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On a Virginia Tech football game day, the biggest moments can last only a few seconds. A song begins, a video fills the board or screen or jumbotron above Lane Stadium, 66,000 fans ignite in celebration.
For the people of HokieVision – the video and in-game entertainment production department for Virginia Tech Athletics — those few seconds are far from spontaneous. Months of planning, hours of editing, rehearsals, testing and coordination go into creating the experience fans see on the big screen, little screens and the jumbotron. Behind Virginia Tech’s video boards is a production operation that has grown alongside the technology, and a group of students who help make it possible.
Associate athletics director for productions and multimedia Jed Castro has been here for much of that evolution. After working at Virginia Tech from 1999 to 2002, he returned in 2005. He was present for the creation of the first video board in 2000, with its first real production the next year. The department’s current production studio was built in 2018-19, and its first linear show for the ACC Network aired in spring 2019.
VT Sports Video Production
The department produces video board shows across Virginia Tech athletics while also supporting ACC Network broadcasts. Its work includes football at Lane Stadium, basketball and other sports at Cassell Coliseum, soccer and lacrosse at Thompson Field and baseball and softball.
During a tour of HokieVision offices, the scale of that operation became visible in the control rooms inside Lane Stadium. Rows of computers and monitors fill the space, with different stations dedicated to specific tasks. Equipment connects the control rooms to Virginia Tech’s athletic venues, allowing productions to be run from behind the scenes.
VT Students Contribute
Technology is only part of the story. “There’s nothing that we get done without our students,” Castro explains. On a football Saturday, roughly 25 to 30 students can work across the broadcast and in-venue shows. They serve as production specialists, camera operators and editors, among other roles. Many full-time staff members are former students who began their careers inside the department.
Maddy McVey, director for in-venue experience, is one of them. McVey grew up attending games and later interned with HokieVision as an undergraduate. The experience showed her that what looked like “magic” on the video board was actually a complicated series of tasks and could be a career. McVey oversees the video board shows for 10 of Virginia Tech’s 22 sports. Game day is the final step of a process that begins long before fans enter the stadium.
Advance Planning
For football, preparations can begin at the start of the summer. Staff members meet weekly, develop scripts and videos, assign projects, load and test content and run through game scenarios. The department conducts six run-throughs before a football show each week. “One of our philosophies is to build the bottle so that you’re ready to catch the lightning when it strikes,” McVey relates.
Not every video or graphic they create will be used. But having those pieces ready means the department can respond when an unexpected moment becomes the noteworthy moment.
Kathryn Dillin, assistant athletics director for marketing and fan development, coordinates another part of the experience. Her work involves marketing, advertising, partnerships and the details that determine what an event feels like in person. For Dillin, relationships, communication and attention to detail are essential. Then comes the payoff.
“Oh, it’s electric,” Dillin declares of watching fans experience the content that’s been created. “You live for the highs in the stadiums, right? And you live for the moments that you’ll never forget.” McVey knows that feeling, too. Sometimes it comes from an act as simple as putting a child on the screen and watching their face light up. Other times, the impact is much bigger.
One professor started a tradition with Virginia Tech’s student section. After he died, the department continued the tradition by putting a video of him on the board. His widow contacted the department to say that the moment made her feel as though she had experienced it with him one more time. “One of many reasons we do this is to offer memories to Hokies and everyone else,” McVey adds.
The fans never see the people who spend weeks preparing for a moment that lasts seconds. When something appears on the board, it can become an experience someone remembers for years.
“If the fans are the fire,” Castro points out, “hopefully, HokieVision is the fuel.” On game day, the fire belongs to Hokie Nation. But behind the fire is a large, spectacular production team — staff and students alike – who work hard to make sure there is something worth cheering for.
Text by Madi Mann | Photos by Jon Fleming
Madi Mann is a freelance writer and junior at Virginia Tech majoring in Multimedia Journalism.
