Playing “Enter Sandman” at Virginia Tech football games in Lane Stadium is a tradition dating back to 2000 when its first video scoreboard was installed.
Combined today with jumping by fans, fireworks and pyrotechnics, it is now part of the gameday experience for fans.
Metallica and Virginia Tech are taking the partnership to new levels with a lineup of co-branded merchandise. The merch includes the Metallica logo and sketches by VT doodle artist Steven White.
“This partnership makes a dream of nearly 24 years come true,” said Heather Ducote, senior director of marketing and brand management. “We’re excited to formalize our partnership with Metallica, since one of their most popular hits is already embraced at Virginia Tech athletics events as a beloved Hokie tradition.”
Renee Alarid, director of the Office of Licensing and Trademarks, said College Licensing Company, Virginia Tech’s agent, facilitated the partnership.
“It was a very effective collaboration,” Alarid said. “It was quite an effort, taking about a year to hammer out and finalize, and we had to keep it top secret.
“It took a community and the right team,” she said. “Without CLC, the Original Retro Brand, athletics, and the trust of our local retailers, Licensing and Trademarks would not have been able to make this dream a reality. Thank you everyone who helped us in the process.”
The jumping by fans to “Enter Sandman” started a few years after the song debut as the football team’s walkout song when a Marching Virginian began to hop around to warm up during cold weather. It evolved into an electrifying entrance that is now an essential part of home football games, and the noise occasionally registers on seismographs.
“Enter Sandman” was also used to energize the crowds at men’s and women’s basketball teams at Virginia Tech.
Kickoff on College Avenue
Virginia Tech Licensing and Trademarks, Downtown Blacksburg Inc., the Town of Blacksburg, the Blacksburg Partnership and several Blacksburg businesses will host a block party downtown on Sept. 6.
The Kickoff on College Avenue event will take place from 5 to 9 p.m. on Sept. 6, the evening before Virginia Tech’s first home football game of the season.
The block party is open to the public.
“We’re delighted to work with Virginia Tech to showcase this exciting collaboration with Metallica at the Kickoff on College Avenue event,” said Ann Cassell, president of the Blacksburg Partnership. “Virginia Tech and Blacksburg are so closely linked and this will only add to the energy and excitement in town as students return and a new football season begins.”
Guests will see the co-branded Metallica merchandise during the celebration along with other Virginia Tech co-brands:
- Fightin’ Hokies Hefeweizen, the latest beer from the Hardywood Park Craft Brewery partnership that produced Fightin’ Hokies Lager. That partnership began in 2020, when Virginia Tech’s roots in agricultural research sparked a partnership to produce Virginia Tech beers.
- Taste the new flavors from the Virginia Tech and Homestead Creamery ice cream partnership. This partnership began in 2021 and introduced Hokie Tracks ice cream to the region.
The Moss Arts Center will have live music on the lawn from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
Buying the merch
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Crystal Graham
