The Good, The Bad And The Tiny: Reviewing Penn State’s Gameday Experience In Beaver Stadium 

With the podcast, we have focused much of our conversation around Penn State athletics – particularly football – on how we as fans consume the teams and their games. 

Part of that is focusing on the media that covers teams or brings us the action. The other facet of that is the fan experience. 

In this offseason, there has been a noticeable increase and focus on how fans would have their gameday experience improved at Beaver Stadium this season. Some of that relates to improved amenities but much of that relates to the ongoing renovation that cost $70 million this offseason and then $700 million in the coming years. 

Usually we reserve much of this type of review for the podcast but in honor – I’m not sure if that’s the right word but we’re going with it – of Penn State’s updated Beaver Stadium experience, I wanted to share a few thoughts on paper (or digital HTML code) about what I noticed, what seemed improved and what didn’t. I’d like to emphasize the “I” because I can only enter the stadium one way, I can only sit in one seat. There were 103,860 other people in the stadium so they may have had a different experience. But in no particular but some order, here are some of those thoughts. 

Pregame Walk About

We entered through Gate F on Saturday as it’s the most direct gate to our lot. This was one of the improved gates this offseason particularly with changing the order of operations. Instead of going through the metal detectors first, you scanned your ticket first. Then went through the metal detectors. 

I’m not sure if it was non-White Out crowd fallacy or an improved experience but there was no bunched backup getting in the stadium at Gate F. A quick glance toward Gate D did appear to show some but I was happy with our entry point. 

Immediately after scanning our tickets, we were welcomed with one of the new experiences for fans. While it was outside of the concourse underneath, Penn State had set up a spot for food trucks, a large beer vendor and LED screen to show Big Ten Tailgate. There were not a ton of people taking advantage of all of the amenities but some. In many ways, it looked like the renderings that were previewed this offseason. 

The most noticeable change of that area was the branding. Penn State had improved its branding inside and out of Beaver Stadium. In the patio-type area, there were tables with logos from today and yesterday as well as facade. 

Immediately inside Gate F is a new Instagram friendly wall as well, as podcast superfan Maddy Pryor pointed out. Several people stopped and grabbed those pics. If you’re looking for a good backdrop that isn’t a tailgate field or football field, this is a great addition. 

More of that improved branding was spotted throughout with the most noticeable being modernized food vendor carts. 

On my way to my seat, I stopped to use the bathroom and am happy to report that on the eastern and northern side it appears the Beaver Stadium Trough 2.0 is here. The days of porcelain are over as Penn State has upgraded to stainless steel. 

Other parts of the concourse along the eastern and northern sides feel the same. You still have to weave through people but nothing you’re not used to and I’m happy that my pregame trips to the Nuts-For-You stand can remain. I visit the one at the top of the lower bowl in the northern end zone usually to grab some cashews and it relieved to see it was still there. I also noticed port-a-potties on the concourse up there, which was different than years past. 

WiFi 

This was a big one that I was eager to see if it had improved. Penn State said they increased coverage with 135 new access points. Could Beaver Stadium’s WiFi actually be improved? Would I be able to finally keep up with the game on Twitter too? 

The good news is Penn State’s WiFi “PSUFan” is noticeably stronger underneath and on the concourse. I was able to immediately join while walking to my seat and ran a speed test, showing speeds that were quite impressive. 

The bad news is that I quickly lost that connection once I arrived at my seat in section NB and could never get it back. 

This feels like a bit of a miss. Penn State fans don’t need improved WiFi underneath as much as they do at their seats. They want to be able to take and post pictures, they want to be able to check scores, and they want to be able to help their drunk friends find their seats. After all, with the increased number of commercial breaks, there’s plenty of time to look around. 

I checked with a few friends sitting around the stadium via text and at the post-game tailgate and all of them said they struggled to connect or downright couldn’t connect from their seat. 

It’s clear that in-arena Wifi still has a ways to go. 

Food and Concessions

Admittedly full from a few pregame hot dogs off my new Blackstone, I did not feel the need to grab a full meal inside the stadium. However, part of that was my impatience for long lines. In pre-game, many lines were quite long but much like the team, we will chalk that up to early season jitters. 

Eventually I was able to find a soda in a short line by visiting the Caliente Pizza stand at the top of the lower bowl in the northwest corner. Prices seemed relatively similar year over year as well. 

