In response to the coronavirus, the Virginia Tech Department of Athletics Wednesday issued an update/press release in the form of a letter to the Hokie family. The main thrust was to provide information about adjustments the department is making in Hokie Club and football season timelines.
To our Hokie Family:
First and foremost, we trust this letter finds you and your families healthy, safe, and doing what you can to help keep those around you healthy. Our primary concern is that you and your loved ones remain safe.
Like many organizations around the country, the Virginia Tech Department of Athletics is facing an unprecedented situation. In light of that, we are writing to inform you of our plans to adjust the Hokie Club and football season ticket timelines we had in place prior to the emergence of COVID-19.
Originally, the Hokie Scholarship Fund and football season ticket deadline was set for March 31, 2020. However, due to our concern for you and our own staff, we are moving this deadline to April 30, 2020. This new deadline will provide additional time for all stakeholders to adjust their timeline while still allowing for all ticket and seat allocation processes to be completed by the start of the 2020 football season. Despite all of the uncertainty surrounding what happens next, there are several factors at play that require us to hold an April 30 deadline, much of which we detail below.
There is no perfect way to work through the challenges in front of us, and we know we are unable to make this situation perfect for everyone. Rather than keep our decision-making process in the dark, we felt it would be best to be as transparent as possible with you and encourage you to make the best decision for you and your family during these confusing times. We believe Blacksburg, Lane Stadium, and the Hokies represent “This Is Home,” and we want to do everything we can to help you take care of your home and family as well.
Beginning now, and with no set end date, the Virginia Tech Athletics Ticket Office and Hokie Club offices will be open virtually. We understand this is an inconvenience for some of our fans, and we appreciate your patience and understanding during this time.
Our Hokie Club representatives and ticket sales representatives will be able to assist you by phone or email at the contact points listed below during office hours which are typically Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but may be more limited during this situation. If anything changes, times will be adjusted online on HokieSports.com. We will be checking voicemails periodically throughout the day and will respond to you within the next business day. For more immediate responses, please email our team.
The ticket office phone numbers are toll free 800-828-3244 or local l540-231-6731. The office email address is hokietix@vt.edu
The Hokie Club phone number is 540-231-6618. The email address is hokieclub@vt.edu
Thank you to each of you who have already renewed or ordered new tickets and made your contributions to the Hokie Scholarship Fund. Your investment in Virginia Tech Athletics and our student-athletes is a foundation for our leadership, staff and student-athletes to stand on as we “Reach for Excellence” and navigate this challenge together.
Season ticket renewals, new season ticket orders, and Hokie Club gifts can continue to be made online around the clock at HokieSports.com. Our team will continue to reach out to you in an effort to provide support. Click below to renew or purchase new tickets.
To give to HSF once logged in to your online account at HokieSports.com. Select My “Account” > “Manage My Account” > under “Donations” select “Make a Donation”. For more details, please refer to the investment guide – HERE
As is our standard policy, in the unlikely event that games are canceled, Virginia Tech Athletics will refund tickets purchased for that contest. Contributions to the Hokie Club and Hokie Scholarship Fund are non-refundable.
Our student-athletes, staff, and you, our fans and donors, are important to us, and we appreciate your continued support. Please know we remain available to assist you and support you during this time. Thank you for your understanding and patience as we work together to do what is best for everyone during this unprecedented time.
We will share any updates or changes to this plan. Please reach out to the Hokie Club or the Ticket Office if you have any questions on this process.
Timeline of Events
April 30, 2020: New deadline for Hokie Scholarship Fund and season ticket orders. All Hokie Scholarship Fund donations and season ticket orders that meet the new April 30 deadline will be ranked and eligible to participate in the seat selection process later this summer. We encourage you to take advantage of the payment plan option to spread your ticket payment over a few installments instead of a lump sum payment.
May 3-9, 2020: Last minute adjustments to accounts, data correction, and staff review to ensure that everything matches up correctly.
May 10-23: The staff will be working to move all data into our “seat selection software” hosted by Ballena.
May 24-30: Testing data and alerting all season ticket holders of their selection date and time.
June 2020: In a full-reseating year, football seat selections take approximately six full weeks to complete. With that in mind, we plan to start the seat selection process as close to June 1 as we can. This process is tentatively slated to end on July 9, provided there are no additional or unexpected disruptions to the process.
July 13, 2020: Season ticket orders are finalized and delivered to the printer for production and shipping of the tickets and parking passes. This is typically a six-process that has been condensed to four weeks. With the changes, we have to make adjustments and will be unable to deliver tickets to you in the bound ticket packages you have received in recent seasons.
August 11, 2020: If everything goes according to plan, we will ship tickets directly to all season ticket holders around August 11 with the hope that everyone receives their tickets no later than August 24. The distribution timeline is dependent on whether tickets are shipped directly to you from the printer or if they are shipped to our office here in Blacksburg and then rerouted to you. We are working through this process with our printer as we speak. For additional context, historically, we aim to have tickets shipped around August 1. Shipping in mid-August means tickets will arrive a little later than normal.
August 24, 2020: Ideally, season tickets are delivered and the Hokies are two weeks away from kickoff on September 5.
