ATLANTA, Ga. — West Virginia University fans will be descending on Atlanta, Ga. en masse a week from now ahead of the Chik-fil-A Kickoff Game — featuring WVU’s Mountaineers and the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide in a 2014 season opener for both teams.
Bill Toothman, president of the Peach State Chapter of WVU’s Alumni Association, said he’s expecting to see more than 20,000 excited Mountaineer fans.
“It started when the game was first announced and it’s continued to build up until now and the next eight days are probably going to continue to build even more,” Toothman said of the game buzz.
The Peach State Chapter has been called one of the most active WVU alumni chapters in the entire country and, because of that, Toothman said they’ve planned a full weekend of events for the gold and blue faithful.
On Thursday, Aug. 28, WVU fans will kick off the Atlanta weekend from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. at Laseter’s Tavern on Cobb Parkway — a destination for the WVU Peach State Chapter for the past 12 years. On Friday, Aug. 29, the party will move to Park Tavern on 10th St. NE.
MetroNews is traveling with Mountaineer fans. MetroNews “Talkline” with Hoppy Kercheval, MetroNews “Hotline” with Dave Weekley and MetroNews “Sportsline” with Tony Caridi will broadcast from Laseter’s Tavern on Thursday and Park Tavern on Friday.
On Game Day, Saturday, Aug. 30, the official WVU Mountaineer Madness Party will begin at 10:00 a.m. at the Georgia World Congress Center which is located next to the Georgia Dome, the game site. The Mountaineer party will be adjacent to the Chik-fil-A FanFest.
Game time is 3:30 p.m.
On Sunday, Aug. 31 it will be WVU Day at Turner Field as the Atlanta Braves take on the Miami Marlins.
More information about all of the Mountaineer fan events planned for the Chik-fil-A Kickoff Game is available here.
Toothman is offering some advice to those traveling to Atlanta for the Labor Day Weekend. “I want to caution people. Atlanta’s a great city. It’s a big city. There’s loads to do. We’ve got four great days of events, but getting around is going to be pretty difficult,” he said.
The first Chik-fil-A Kickoff Game with Boise State and Ole Miss is set for 8 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 28 at the Georgia Dome.
During the holiday weekend, more than 100,000 people are expected in Atlanta for the 28th Annual Dragon Con, called the world’s largest sci-fi convention which runs from Aug. 29 through Sept. 1 at various locations. Georgia Tech hosts Wofford at Bobby Dodd Stadium at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. A NASCAR race is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 31 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Additionally, construction continues on the yet-to-be-named new Atlanta Stadium which sits next to the Georgia Dome and WVU officials have said game day traffic is expected to be extremely congested because of that work which has also eliminated 1,300 parking spaces.
Fans are being advised to pre-purchase parking passes or plan on taking MARTA, Atlanta’s bus and rail system which runs directly to the Georgia Dome.