Sugar Bowl commemorative cup. "As long as I'm physically able to be here, I'll be here. The price doesn't matter to me that much."
That price, J.P. calculated, would be nearly $1,000 for four tickets per game next season, accounting for ticket prices, food, and travel. He understood the department's decision to raise prices; his primary concern was continuing the traditions he's spent the better part of his life creating.
"My family doesn't really go on vacation," he said. "These Saturdays are just where we'd rather be. I'm happy to support athletics, but this right here, this is why the money is worth it."
Across the lot, a member of the Class of 1971 passed around shots of bourbon with a group of friends. A season-ticket holder for 30 years, he recently moved into the club seats in the South End Zone and renewed his tickets for next season.
While he can afford the new ticketing model, he remained concerned about the sharp increase in prices over such a short period.
"We understand that they had to increase prices, but I just wish they would've staggered it," he said. His seats this season are around $10,000 total, but next year, he'll pay up to 30% more.
"We like the comfort and convenience of the club seats, and we're fortunate enough to have them," he said. "But if they raise prices again after next year, we'll have to re-evaluate."
He's also a season-ticket holder for women's basketball, and is happy to pay the increased prices to give the program the support he feels it deserves.
While most fans who spoke to The Tech Lunch Pail said they were on board with the "Invest to Win" price hikes, not everyone was on board just yet.
Megan Berger, a 1999 graduate of Virginia Tech now living in Northern Virginia, was parked in the middle of the lot with her husband, another alum, and mother-in-law. The family was there to see Berger's two children join the Virginia Tech band, the Marching Virginians, in its homecoming halftime performance.
A former Marching Virginian herself, supporting her kids was a big reason she and her husband attended football games in the first place. Now that the children are both graduates, their incentive has been lessened/ The increase in season-ticket prices hasn't helped, either.
"We typically only buy parking passes from the university's website, but these new prices put any idea of getting season tickets out of our minds," she said.
Like J.P., Berger said her family would rather spend their fall weekends in Blacksburg, usually choosing tailgating over vacations or other leisure activities. Still, the new price points may be prohibitive.
"We don't mind spending the money, but at some point you have to start weighing your options," she said. "With both of our kids graduated and living on their own, it's hard to justify the cost. We could have considered it if prices went up over time, but to have the new ticketing rollout so soon after everyone's seats were moved a few years ago feels like a bit much."
Berger was referencing Virginia Tech's re-seating process that took place in 2024 and affected season-ticket holders for football and both basketball programs. Other fans also mentioned re-seating as being a concern, but saw it as more of a feature than a bug of the college sports landscape.
"You have to spend to win," Walker said. "Like it or not, it's the name of the game today, so might as well embrace it."
In addition to being die-hard football fans, the Walkers also hold season tickets for men's basketball and plan to attend wrestling matches this season. Being a well-rounded athletics department was important to Walker, who, while supportive of "Invest to Win," admitted that he could see the flaws in "keeping up with the Joneses."
"Right now, we're all in, but that may not always be the case for everybody," Walker said regarding Hokie Nation's commitment to remain competitive financially. "With James Franklin being here and things looking up, it's easy to ride the gravy train. But I'm just not so sure that we as a fanbase can do this for very long. Our pockets just aren't that deep."
About an hour from kickoff, the lot began emptying, a sea of fans heading across Southgate Drive toward Lane Stadium to jump to Enter Sandman and cheer on the Hokies. Before finishing his drink and cleaning up his tailgate, J.P. pointed toward the crowd and paused a second, as if he were taking in the sunny surroundings.
"Win, lose, or draw, all these people are here for a reason," he said. "I'm not sure the amount of cash they've got changes that fact."
