Penn State AD open to selling Beaver Stadium naming rights, what would be best fit: Wawa, Sheetz, Hershey?

College athletics are changing and changing quickly. Back on June 6, the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved a recommendation from the Football Rules Committee allowing commercial sponsor advertisements on football fields in regular season games starting in 2024. 

Of the rule change, NCAA President Charlie Baker said, “This change could allow schools to generate additional income to support student-athletes.” 

Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft also had plenty to say about the new rules in college football in an interview he did with StateCollege.com on Monday. 

Kraft made it clear that Penn State would not have sponsors on the field for this upcoming season but didn’t close the door on future advertisements at Beaver Stadium. He even explored the possibility of selling the naming right for Beaver Stadium. 

With the famous venue undergoing massive renovations, a sponsor could help foot the bill for Penn State and could certainly help to pay for James Franklin’s future recruiting classes. Kraft left the door wide open for Beaver Stadium to get a corporate sponsorship tacked onto its name. 

So, that leads to the logical question, what would be the best name for Beaver Stadium? 

Well, Wawa and Sheetz are the first two obvious candidates. The two convenience stores are synonymous with the state of Pennsylvania and the battle has waged on for years. I’m firmly on team Sheetz as is the rest of Western PA. I’ll take an MTO breakfast shmiscuit with hashbrowns (on the sandwich) and an app platter with boom boom sauce over a mid-tier hoagie any day of the week, but it’s not smart business for Penn State to so firmly cast its vote in the race for state-wide supremacy. 

Then, there’s Hershey’s chocolate. Hershey’s Chocolate Field at Beaver Stadium isn’t half bad. It’s just over an hour and a half from Beaver Stadium to Hershey PA and we know the chocolate empire has enough money to win a bidding war with just about any other in-state corporate sponsor. 

There’s just one problem. Hershey’s Chocolate Field in Happy Valley doesn’t exactly strike fear in opponents. Unless you’ve been traumatized by the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory remake with Johnny Depp playing the murderous Willy Wonka with his cold-blooded henchman, then the imagery of candy isn’t too intimidating. 

Big Ten football shouldn’t be sweet, it’s better when it’s a bit salty. Utz has been a long-time sponsor at Penn State and the snack food company from Hanover, Pennsylvania would make the perfect commercial sponsor for Nittany Lions football. Utz Field at Beaver Stadium sounds pretty good to me.