Blue White Illustrated

of which are located in more densely populated cities, Penn State still has room to grow. As Barbour recently not- ed, "We probably have more land here than at any place I've been." And yet, the likelihood that a new sta- dium would have to be smaller is, in a roundabout way, an argument for keep- ing the old one. With an o?cial capacity of 106,572, Beaver Stadium is not simply one of the largest stadiums in the country; it's one of the largest stadiums in the world, trail- ing only a North Korean soccer stadium and Michigan Stadium. When it's lit up for a White Out game, it's home to one of the greatest spectacles in college football. Nothing gets Penn State players and fans more amped than a night game, and even visiting players sometimes can't help but get swept up in the excitement. Former Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi once said that playing in Beaver Stadium at night felt like being inside a jet engine. "Like a new type of loud," he said. Since arriving in January 2014, Franklin has talked about promoting the facets of Penn State's football program that make it unique. It can be hard to =nd those facets in a world where seem- ingly everyone has a billionaire-=nanced practice facility. But as one of only eight schools in the country that can accom- modate more than 100,000 fans, Penn State is able to distinguish itself by pro- moting its game day scene. Stadium ca- pacity is one area in which the Nittany Lions come out ahead of even Ohio State, and they have been able to use their popularity at the gate to their ad- vantage in recruiting. Consider this from four-star o>ensive lineman Michal Menet, a member of Penn State's Class of 2016: "The atmosphere is insane. It's everything you could ever dream about playing in front of, plus some. As many times as I see it, I still cannot believe how insane the fans are. … I can't wait to be up there and playing in that stadium. It'll be a dream come true." Even when it's not rocking – and boy, was it not rocking in Penn State's soggy opener against Bu>alo – the Beav can give a li@ to the home team. That's be- cause a bad turnout for Penn State would be a great turnout for most other programs. The listed attendance for the Bu>alo game was 93,065. Even if the ac- tual attendance was substantially lower, it was still the biggest crowd that will watch the Bulls this year. To hear Franklin tell it, the crowd was loud enough to keep them rattled throughout the game. "Our opponents had 14 penal- ties," he said, "seven of which I think you could attribute to our fans." P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L > > I think you do like Texas A&M: You rip out all the seats. Keep the same base design, but totally redo the inner infrastructure, and rebuild the press- box along with the seats. Would like to see the outer facade look more build- inglike as opposed to a bunch of truss rods. sg out west As much as seatbacks and more legroom would be nice, that will only come with a price, and I would rather be crowded than pay more. As for the exte- rior, a Notre Dame fan once told me it looked like an Erector set. He was right, but it is our Erector set and I like it. Re- place the toilets to something from this century and I will be happy. njlion73 Put seatbacks throughout the stadium. Take the hit in capacity to favor the comfort of those who attend. JR4PSU Don't mess with the exterior, it is unique. I am already in chair-backs, The extra $9 per ticket for the chair- backs is more than worth it. As we al- ready have chair-backs, I'm indifferent on that one, but since I don't foresee the stadium being regularly sold out anymore, I think going that direction and having fewer seats would help for appearance and crowd involvement. Not that I have been in them, but clear- ly the pressbox and locker rooms must need help. Scottpsurules You need to replace the stadium. They have the space. I read that to do the ren- ovations they want to do, it would cost around the same as building a brand new state-of-the-art stadium. No brainer. NormanChad Tear the dump down and build new. Love the stadium but would love having an all-new modern stadium. PSU_Nut Use the fancy scoreboards to show highlights and scores of other games. In- stead of watching one, sometimes bor- ing, game in Beaver Stadium, I've moved on to watching two or three games at home. Not knowing what's going on around college football on a Saturday drives me nuts when I do attend games, and it's such an easy fix. Whatever they do, I hope they keep the utilitarian look to either current or new Beaver Stadium. I went to a game at Baylor last year, and they have phone-charging stations everywhere, along with an exclusive, in- stadium app to watch real-time high- lights and replays. I thought that was pretty cool. PSUAschman If Penn State goes to an 80,000-seat state-of-the-art stadium, I think it will quickly become just another stadium. I have been to a lot of the stadiums in the South (Florida, Florida State, etc.) and I If you could make one improvement to Beaver Stadium, what would it be? W E B S U R V E Y

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