Blue White Illustrated

For PSU's planners, some constructive advice W ith all the controversy and con- sternation within the Penn State fan base over the possible demise of iconic Beaver Stadium in the future plans of the athletic department, I'm re- minded of an old adage: "Be careful what you wish for." One grammar website interpreted the insightful saying by noting the possibili- ty of "unforeseen and unpleasant conse- quences." I would add another, less- foreboding caveat: Even if there are not dire consequences, plans can go awry. Since athletic director Sandy Barbour went public last October with the need for a master plan for all of Penn State's varsity outdoor and indoor playing fields, she has repeatedly said she prefers to renovate the 60-year-old Beaver Sta- dium rather than build a new one. Yet, almost from the day he arrived on cam- pus 18 months ago as Barbour's right- hand man, deputy athletic director Phil Esten has talked about a brand spanking new, state-of-the art stadium seating about 73,000, somewhat similar to the one that was constructed under his su- pervision at the University of Minnesota. I'm not getting into the process that will lead to the ultimate decision and the analysis that will emerge in the upcom- ing report from Populous, the highly re- spected architecture and sport event planning company, whose founder and senior principal is former Penn State All-America linebacker Scott Radecic. Nor will I discuss the pros and cons of the alternatives. After working inside the athletic de- partment for several years, first as a con- sultant in helping start the Penn State All-Sports Museum in 2000, then as the museum's first director from 2001-05 and subsequently as a part-time writer/consultant, I have a different per- spective on the renovation and con- struction of facilities than the average fan. And I am an average fan, a season ticket-holder for more than 30 years who tailgates before and after games and has sat in those uncomfortable bleacher seats through all kinds of weather. I also covered games from the press box throughout the 1960s, starting within a year of Beaver Stadium's opening. Even back then the press box seemed a little antiquated, but, hell, it was better than the one at Pitt Stadium. I never thought deeply about the con- struction or expansion of football and baseball stadiums, or any other athletic facility, until my museum work. That was all up to the people making the deci- sions, including the architects, con- struction bosses, and the officials who also had to find the money to pay for everything. I didn't know anything about designing and constructing buildings, although I knew a lot about fundraising and budgets from my decades of experi- ence in radio-television news. I knew nothing about running a museum, either, but I quickly found out. What I learned inside the athletic de- partment exemplified those six prophet- ic but ungrammatical words, "Be careful what you wish for," and my own simple phrase, "Plans can go awry." Let's take Beaver Stadium's most ex- tensive renovations, which occurred in 2000-01. The expansion project added 11,000 seats, including private suites above the east grandstand, closing in the horseshoe in the south end zone to add thousands of seats on the ground and terrace levels, a recruiting lounge and lettermen's lounge on the second level, a private club on the fourth level, an upper deck on the top level and a home team locker room, media room, sports muse- um and gift shop/bookstore at the base. Two massive state-of-the-art score- boards above each end zone also were part of the renovations. The $93.5 mil- lion project had already been under way for a few months when I began consult- ing for the museum in January 2000. The project was scheduled to be com- pleted before Sept. 1, 2001, the day Penn State was scheduled to open its season against Miami. However, because of un- expected circumstances with other parts of the stadium, completion of the muse- um was delayed until February 2002. As work on the museum continued throughout the fall of 2001, I was as- tounded by a major flaw in the design of the infrastructure of the stadium facility that had "unforeseen consequences" on the museum. There were more than 150 lights in the museum, from the front lobby to the exhibit areas on the first and second floors. The first time I tried to turn on the lights, I discovered there was no master switch or even a few switches. Most of the lights were controlled by in- dividual circuit breakers. Furthermore, some circuit breakers were inside the Penn State Bookstore, which also served as the museum gift shop, and others were in another room located in the in- ner tunnel of the stadium. Both the bookstore and the tunnel room were locked, and access was highly restricted. Not even the campus police had keys, let alone a neophyte museum director. It cost $20,000 from the museum's contingency budget to get that problem resolved with six master switches. I still don't know who the genius was who de- signed that lighting system. Now, to balance out that screw-up, there's the popular museum theater that shows videos and hosts major speaking events. The theater was not part of the original design. An emergency door was needed near the first-floor baseball and golf exhibits leading from the museum

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