Return of Penn State football a ‘psychological booster’ as local businesses still face challenges
Centre County’s beleaguered restaurants, bars and gift shops had an opportunity Wednesday to breathe a sigh of relief for the second time in nearly six months.
The Big Ten announced Wednesday its intention to resume its football season in October, opening the door for fans clad in blue and white to partake in some of Happy Valley’s deeply rooted football rituals.
“With everything going on in this world, you’ll take the good news where you can get it,” Hotel State College & Company Operations Director Curtis Shulman said. “There’s not much better than watching the boys in blue on Saturdays.”
The announcement that reintroduced eight games to Penn State’s schedule was welcome, but far from a bonanza for businesses in downtown State College.
“I think the financial impact will be fairly marginal,” Happy Valley Adventure Bureau President and CEO Fritz Smith said. “It’s a psychological booster.”
Pennsylvania limits outdoor gatherings to no more than 250 people. That means more than 100,000 fans — more than the Centre Region’s population — won’t pour into Beaver Stadium on game day.
And as businesses are still operating under Gov. Tom Wolf’s COVID-19 mitigation efforts, The Tavern owner Pat Daugherty said it’s impossible to be profitable.
Restaurants may increase indoor occupancy from 25-50% of capacity starting Monday, but are restricted from selling alcohol after 10 p.m.
“If you’re a restaurant and you don’t have a drive-thru, you’re struggling. You’re not breaking even. If people were breaking even, you wouldn’t see as many restaurants closed around the country as there are,” Daugherty said. “I think we’ll be able to lose less money and keep our people employed. We won’t make money.”
The Big Ten’s declaration was not devoid of risk.
Fans will likely flock to College Avenue this fall, seeking a sense of camaraderie and clinging to some semblance of a traditional Penn State football weekend.
That’s good for business, but bad for slowing the spread of COVID-19 in the county with the highest incidence rate in Pennsylvania by far.
Penn State football could give people one more reason to gather at watch or house parties, which have already drawn the ire of university President Eric Barron.
It’d be naive to expect them to stop, Shulman said.
“If there’s no fans in the stands, there is a bunch of people coming to town and obviously the bars are at a reduced capacity, I am a little bit skeptical of what that’s gonna look like in the streets, the house parties and the apartments,” Shulman said. “I have a hard time imagining there’s gonna be Penn State football being played in Beaver Stadium and people aren’t gonna be in town for it. There’s not many better feelings than being in town for a home football game.”
But in the end, businesses strongly — maybe too strongly, Smith said — depend on Penn State football.
Sure, the Centre County Grange Encampment and Fair, Central Pennsylvania 4th Fest, the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts and People’s Choice Festival of Pennsylvania Arts and Crafts all bring hordes of visitors to Centre County.
None rival Penn State home football weekends, which traditionally generate about one-third of Lions Pride’s annual sales, managing partner Steve Moyer said.
“Without Penn State football, there is no Lions Pride,” Moyer said. “None of us have been through this before. I can’t tell you what a home game with no fans means. You’ll have to wait and see.”