Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1537537
8 A U G U S T 2 0 2 5 OPENING SHOT IF YOU BUILD IT … James Franklin has constructed what many believe to be the best football team of his head coaching tenure at Penn State, but his is not the only major building project underway in State College. PSU is also revamping Beaver Stadium, and the university's progress will be on full public view starting Aug. 30 when throngs of fans descend on State College to watch the Nittany Lions kick off their season against Nevada. For those out-of-town fans who don't want to wait till opening day to see how the stadium is taking shape, the athletics department has been issuing periodic video updates featuring Michael Mauti, the former PSU linebacker who now serves as associate director of development for the Nittany Lion Club. One of the most recent videos was released in early June. Standing on an open platform where the press box used to be, Mauti explained how the west side of the stadium was coming together. One of the main parts of the project's first phase has been to pour the rebar-reinforced concrete that will support the new structure. To speed that pro- cess, workers built a five-story temporary staircase, which will eventually make way for the installation of permanent stairs. It will take 36 concrete pours to solidify the base, Mauti explained. Protruding from the concrete were several up- right steel beams, each weighing more than 30,000 pounds. Every aspect of the $700 million construc- tion project is outsized, including the equipment used to build the facility. It took 17 tractor trailers just to bring in the parts needed to build the cranes being used on site. As of early July, workers hadn't yet begun erecting the temporary seats that will fill out the stadium's west side this fall. The concrete needed time to harden before the seating could be built, so workers were waiting until late July to begin that job. Athletics director Patrick Kraft has said PSU ex- pects Beaver Stadium's capacity to remain above 100,000, even with a big part of the old facility demolished. Mauti didn't specify what the capac- ity would be this fall, but he did promise that the game-day atmosphere would be undiminished from previous years. "Even with the temporary bleachers, this is still going to be the loudest environment in college football," he said. The 3,200 tons of steel needed for the first phase of construction had been delivered as of early June, all for use in a project that is set for completion in the summer of 2027. "Right now, it's steel, rebar and concrete," Mauti said. "But soon, it'll be the launch pad for a new era in Beaver Stadium history." — Matt Herb MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS