I've been going to games at Lane since the early 80's, and this was easily the biggest cluster ever with concessions.

Before the game, I waited 30 minutes in line at a stand where there were 6 payment stations but only 3 people to man those. Upon finally reaching the counter, I was told that despite what the "menu" listed, there were in fact no BBQ sandwiches, no chicken sandwiches, no pork nachos. The only thing available was nachos and cheese. The much-ballyhooed "cashless payment" system then came into play, as it took 5(!) attempts for the card reader to be able to handle my chip card.

After a feast of nachos and M&Ms, I decided to venture out again before halftime to see if I could find some actual food- no luck. Despite the concourses being mostly empty, the lines were as long- if not longer- then they had been before kickoff. I gave up, and tried again near the end of the 3rd quarter- same issue, only now not only was food unavailable, most of the water and soda cases were empty as well.

And don't even get me started on the idiocy of doing away with the kids walking the stands selling soda. At least, once upon a time, it was possible to get something to drink in the stands without having to miss the game. Ah, progress... our brave new world of no cash, anywhere, has made the fan experience oh so much better! Hell, I remember when you could get the small Dominos pizzas in the stands as well.

Yes, Lane is old, and the concourses aren't wide enough, blah blah blah. There are so, so many things VT could do to make concessions better without any major structural overhaul. Start by actually fulling staffing the existing stands. Add more pop-up stands wherever possible (similar to the pretzel or turkey leg stands, but with more options). Have many of those pop-up stands be for alcohol only, to eliminate the need to stand in food lines just to grab a beer. Actually, you know, order enough food to supply a sold-out stadium. It's not like Lane's capacity suddenly expanded this year... there is no excuse to run out of (or not even stock) so many items before the game even starts.

VT had a WHOLE YEAR to prep for and plan concession logistics for this game, and it was a complete fail.