Penn State’s student section will hang on to its claim as one of the best in the nation as student bought out their enitre season ticket allotment this week.
The sale, which started at the beginning of the week with graduate students and seniors saw the excitement for the James Franklin era continue to build. The junior class tickets sold out in only 35 minutes according to the university.
Penn State sophomores and freshman got their shot at tickets on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, snatching up their allotments as well, the freshman selling out at a breakneck speed of only six minutes.
Officially the student section holds 21,000 and has been called the best in the nation by several national outlets. These newest season ticket holders will get to hold up that tradition this season with home game against Ohio State (Oct. 25, 8 p.m.) and Michigan State (Nov. 29-Senior Day), Homecoming foe Northwestern (Sept. 27) and new Big Ten member Maryland (Nov. 1). Akron (Sept. 6), Massachusetts (Sept. 20) and Temple (Nov. 15).
“I’ve heard that our student section is the best in the nation and I got a preview during the spring game, but to see the passion our students have for Penn State football even during this week’s sale is unbelievable,” said head coach James Franklin in a prepared statement.
“To have 21,000-plus students supporting our team each home game from the time the players first take the field until the victory bell rings is such a huge advantage. When we return from Ireland after our opener vs. UCF, I know we’ll be backed by the best students in the nation, who will join the rest of the Penn State family to pack Beaver Stadium 107K strong.”
Stadium-wide Penn State has reportedly sold over 4,000 new season ticket packages. Roughly 600 season ticket packages have also been sold through the new recent graduate ticketing program that began this offseason.
Penn State has seen attendance decline over the past several seasons with the 10 smallest crowds in post stadium expansion era coming since 2011. Even so, the 96,587 per game average was still good enough to give the Nittany Lions the fifth best attendance mark in the nation following the 2013 season.
Given the early success and excitement of the James Franklin era, it stands to reason that number of tickets sold is only going to go up, not down, in the coming years.
