Virginia Tech home games have a major economic impact on community

Published Apr. 23, 2015 12:17 p.m. ET

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Everyone loves a football weekend in Blacksburg.

Now, thanks to a study by Virginia Tech, the exact impact on the Hokie community has been calculated. Tech's home games draw tons of out-of-towners, and, with them, they bring $69 million, according to the study.

The Hokie football fanaticism also creates a few hundred jobs.

"It's important to note that our approach was conservative," economic development specialist Sarah Lyon-Hill said, via the Virginia Tech athletic website. "Even though we excluded workers such as the dozens of security staff and police officers hired for every game-day weekend, we found that Virginia Tech football supports almost 300 jobs that wouldn't be here otherwise."

The study cited hotels ($5.9 million), restaurants ($5 million), gas stations ($2.9 million), retail shops ($2.6 million) and grocery stores ($2.5 million) as the five places where visitors were most likely to spend.

(h/t Virginia Tech Hokies)

Photo Credit: Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports