Penn State Athletics set to begin study on future Beaver Stadium renovations this summer
Penn State has set the wheels in motion to determine the future of Beaver Stadium.
Penn State Athletics announced in a release Thursday evening that, alongside Populous — a global architecture and design firm — it will begin to evaluate the next steps and begin a Beaver Stadium concept study that is expected to last through the summer.
The study will be carried out as part of the Facilities Master Plan that the university announced in March 2017.
“We are excited to work with Populous, led by Penn State letterman Scott Radecic and alum Jeff Funovits, on this important project in our Facilities Master Plan,” Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour said in the release. “Our team is looking forward to the feedback from our user groups in order to create the roadmap for the necessary and desired renovations as well as to maximize the value that Beaver Stadium brings to our campus and community.”
The study will include a “wide range of stakeholders,” including those who are on campus and in the community. That will lead to recommendations surrounding the feature of Beaver Stadium, including maintenance needs, operational efficiencies and improvements to the experience at the stadium for both fans and student-athletes, along with other areas of improvement.
Work on the Facilities Master Plan began in 2016 when the athletic department collaborated with Populous to formulate it. It was designed to determine any facilities needs related to athletics that would take place over the 20 years following its development and included multiple renovations to Beaver Stadium, including new concessions, increased chairback seating and wider concourses, among other additions.
It also included a planned reduction in capacity to approximately 103,000 and the addition of a brick and limestone skin to the exterior. The stadium’s current capacity is 106,572.
The original plan called for those upgrades to be completed by 2023 at the earliest and an estimated three to four years to complete.
Beaver Stadium was constructed in 1960 and was last expanded in 2001.
This story was originally published May 27, 2021 at 6:56 PM.
