Penn State Sports Magazine
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A P R I L 2 0 2 3 5 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M E D I T O R I A L MATT HERB MATT.HERB@ON3.COM W hen Penn State unveiled its Facili- ties Master Plan six years ago, it was full of projects that could per- haps best be described as aspirational, none more so than a fully reimagined Beaver Stadium. The stadium that the Populous design firm rendered for Penn State in 2017 was far removed from the expansive but spartan facility that the Nittany Lions had called home for nearly six decades. The exposed girders were covered in brick and limestone, the upper deck was buttressed by a row of distinctive X-shaped support structures, and the bleachers were replaced by chairback seats. Adding to the allure, the render- ings also incorporated elements from buildings elsewhere on campus, artfully blending the new and the familiar. If the idea was to fuel the imaginations of Nittany Lion football supporters with a vision of what might someday be pos- sible … mission accomplished. Rendering that vision was the easy part, though. The hard part? Paying for it. On Feb. 17, Penn State president Neeli Bendapudi announced at a trustees meeting that the university plans to ex- plore its renovation options rather than building a new facility. "After extensive research and con- sultation, renovation of Beaver Stadium is the direction we want to take, as it is far more economical than a new build," Bendapudi told the trustees. "In addi- tion, it's important to note that no part of this project will be funded by tuition, student fees or any of our educational budget." Calling it "the beginning of a multiyear journey," Bendapudi declined to offer a cost estimate or a timeline for the project but indicated that the university was not going to spend extravagantly. "It is my commitment that we will do what we must to preserve one of our most iconic spaces in the most economi- cal way possible," she said. Even without knowing the cost of the renovations that are being envisioned, it's not hard to figure out why a complete rebuild isn't in the offing. New stadiums are prohibitively expensive. Exclud- ing Pitt and Miami, both of which are tenants in stadiums built primarily for NFL teams, only 10 Power Five football programs since 1970 have built stadiums from the ground up. Only two Big Ten schools — Minnesota and Rutgers — have built stadiums in the past six decades. Northwestern will join the Gophers and Scarlet Knights in 2026 when its new stadium is scheduled to open. However, the fact that the Wild- cats are able to undertake such an ambi- tious project isn't as encouraging as one might think. The new facility will seat only 35,000 fans, yet it will cost $800 million. That's a sobering number, even for a deep-pocketed school like Penn State. The Nittany Lions have espoused a go-big-or-go-home mentality when it comes to Beaver Stadium's future and are going to want a facility with roughly tri- ple Northwestern's capacity. If the cost of such a project is $1 billion or more, it's easy to see why they've cho- sen a more economical path. Even when the stadium renderings were unveiled in 2017, it was by no means certain that Populous' vi- sion would ever be feasible. Sandy Barbour, PSU's ath- letics director at the time, conceded that the stadium project wouldn't be part of the master plan's first phase, no matter how badly the uni- versity might have wanted to update the aging facility. "If we could start renovat- ing Beaver Stadium today, we would," Barbour said. "That's going to take us be- yond this five-year period in order to do that. We're doing Beaver Sta- dium as quickly as can be expected." Six years have since passed, and during that span there's been a pandemic that disrupted the world economy, along with a revolutionary shift in the way that col- lege athletes are compensated. The fundraising environment that Barbour faced in 2017 is very different from the one that Bendapudi and cur- rent athletics director Patrick Kraft must navigate in 2023. There's a finite supply of donor money, and if more of it is being funneled into name, image and likeness initiatives, then perhaps there's less for moonshot projects like a stadium rebuild — if such a project was ever on the table in the first place. On the same day we learned that Penn State won't be replacing Beaver Stadium, the trustees approved a $7.5 million proj- ect aimed at upgrading the Lions' prac- tice fields inside and outside of Holuba Hall. So, it's not as if the program's wish list is being ignored. It's just that the wishes have to be realistic. If you want a moonshot, call NASA. If you want Penn State's football infra- structure to be competitive with the rest of the Big Ten and beyond, the program is trending in the right direction. That in itself is a worthy aspiration. ■ Penn State president Neeli Bendapudi announced in February that the uni- versity plans to renovate Beaver Stadium rather than building a new home for the football program. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL Stadium Project Must Reconcile Ambition And Affordability VARSITY VIEWS