Penn State Considering Major Renovation Project for Beaver Stadium

Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi announced during her remarks to the Penn State Board of Trustees on Friday that the university officially intends to consider a multi-phase renovation project for Beaver Stadium rather than build anew. This project would not only impact game day operations and fan experiences during football season but also would occur with the intention of expanding the out-of-season usage and flexibility of the stadium.

“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. “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.

“I know there will be many questions but candidly all we know at this point is to say we will renovate, not build new.”

The renovation plan for Beaver Stadium, which is still being finalized, must be brought before the full board for a vote in the near future. When that is remains to be seen. Additionally, financial projections and funding timelines are still in progress according to Bendapudi.

“I know there is a lot of interest in this project, and we are at the beginning of a multi-year journey, which still must include proposal review and approval by the Board of Trustees. Athletics also will need to put the project out for bid,” Bendapudi said.

This would not be the first time Penn State officials have stated an interest in renovating or rebuilding Beaver Stadium but would mark the first time the university president has stated those intentions officially. Former Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Sandy Barbour previously announced a feasibility study but the results of that study and others like it never made much officially headway publicly. Now former University President Eric Barron spoke of the possibility in largely supportive but noncommittal tones.

“We’re close,” new Penn State Athletic Director Patrick Kraft said in December. “I think we’re at the point we had a study that was done. There’s a lot of studies going on and nothing was done … in the past eight, nine years there were 19 studies done on Beaver Stadium. It’s not for a lack of information.”

The most comparable rebuild project in modern days is Texas A&M’s renovation and rebuild of Kyle Field which was approved for $485 million. Beaver Stadium has undergone various renovation projects inside and outside the stadium in recent years but nothing to that scale. For his part Kraft also did not indicate what Penn State’s maximum budgetary number currently is but stated that any renovations would have to be pragmatic relative to their costs.

“I make no bones about it. I love this building. I love coming in this building, Beaver Stadium. I love the history of this building. When I walk the parking lots and I talk to people about having generations of memories in this building, so I want to make this building better and we have to do that,” Kraft added. “We’re very close. All the data is there. Now figuring out the financial models, how would it work, what’s the recommendation, and so we’re close. To build a new stadium, there’s a threshold. Let me just put it that way. To build new anywhere, it’s expensive. Let me just put it that way. I don’t know. We have some numbers, but if you’re building new there is a financial threshold that building new just would be —it could be infeasible, not feasible with the financial piece.”

Time will tell when or if this iteration of Beaver Stadium’s future comes to fruition but the ball is certainly rolling again.