Penn State University will renovate, not rebuild Beaver Stadium. Here’s what to know
Penn State has made a decision on the future of Beaver Stadium.
“After significant consultation and research, the university has decided that rather than build new, we would renovate our iconic Beaver Stadium,” Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi said Friday at the university’s board of trustees meeting.
The decision to renovate comes after athletic director Pat Kraft said in December that a choice one way or the other would be announced soon.
“We’re close,” he said. “We had a study that was done. ... There were 19 studies done on the stadium and nothing was done. In the past eight or nine years there were 19 studies done on Beaver Stadium. So it’s not for a lack of information. I feel very comfortable ... that we will have a recommendation to Neeli and the board as to what direction we need to move in. So I do think it’s coming.”
His comments at the time indicated the university had a preference for which direction it would go and it took into consideration the capacity the venue can hold.
“We are very proud of having 107,000 and over 100,000 fans,” Kraft said. “No one is building a 100,000 seat stadium. That’s important to us. That’s an important piece to who we are.”
The university announced in a release that the renovation plan is still being finalized and must be brought to the full board of trustees for a vote in the near future. While the primary use of the stadium has been for football, the changes have “the potential to expand use beyond football game days,” according to the statement.
Bendapudi noted that the university is not in position to reveal cost projections for the project and said it is still working out a funding model for the renovation — while adding that it hopes to have philanthropic help from fans.
“In moving forward with this renovation decision, I want to remind everybody that anything that Penn State athletics does is self-sustaining and has always been self-sustaining financially,” Bendapudi said at Friday’s meeting. “So no tuition, no student fees, none of the educational budget funds will be used for this project. And, certainly, we hope to count on our dedicated and loyal fans to pitch in with philanthropy to help us make this a reality.”
Centre Daily Times reporter Josh Moyer contributed to this story.
This story was originally published February 17, 2023 at 3:23 PM.
