‘It’s devastating.’ State College area business leaders react to no Penn State football this fall
Any hope among business owners that Penn State would welcome up to 23,275 fans to Beaver Stadium for five weekends this fall was dashed Tuesday when the Big Ten postponed the 2020 fall sports season.
The announcement, which did not rule out a potential spring schedule for fall sports, was a formality for business owners in Centre County.
The university announced Thursday that any football games this season would be played largely without fans unless Gov. Tom Wolf issued new guidance for large gatherings. No fans might as well have meant no football for area businesses.
Tuesday’s announcement likely means restaurants and bars will be less full, tailgates will be more sparse and the region will be left to analyze what’s next. It’s unclear if Penn State or other Big Ten universities would be allowed to play outside of the conference.
“It’s a big hit to the local economy,” James Tierney, Penn State assistant teaching professor of economics, said. “... Being able to play in the spring is going to be huge because if they can figure out a way to have some sort of spring season, then it may be worth it for some businesses to hang on.”
Few weekends are more economically important to Happy Valley than Penn State football home games, which traditionally draw more than 100,000 fans to State College.
The absence of Penn State football home games is projected to cost businesses “in the high tens of millions” in direct spending, while the overall economic loss will likely be more than $100 million, Happy Valley Adventure Bureau President and CEO Fritz Smith said.
The disparity can be explained by the multiplier effect, Tierney said. The economic principle refers to an injection of revenue from an outside source that would ultimately remain in Centre County.
“Probably the largest source of business for hotels, retail and restaurants in Centre County has vanished,” Smith said. “It will cause a financial crater, so to speak. It’s devastating.”
Businesses have spent nearly five months responding to abrupt challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic. The latest hurdle may leave some business owners to ponder whether they can — or want to — hold on until the spring.
Nearly all businesses are operating at a loss because ongoing mitigation efforts do not allow them to be profitable, Hotel State College Operations Director Curtis Shulman said.
Big event weekends, including Penn State football home games and the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, annually generate about 20-30% of the business’ revenue, Shulman said.
County Commissioner Steve Dershem expressed alarm Tuesday about what no Penn State football season could mean for Centre County, saying the “devastation” could not be underestimated.
Fellow county commissioners Mike Pipe and Mark Higgins took a softer stance.
The “most critical” way to kick-start the county’s economy is to welcome back upward of 46,000 students, though it’s unclear how many students will return to University Park, Pipe said.
The balance, Shulman said, is difficult to find. Hordes of fans clad in blue and white would have offered a needed cash flow boon, but the Big Ten’s decision prevented a massive influx of a transient population from permeating Centre County.
The county can now keep its “walls and barriers” up to protect against a spike in COVID-19 cases, Shulman said.
“It’s corny, but I think at the end of the day, we just need to find a way to protect our community and make sure that we prioritize the health and safety of everybody,” Shulman said. “It’s very much a chicken or an egg scenario in terms of business and people. If we can prioritize the safety of them and find a quicker way to get out of this, I think we’re going to be able to survive.”
This story was originally published August 11, 2020 at 4:38 PM.