The Penn State Board of Trustees and Committee on Finance, Business and Capital Planning is scheduled to meet Tuesday, May 21, for a proposed project approval related Beaver Stadium’s ongoing renovation. The public portion of the meeting begins at 10:30 a.m. eastern. Historically, similar public sessions have included not much more than either a roll call vote or a public accounting of a vote taken during the executive session. Supporting documents related to the meeting have not yet been posted on the Board of Trustees website.
Tuesday’s meeting marks the second approval stage for the Beaver Stadium renovation project following an initial expenditure approval of $70 million last May. The entire undertaking has been tentatively scheduled for an August 2027 completion and is earmarked for around $700 million. It is unclear at this time if the pending approval includes the remaining funding or simply a portion thereof. Penn State has repeatedly stressed that no tuition dollars will be used for the renovation.
“We’ll go back to the board,” Penn State Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Patrick Kraft told StateCollege.com last June following the first approval. “So initially we’re finalizing architecture, construction management, you go get the permit. So it’s really that precursor to really doing a lot of work, then there is also a lot of enabling work that has to be done, for example, winterization with the stadium. So that will happen in that [initial] project.”
“There are some projects I would say that are needed to get done right away. Some of the things help circulation but really the big thing is winterization. So when the playoffs come in, it allows us to feel much more comfortable about hosting the game in the middle of winter. But a lot of that is focused early on on just prep of design, the permitting and getting yourself and everybody ready to go. Because we got to go back to the board again and explain kind of what the next steps are.”
Penn State has been active in the construction management space over the past several weeks with multiple projects going out to bid through the Office of the Physical Plant’s website. As of May 15, nearly two dozen new projects ranging from selective demolition to deep foundations and masonry have been awarded to various contractors. A physical plant spokesperson told StateCollege.com that “renderings for the stadium’s maintenance and renovation work will be shared at a later date,” including a super ribbon scoreboard set to be installed in the south end of the stadium.
Covered scaffolding in the north end of the lower bowl of Beaver Stadium was visible during Penn State’s spring game and was related to winterization efforts.
An athletic department spokesperson also reiterated that no fans are expected to be displaced during the 2024 season. Penn State has not indicated how many fans might be displaced for future seasons prior to completion in 2027 but has stated in the past an anticipation that some fans will be temporarily displaced over the course of the renovation process.
