What's the latest on a potential Penn State wrestling match at Beaver Stadium?
Four-time NCAA champion Carter Starocci sent Penn State wrestling fans into an excited frenzy back in May with a simple, nine-word tweet: “Now let’s sell out the beaver stadium in November.” The implication, of course, was that the Nittany Lions might follow some other colleges’ lead by hosting a dual meet inside their football stadium. The concept has been met with terrific fanfare at Rutgers and Iowa in the past. But, few have tried to do it since. There is a good reason for that. And anyone who has tried to drive up Seven Mountains or even just across State College for a January match at Rec Hall knows why: The potential for bad weather.
It’s one of many reasons why there has been no additional fodder, outside of wishful social media chatter, on the matter since Starocci’s tweet. And, wishful seems to be the best word to continue to use when discussing this possibility. It might happen one day. But, that day does not appear to be coming anytime soon.
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“We talk about everything,” Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft said when asked about the idea before Big Ten Media Days in late July. “Take the wrestling, for example. We’d love to do it. I think it’d be uber successful, obviously, when you have the best program in the world and some of the greatest athletes in the world. But there’s just logistics that you have to figure out.
“You’re putting on an [event] in a totally different environment in an unpredictable [time of year for weather], and when their season is really getting rolling, we’re starting to get into weather that, as we all know, can be quite unpredictable. And so it’s just different issues there that we have to deal with. But we’ve looked at everything. There is nothing that is off the table to put into Beaver Stadium. And it’s becoming a lot easier now with the renovations and the ease of it all.”
Penn State will not release its full schedule, including the Bryce Jordan Center match, until later this year. However, there appears to be no chance that a match inside of the 107,000-seat venue is in the cards anytime soon.
More thoughts on a possible Lions wrestling match at Beaver Stadium
While it’s just speculation from this writer, it seems unlikely that a Penn State wrestling outdoor dual would take place before the renovation work is done ahead of the 2027 football season. Kraft and the university are willing to try things anytime, though. Take this spring’s Luke Combs concert. It was a massive success. But, unlike a wrestling match, the show can go on in bad weather. In fact, Combs’ sold-out show did. Weather is the biggest logistical hurdle to a Lions match at Beaver Stadium. But, it’s far from the only one. This is why, as enticing as it sounds, Penn State fans will likely be waiting awhile for it to become a reality, if it ever does.
