All the good vibes that came from Penn State’s four-game win streak to end the 2025 season and the hiring of Matt Campbell have quickly dissipated, replaced by frustration and, seemingly, some apathy.
In Week 9, Penn State is coming off its bye after losing its first four Big Ten games under Campbell to host 3-4 (2-2) Purdue at Beaver Stadium, and it’s not tough to get into the newly renovated stadium. Ticket prices have plummeted and are now selling for $10 on Ticketmaster and as low as $5 or even $3 on resale markets.
Partly, it’s the reality of a nearly 110,000-seat stadium situated in a sparsely populated area of Central Pennsylvania. Partly, it’s the lack of intrigue in a matchup between 3-4 teams on Halloween Saturday. But it’s also a reflection of the sad state of affairs for a program that just two years ago was one drive away from playing Ohio State for a national championship.
Apathy has to be Pat Kraft’s worst fear in the NIL era
It’s not just the team on the field that’s been a point of contention for the fanbase; it’s also rising ticket prices associated with the $700 million renovations to Beaver Stadium, which were largely done to create more premium ticketing options to maximize revenue in the NIL era, where every dollar coming in can directly impact the team on the field.
There’s been a creeping sense of disconnect between the loyal, lifelong, everyday fans of Penn State football and a program that is both actively pandering to their nostalgia and making it more difficult for them to make new memories in the future.
Rising prices and a struggling team are the perfect recipe for an apathetic fanbase, and that’s exactly what athletic director Pat Kraft was hoping to avoid when he fired Franklin and embarked on a long and messy coaching search, flirting with every big-name proven coach he could. Apathy is also the worst possible outcome in this era.
Now, an apathetic fanbase is never a good thing, but as rosters are ballooning to upwards of $50 million and showing no signs of slowing down, college football programs are increasingly leaning on their fanbase, or maybe more aptly, milking them for everything they’re worth.
Unlike in the NFL or other professional sports, where fans can complain about their billionaire owner not investing enough to win, college football programs, in many cases, have pointed the finger at their fans as the reason they don’t have enough money to win. In some cases, like at Arkansas, where the fanbase attempted a boycott of the team for hiring Ryan Silverfield, who was on the hot seat at Memphis.
While this isn’t an organized boycott, it’s clear that the rank-and-file fanbase is not happy with the program, starting with Kraft.
The fact that Campbell was hired so late in the process is a sliver of hope that this year’s disaster isn’t necessarily a sign of things to come. But some fans, if they’re not giving up on the program, have decided that they’ll wait until the program puts a better product on the field before spending their money on it. And who can blame them?
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