MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia University’s Athletics Director says you can mark it down: the school will make sure neutral site facilities are prepared for the fanbase at future Mountaineer football games.
“We did warn them, along with Virginia Tech, that the four hours in advance of the game time was not going to be adequate,” Shane Lyons said on Metronews “Talkline” with Hoppy Kercheval Thursday morning. “We thought that it should be at noon or one o’clock.”
Criticism has been hurled in numerous directions following what has been described as a traffic and parking meltdown in the run-up to last Sunday’s long-awaited return of the Battle for the Black Diamond Trophy in Landover, Maryland. Lyons said both his department and officials from Virginia Tech warned the Washington Redskins in advance that opening parking lots at 3:30 for Sunday’s game would lead to a logistical nightmare.
“Therefore we had a bottleneck of traffic that I’ve been told was eight miles out; that’s taking three hours to get there,” Lyons said. “It was not a very good experience.”
Lyons said all parties were disappointed in that decision — and the predictable chaos that ensued.
“We knew there would be 65,000 or 70,000 people showing up,” Lyons said. “In years past, we’ve had games there — it’s been smaller crowds. We knew our fan bases, along with Virginia Tech, is a very passionate, tailgating type of fan. Things needed to be done sooner.”
The Mountaineers have a number of neutral site games scheduled in the coming years — including Charlotte, North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia. There’s nothing on the schedule that brings the Mountaineers back to FedEx Field, but Lyons said the gates would need to open significantly earlier if the Mountaineers ever did return.
“I will tell you that if we do ever go back to D.C. that will be part of the game contract,” he said.
Virginia Tech released a statement to their fans regarding their experience, which can be read here.