Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1524108
A U G U S T 2 0 2 4 11 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M [provide] all that they want. I think it at- tracts all of those elements." Kraft said he believes Penn State has appropriately estimated the demand for those elements. He has been surveying supporters of the program in the months since the board approved the funding and said the appetite for Penn State football isn't in question. "I feel very comfortable with where we are," Kraft said. "Remember, we do have 94,000 season-ticket holders. We are Penn State football. I think people are missing that point. "We have the best fans in the country, and we deserve it," he added. "We deserve to be able to have a great experience." The project will most dramatically im- pact the stadium's west side, adding new seats, suites and loge boxes. However, there will be changes throughout the fa- cility, which has been in use at its present site since 1960. Among the listed esti- mates for the plans are an increase of 24 elevators, 12 escalators and four or more stair towers to improve circulation. Total restrooms are slated to increase by more than 15 percent. And concessions are set to expand by 70 percent over current of- ferings, increasing by 102 points of sale. Penn State's expectations for the Bea- ver Stadium project don't start and end on football Saturdays. There's been talk of bringing events like the NHL's Winter Classic or World Cup qualifying games to the stadium. In addition, several of the upgrades are aimed at transforming the stadium into a "front door" to the univer- sity. There will be a welcome center and 40,000-square-foot facility capable of hosting smaller gatherings, making the stadium useful in ways that go beyond hosting major sporting events. "That will be, I believe, the most uti- lized area in the new renovation," Kraft said. "I think we need that as a town. We have the club level upstairs, but that's not big enough. Now you get that, you get the Field Club level that we'll show. There are all of these other opportunities that are helping everybody else, which I think is great. "You have got to use this building. The building has to work for you. It cannot just be seven days." ■ Beaver Stadium Dwarfs Most Big Ten Facilities Coach James Franklin has long maintained that Beaver Stadium's capacity is a factor that separates Penn State from most of its rivals and helps with recruiting. The stadium is the second-largest in the country and fourth-largest in the world. The upcoming renovation project is likely to reduce the stadium's current seating capacity of 106,572, but it will still rank among the world's biggest. Even when construction is underway during the 2025 and '26 seasons, PSU is hoping to accommodate nearly as many fans as it does now. Here's a look at how the Big Ten's 18 stadiums compare in terms of their capacity. — Matt Herb Oregon's Autzen Stadium is one of the smallest venues in the expanded Big Ten, but The Athletic's Bruce Feldman recently ranked it eighth on his list of college football's toughest places to play. PHOTO BY MATT HERB BIG TEN STADIUMS BY CAPACITY Stadium School Capacity Big Ten Rk. FBS Rk. Michigan Stadium Michigan 107,601 1st 1st Beaver Stadium Penn State 106,572 2nd 2nd Ohio Stadium Ohio State 102,780 3rd 3rd Rose Bowl Stadium UCLA 92,542 4th 10th Memorial Stadium Nebraska 90,000 5th 11th LA Memorial Coliseum USC 77,500 6th 19th Camp Randall Stadium Wisconsin 76,118 7th 21st Spartan Stadium Michigan State 75,005 8th 22nd Kinnick Stadium Iowa 70,585 9th 23rd Husky Stadium Washington 70,083 10th 24th Ross-Ade Stadium Purdue 61,441 11th 38th Memorial Stadium Illinois 60,670 12th 42nd Autzen Stadium Oregon 54,000 13th 50th Memorial Stadium Indiana 52,626 14th 51st SHI Stadium Rutgers 52,454 15th 52nd SECU Stadium Maryland 51,802 16th 53rd Huntington Bank Stadium Minnesota 50,805 17th 57th Ryan Field* Northwestern 35,000 18th TBD * Currently under construction