October 10, 2009
Beaver Stadium (Capacity: 107,282)
State College, PA
Penn State Nittany Lions vs Eastern Illinois Panthers
Final Score: 52 – 3
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An acquaintance at my job gave me his season tickets and parking for this game as I could not pass up the opportunity to visit the largest stadium in the country despite the inferior opponent. Making the three-hour drive west was beautiful on this cool autumn day as the Pennsylvania colors were changing on all of the trees. My brother made the drive south from Rochester to meet me in the middle and continue on for the game. State College, appropriately named, is in the center of Pennsylvania and home to 38,000 people. The town and area is wholly focused on the Pennsylvania State University, which has more students than State College’s population and whose campus is nearly half the size of the town. Penn State is technically in University Park, but that is mainly just used for the mailing address within the school’s area. This huge state university is also generally one of the higher ranked schools in academics. The Nittany Lions football team has a very rich and successful history dating back to 1887. This includes over 800 wins and two National Championships with long-time coach Joe Paterno leading the way. He was still the coach at our game even at the age of 82, but that wouldn’t last much longer not because of age, but rather the very disturbing scandal involving Jerry Sandusky. Beaver Stadium has been home to the Lions since 1960, when it replaced an older version in a different location. Through expansions, capacity increased to over 100,000 and all those fans combine to make a terrific atmosphere.
Prestige Ranking: 5 out of 5
Location
The stadium is located on the northern edge of campus with many other athletic facilities. This is a mile or two outside of downtown, where there are several local eateries, bars and shops. Outside of that, there is really nothing to entice visitors as this is a classic college town in the middle of nowhere. The stadium’s distance from the center of town does not make it feasible to walk there before or after a game, though there is a $3 shuttle bus.
Location Ranking: 4 out of 10
Accessibility / Parking
Most folks use I-80 to US-220 and then it’s pretty straightforward after getting off at Exit 74 for the parking areas and stadium. From the south, it’s less straight-forward as the mountainous terrain means that a more roundabout way (I-99 or US-322) is needed. In the area, everything is very well organized as people direct you to appropriate lots around the grounds based on the color of your parking pass (if you don’t have one, there are directions to general lots too). We lucked out with parking as we were in a grass lot which had assigned spaces and had an easy in/out, but most parking seemed easy. The majority of the lots are grassy as the paved ones are for premium donors and ticket holders. The staggered arrival and departure for many because of tailgating allows for stadium traffic to not be that crazy.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 6 out of 8
Exterior
Walking up to the stadium is a small brick wall with “The Pennsylvania State University” written on it. The exterior of Beaver Stadium isn’t great as it is mainly just the back of the inside features. There are a lot of beams, winding stairwells and windows for club seating or football offices.
Exterior Ranking: 3.5 out of 10
Concourse
Upon entering the stadium, fans first go into a rather dark and dreary lower concourse. This is filled with beams and featured some old style bathrooms. Luckily, this is just a secondary concourse, as the main concourse is up another several levels (which is an energy-sapping climb). This is much nicer, as it is open with surrounding outside views of beautiful Central PA scenery and the interior walls feature pictures of former players. The corners open up more to the elements and have field views and standing room only areas as well. It’s nice to have a mix of exposed and enclosed concourses as fans have options if the weather gets bad.
Concourse Ranking: 3 out of 5
Food
Food was average and mostly boring, as can be expected at many football stadiums. At least they had all the mainstays like Burgers, Chicken Tenders, Pizza, etc. Simple cheesesteaks were the only real specialty item.
Food Ranking: 4 out of 8
Interior
Inside, it is noticeable how Beaver Stadium has grown in pieces, especially the end zone seating which features decks added on through the years. The set-up is intimate though as most of the seating is rather close to the field and it does not ‘feel’ like it holds over 100k. Surrounding the stadium is a lower bowl and on the sidelines, seats continue on upward, interrupted only briefly by a narrow walkway two-thirds of the way up. At the top of one section is a press box and the other side has three levels of suites. A steep second deck is located above the north end zone, while on the south side, there are two additional levels of seating (the middle one is for the Mount Nittany Club). Seats throughout the stadium are all bleachers set in concrete, with the exception of a few blue seats near the 50 and the upper north end zone seats, which were also normal blue chairbacks. On the sidelines, expect to be crunched in with your neighbor with both leg and arm room at a premium. My knees were sore after the game because of being locked in the same position for so long (big play standing up stopped after it became a blowout). Even though Beaver Stadium was built with noticeable pieces added through the years, this is still a decent stadium and the higher-up seats are not ridiculously far from the field, plus there is a view of the hills off in the distance.
