On just about every football Saturday in Blacksburg since 1980, Jay and Shelly Poole have been fixtures in the main parking lot just outside Lane Stadium’s south entrance at Virginia Tech. It didn’t matter if the Hokies were winning or losing. The Pooles were there, along with 50 or 60 fellow fans who munched on barbecued beef grilled behind their vans and SUVs. So loyal is Jay Poole, a Wythe County native who graduated from Tech in 1978, that he’s already planning to attend all the home games next season when he is transferred from Richmond to New York City. The vice president of corporate communications at Philip Morris Cos. already works half weeks in New York.

Shelly and Jay Poole celebrate at a Virginia Tech game. Photo by Ruth Babylon

He has seen many changes around him outside the Tech stadium. "It’s a lot different now," Poole says. "It’s an attitude. Back when things weren’t going so well on the field, we said, ‘Don’t worry, be Hokie,’ and decided we could make it a happening in the parking lot." Today, however, rooting for a college football team in Virginia has become a much bigger and more expensive deal than ever before. That’s because Virginia’s most prominent teams, Tech and the University of Virginia, have become big winners. Tickets are harder to get, parking is pricey and shrimp and filet mignon are replacing bratwurst and burgers on tailgate grills.

Tailgating has picked up at Virginia Tech, and with reason. The Hokies hit the big time in 1995 with a Sugar Bowl win against the University of Texas. Since then, the team has been a consistent winner, finishing second in the nation last year. In early October the team ranked third nationally.

As the team heats up, so does demand for tickets. To meet it, the school added 3,000 seats this season to a capacity exceeding 55,000, and it has already broken every school record for tickets sold. Up the road in Charlottesville, Scott Stadium at the University of Virginia just got 15,000 new seats plus 44 luxury boxes for a football program that, like Tech’s, is top-25 caliber. The luxury suites start at $50,000 at Virginia, and Tech has plans to add its own boxes in Blacksburg in the next few years. While other state schools have football programs — the University of Richmond, William & Mary and Virginia Military Institute among them — none has the same statewide appeal. While attending a Washington Redskins or Charlotte Panthers game is also an option, neither can match the pageantry of college football.

Tickets are so scarce that your best bet is to hook up with your favorite Hokie or Hoo buddy who already has season tickets. Virginia Tech is sold out of non-student tickets, though there are always seats available from scalpers outside the main gates. Another problem is parking. Unless you donate to the schools’ athletic scholarship fund drives, chances are you’ll be hoofing it from the farthest reaches to get to the game. At Virginia you must donate at least $600 to apply for reserved parking privileges. That’s on top of the price of tickets, which average between $21 and $28 per game for reserved seats. Throw in your meal costs and the tab can get pretty pricey — particularly as the cuisine becomes more gourmet. Don’t forget your favorite beverages, and for heaven’s sake, don’t forget the ice.

Local merchants are thriving. At the South Main Street Kroger in Blacksburg, store manager Wes Price estimates the deli sells 150 boxes of chicken and 300 pounds of potato salad when the Hokies play at home. Compare that with 10 to 15 boxes and 10 to 20 pounds of potato salad on a non-game Saturday. Spending is big as the grocer unloads 1,000 bags of ice, about 1,000 cases of beer and soft drinks, 10 cases of plastic cups and five cases of paper plates and napkins. There is a similar frenzy taking place about two hours up the interstate. "We don’t really have any numbers but we know [tailgating] is very popular," says Jason Bauman, an assistant athletics director at U.Va. "We make our lots available three hours before the games, and we have actually licensed our reserved parking lots through the state ABC Board for [alcohol] consumption."

The "Poole Party" has always been high tech, state-of-the-art tailgating, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. It takes lots of planning. For the first week this season, Jay Poole barbecued 10 pounds of beef for a scheduled night game. The second week was a breakfast theme — quiche before a noon kickoff. The next home game menu had sausage and gravy front and center. Someone usually brings chicken to grill after the game, too. "We want to make it a little bit more of an experience rather than going to Hardee’s and picking up a bucket of chicken," Poole says. He grew up on a cattle farm and loves cooking meat on his Williams-Sonoma grill right there in the parking lot. "Pita people aren’t welcome," he says with a smile.

Practically everyone else is welcome, though, especially the many state legislators who park in the university president’s guest lot directly across from Poole’s spread. "I worked a little for Philip Morris in the General Assembly and I got to know those guys pretty good," Poole says. "It’s fashionable to come to the [Tech] games now, and they know we throw a good party."

But Poole isn’t talking business behind his custom bar on the back of his "consummate tailgating vehicle." Lately, he’s just planning ways to keep the party going in Blacksburg even when he and Shelly are living in New York. He maps out the game plan: "Shelly’s going to drive down on Thursday, and I’ll take a shuttle to Washington or fly to Richmond on the Philip Morris plane. She’ll pick me up and we’ll drive on in for the games. We’ve got all day Sunday to drive back. What have we got better to do?"