Navigating game day with your family
If you are attending a game with your family or meeting up after, here's what you need to know.
Virginia Tech cheerleaders at football game in spring 2026. Photo by Robert Robinson for Virginia Tech.
Fall Family Weekend is almost here and just in time for football season. What better way to share the Hokie spirit with your family than attending a football game? However, keep in mind that attending the game with your family can be a little different than attending with friends.
Make sure you talk to your family about their tickets before the game. Student general admission (GA) tickets (maroon tickets) must enter through Gate 7. All other tickets must use other gate entrances.
If you'd like to sit with your family during the game, you need to have public admission ticket. Your Student GA ticket will not permit you to sit anywhere else in the stadium, nor will it permit your family to sit with you in the student section.
Whether you are planning on sitting in a public admission section with your family or in the student section with your friends, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Sitting with family
- Prior to your arrival at the stadium, make note of your seating section on your public admission ticket.
- Choose a gate to enter that’s near your seating section. Public admission tickets cannot enter through Gate 7.
- Locate your seats and stick to them.
- Public admission tickets will have an assigned section, row, and seat. Use the Virginia Tech Athletics Seating and Parking Maps to navigate the stadium and find your spot.
Sitting with friends who also have student general admission tickets
- Plan ahead: Talk with your family about what to do after the game.
- Families cannot sit in the student section, and students cannot move between sections. Cell service is unreliable in the stadium, so plan accordingly.
- Enter the Student GA section through Gate 7. Use the Student Entrance Map to navigate to Gate 7.
- Upon entry, you will choose whether to sit in the East or North student section. Arrive with the group you want to sit with and decide on a seating section beforehand. You will receive a wristband that corresponds to your chosen section. You may not change your wristband at any point or move between seating sections.
- Stay with your friends after the game until you find your family.
- Remember, No Hokie Left Behind. Arrive at the stadium together, early, enter and sit according to your ticket, and leave the stadium together.
Be ready with your ticket loaded onto your phone when you get to your gate in the Take and Go mode. Improper behavior and falsified tickets may result in disciplinary action.
For the Oct. 2 game against Pitt, Hokie Nation will be participating in the Stripe Effect. Students in North and East stands are strongly encouraged to wear orange. Other fans can find their stripe color here. The Hokies will also unveil flashing railing lights and additional LED and videoboard elements throughout the game. It will be a night to remember, so be early, be loud, stay all four quarters, and Go Hokies.
For more information about gamedays with family, go to the Hokie Sports Student and Family Guide. To ensure your gameday experience is both safe and fun, read through Dean of Students Meaghan Davidson's Safety 101 for football games.