Interior Ranking: 7.5 out of 14
Scoreboard
There were two small-ish scoreboards on top of each end and they were exactly the same. Each one featured “Penn State” written out, along with the logo across the top. Digital score and game information was on the right, with a videoboard on the left. That screen certainly could have been bigger. A ribbon scoreboard was also between the decks of the end zone seating.
Scoreboard Ranking: 2.5 out of 4
Displays
Attached to the stadium is the All-Sports Museum, a space dedicated to exhibiting and informing visitors about everything that is Penn State athletics. I didn’t get to visit as the museum is closed on gamedays starting before 3:30 PM, which is infuriating as that is when most people will only have a chance to see it. Outside of that, open hours are accommodating. Near the entrance on the East side of the stadium is a life-sized statue of Joe Paterno. On the upper concourse walls, are framed pictures of past players, specifically All-Americans. Inside, “The Pennsylvania State University” is spelled out in blue on the top wall of the sideline suites. Also displayed, were years marking Undefeated Seasons, National Championships and Big Ten Championships. The drawback here is you don’t know what the years denote as there is no way distinguish between them for the various accomplishments. The suites on the other side featured the school name and “Beaver Stadium” written out. A higher ranking would go here if the museum was open during the visit.
Displays Ranking: 4 out of 6
Cost
Ticket prices ($60-$70) were high, but on par with other big schools in the conference. The other costs remaining reasonable help to make the overall cost a good deal. Pre-paid parking is the way to go as it was only $10, but prices jumped to $40 if you go to the general lots without a pass. Programs were $5 and the food was nicely priced ($4 for a burger, $2 for water).
Cost Ranking: 6 out of 8
Fan Support
It seemed like about half the cars I saw on the trip going west on I-80 had PSU decals on their car. When I got to the stadium, nearly every person was sporting some sort of Nittany Lion apparel. Students and alumni are very dedicated to the school and athletics in general, with football reaching a fever pitch. They have state-wide appeal and just about every game is filled to capacity. Even when they play a team they should beat by 50, the stadium is still jam packed as they only holes are where the students don’t completely fill it in. Penn State has been Top 5 in attendance since renovations.
Fan Support Ranking: 8 out of 8
Atmosphere
The atmosphere in Happy Valley is awesome. This is a LOUD stadium and even though I didn’t hear it anywhere near full throat during our game, it was still noisy. The best cheer is the “We are….Penn State”, which is also the loudest one. The alma mater cheer is good as well, along with a person hitting a cowbell and the fans going “P….S….U…..Let’s go PSU”. Nothing beats the Zombie Nation chant they do. The main group that orchestrates this is the Student Section, which is massive and generally all decked out in white. They had a wave going, which they stopped and made it go super fast and then brought it back down to slow motion…easily one of the neatest waves I’ve ever seen. Many claim them to be the best in the country and there’s no argument here. A recent new tradition is the “White-Out” night game, where nearly every fan wears white. This has been done in many stadiums before, but it is more impressive at PSU. The Penn State Blue Band is amazing as I enjoyed listening to their fight song and other songs they played. The halftime show with various movie themes was great. After each first down, a lion roar is played over the speakers. Overall, Beaver Stadium is a really special place to watch football.
Atmosphere Ranking: 14 out of 14
Other Stuff
The tailgating scene at Penn State is excellent as almost every car partakes. There were some impressive ones as well, including buses decked out in Blue and White with a lot of food. The great thing was they weren’t obnoxious either, just people relaxing and having a good time (not sure if this was due to the opponent or the 12:00 start, but it was nice). That continued into the stadium as everyone was nice to be around….The Beaver name in front of the stadium is actually an honor for a person, James Beaver……The name “Nittany” in Lions comes from nearby Mount Nittany……Last thing on names: The area is also referred to as “Happy Valley”. That is not from the school, it’s actually a nickname for the region that comes from the 1930s. They called it that because the area was not as significantly impacted by the Great Depression like others.
Game
As expected, Penn State rolled. The Lions seemed to gain at least 10-15 yards on every play and an overmatched Eastern Illinois team struggled on offense. Penn State jumped out to a 10-0 lead and then scored 28 in the second quarter to lead 38-0 at the half. The Nittany Lions had a blocked punt; a 51 yard TD pass amidst pass interference and then a 91 yard fumble return by linebacker by Navarro Bowman. They went on to win 52-3. Daryl Clark went 13/19 passing with 234 yards and 2 TD.
Stadium and Arena Visits 
