Penn State sets date for Beaver Stadium press box demolition; when does the renovation work begin?
Penn State Athletics has officially set a date for the implosion of the Beaver Stadium press box. The demolition continues a planned $700 million west side renovation plan that started with work that included winterization efforts to ensure the team could host a College Football Playoff home game, video board updates and additions, an escalator, and other new amenities in 2024. The next phase will see the structure that housed reporters, television broadcasters, and coaches for year come down.
January 4, 2025 is demo day, the school said in a news release. It will occur at 8 a.m. ET.
“Parking will be available in the Yellow H Shields lot, near Pegula Ice Arena, the Orange A lot at Katz Building, and the Eisenhower Parking Deck, using ParkMobile or HONK for $1 per hour. Please see lot entrance signage for instructions. The East Parking Deck will also available at $2 for the first hour and $1 per hour for additional time. Please note that no parking will be available in the Commuter Lots – Jordan East, Stadium West and Porter North.
“There will be coffee, hot chocolate, breakfast sandwiches and breakfast pastries available for purchase (credit card only),” the school said. “There will also be a number of activities at the event, including a DJ, opportunity to sign a bleacher from the upper West side and drawing to win signed construction hats by the Penn State head coaches.”
It adds:
“A number of items, including upper West stadium signage and bleachers, have been salvaged during construction preparations. Those items will be available for purchase at a later date.”
Will capacity at Penn State home games be impacted?
This question continues to be left open-ended. It is logical to expect that ongoing construction through the start of the 2027 slate will ensure that some seats will be slashed due to the work that is being done. But, a final number of possibly or definitely impacted seats, both for those seasons and once the work is done, has not yet been released. The school did say, “These improvements are anticipated to result in a small reduction in seating that will occur during the 2025 season.” There is no new update to share.
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The current capacity is 106,572, though it is commonly referenced as 107,000. The largest crowd in the venue to date is 110,889. That was for the Lions’ loss to Ohio State in 2018.
“Penn State takes great pride in having one of the largest stadium capacities in the world. Which, we plan to continue,” the university wrote in a FAQ page on its website. “This is one of the reasons why we are pursuing a renovation rather than a rebuild, which would have been significantly more expensive and resulted in a facility with a much smaller seating capacity.”
Why is only the west side being renovated?
Simply put, it’s the side Penn State opted to do work on first.
“The west side of the stadium is the part of the stadium that is in need of significant work,” the FAQ site says. “However, the entire stadium is part of the overall project with winterization, priority maintenance and circulation improvements.”