But when it comes to grabbing a drink, if you are a beer drinker, there is no shortage of both option in preference and location to grab one. The increased grab-and-go style stands continue to inundate Beaver Stadium’s concourse – which is not necessarily a bad thing. However, as someone who only drinks one Yuengling before games because of superstitions and does not drink inside the stadium, it would be nice if Penn State’s deal with Pepsi included more bottled non-alcoholic options at those grab-and-go kiosks. The only non-alcoholic option I noticed at the Lions Den grab-and-go area was bottled water. A quick glance and search for said drink also revealed that to be the case at many of the other stands. 

I understand why Penn State is pushing the beer sales. There’s big money there and in 2022-23, Penn State made $10 million from concession sales, an increase thanks to beer. However, more non-alcoholic options at those kiosks may help with some of those longer food lines too.

Those lines, particularly at the Chickie’s & Pete’s stand, were rough too at halftime. Again, early season games offer the ability to improve. On my trip to the Lions Den kiosk, I picked up some reliable Utz ruffled chips. It was a hearty bag and held me over until I returned to the tailgate after the game to enjoy the sunshine.

Overall, the food and drink situation is getting better. 

In-Stadium Presentation 

Among many of the changes to Beaver Stadium, fans were to expect noticeable improvements here, largely thanks to a lot of ribbon boards. 

And I’m happy to confirm, there are a lot of ribbon boards.

While we sat in NB and couldn’t see the field level boards until watching highlights in the evening, you could see the now double-deck of ribbon boards in the south endzone and improved one directly above my head in the north. 

Gone are the old score yellow-lit scoreboard overhanging the north and south endzones. In their place were new digital ones that featured a rock wall facade like the one found in Beaver Stadium’s south endzone. It was a nice creative touch to see. 

But I could barely see the font there and on the main north and south endzone scoreboards. It was tiny, and with the white facade and white font, a bit busy to quickly glance at the numbers I needed inside the stadium. 

In lieu of improved WiFi, I was pleased to see meaningful out-of-town scores permanently displayed on the ribbon boards in the southeast and northwest corners. The Texas and Michigan game remained on that scoreboard for much of the afternoon but to read the one across the stadium, you’d need a telescope with its font size. 

Bumping up that font size and maybe giving it some sort of stroke with a darker color would be an easy way to fix the main scoreboards’ information and dropping the graphic package in favor of a simple design would be a way to clean up the out-of-town score bug. 

Throughout the afternoon and stadium, it was great to hear Rodney Martin (down and distance) and Joe Putnam (ads) who have continually improved between now eight games of manning the public address roles. Martin sounds more confident and Putnam sounds well prepared and rehearsed. 

Some of those in-game ad reads felt the same and slightly improved as well. Although much of the time, my eyes were focused on the new TV timeout countdown clock, no longer displayed on the ribbon board but being spun around at the 25 yard line by the Red Hat Guy. This is one that I’m happy to see remain because it tells me if I have enough time for a bathroom break at one of those breaks. 

Some of the other parts of Penn State’s in-game production felt the same, for better and for worse. The main singalongs were there but it wasn’t as overtly forced as it felt at times last season. The bane of my existence, the “Are You Ready For The Fourth Quarter” question, remains. It’s clunky and uninspiring. And while I won’t beat a dead horse, I’d prefer a second pump-up video in that spot. That would get the blood flowing – which Penn State needed. 

In addition to that needed pump-up video, Penn State’s pregame entrance could be a little bit more fluid. The new pregame video showcased much more of the Franklin era than the history of Penn State like last year’s. It was a subtle but notable change. The entrance itself could be timed better with that video and a more clean Zombie Nation. This is the goose-bump inducing moment as a fan and it could be made even better. Additionally I didn’t recall there being a forceful “We Are” chant there like in years before but confirmed with friends it still happened – just not as proudly. 

During the game, there were more replays and replays of controversial moments, which was also appreciated – unless you were the officiating crew hearing the boos from that replay of that Omari Evans pass interference call. There were also several right calls on the “Make Some Noise” button as well that had legitimate impacts on the game. 

The master of puppets knows how to rile up the audience at other moments and I felt they were effective with that too. 

The gameday presentation is still solid and strong but with minor tweaks from the first game can be better throughout this season. 

OK, what did I miss? What did you think? What was good? What wasn’t? 

 Shoot us an email at darian@stuffsomerssays.com or tweet us your thoughts at @StuffSomersSays and we will discuss some of those on the podcast this week.