Penn State Board of Trustees approves $700 million renovations to Beaver Stadium, preparing for CFP home game

Penn State never made the College Football Playoff in the four-team era, but now that the CFP is expanding to 12 the Nittany Lions figure to be perennial contenders to come out of the Big Ten. With the CFP including on-campus home games in the early rounds, it became imperative that the school improve Beaver Stadium, and on Tuesday in Happy Valley, the Board of Trustees voted to do just that. 

The multi-year renovation plan passed by a vote of 26-2, with three trustees, including Jay Paterno, abstaining from the vote, The plan is budgeted for $700 million and construction will begin at the conclusion of the 2024 season in January of 2025. 

The board previously approved a $70 million plan to explore these renovations and included in that were upgrades to the stadium, notably adding two new scoreboards in the northeast and southeast corners of the stadium. There is also an ongoing winterization of the stadium, which will be necessary if the Nittany Lions do earn a home playoff game in 2024. 

The $700 million plan was designed by a Kansas City-based architecture firm, Populous, which previously worked on a renovation project on Kyle Field in College Station and is helping to build the Buffalo Bills’ new stadium. While a rendering of the potential renovations, which will include additional luxury boxes, concession stands, and a new press box, was released, the final design is not official. 

The updates were necessary for the stadium to host bigger football games, but also to increase its ability to host non-football events which could generate additional revenue for the school. Athletic Director Pat Kraft maintained that keeping the seating capacity above 100,000 was another crucial element of this renovation. While James Franklin is getting his roster ready for a run to the CFP, the Penn State Board of Trustees is making sure Beaver Stadium will be ready to host it.