There are endless questions posed throughout a Penn State gameday inside and out of Beaver Stadium.
“Will Penn State win today?”
“What beer should I have at the tailgate?”
“Which gate should I go in?”
But the one question that seems to be lingering for fans this season has little to do with football and more to do with a sponsor: What is Onvo?
“Onvo is a convenience store and travel center chain based in Scranton,” Onvo’s vice president of marketing Harman Aulakh said.
Helping Penn State fans answer that question is exactly why Aulakh chose to put the brand in front of 100,000-plus throughout the 2026-27 athletic year.
Yes, Onvo is a travel plaza and convenience store chain located, primarily concentrated in the northeastern part of the Keystone State. But it’s also leveraging its now-multi-year partnership to raise awareness of the brand that a lot of fans have been asking about.
“Even the difference between our entitlement game, which was the home opener and the White Out game and just the amount of people who recognized Onvo or Onvo the Owl, that was hard to quantify just how much more brand awareness there was,” Aulakh said.
The brand has spent more time in existence under a different name – Liberty Travel Plazas. But in 2020, its leadership wanted to rebrand to make the brand stand out more. It chose royal blue and bright orange as its colors and a unique name to go with it.
The name is a play on the word “convoy.” Drop the “c” and the “y” and you have Onvo.
“We’d been in business for 30-plus years as Liberty and a lot of people recognized Liberty,” Aulakh said. “And then overnight Onvo is kind of everywhere in our home market, so we’ve been exploring new ways to get the brand out there.”
Onvo first partnered with Penn State in 2024 and has grown its partnership year over year, amping it up in 2026 with an entitlement partner for the Penn State home opener as well as increased signage throughout gamedays. Aulakh said the obvious connection between Penn State fans driving by its locations on gamedays and the increased brand awareness has had a “positive” impact on business.
The brand has also tied its partnership to Penn State’s performance. Following Penn State wins, fans save 20 cents per gallon on fuel if they use the Onvo app. Additionally, it launched the Boots for Hoots partnership with Penn State kicker Ryan Barker. (“Hoots” are Onvo’s customer reward system and for each field goal Barker makes, Onvo members get extra points.)
Of course, Onvo is not the only partner of Penn State athletics focused on convenience as Sheetz remains a long-time partner of Penn State – with activations also inside Beaver Stadium.
Both Sheetz and Onvo also have partnerships with Penn State quarterback Rocco Becht as well. Becht was featured heavily in Sheetz’s release of the Penn State White Out Combo, which featured a “Nittany Pride” flatbread that is a flatbread with brisket, caramelized onion, cheese and ranch, a “Penn State White Out Shake” – a vanilla shake with blue raspberry boba bubbles and a “Sheetz Freak” bobblehead.
“Sheetz is proud to partner with Penn State Athletics because it gives us an opportunity to connect with a passionate fan base in a meaningful and authentic way,” Sheetz publicist Caroline Constantine said in a statement provided to SSSWS. “Through the partnership, we’re able to bring together two brands with strong ties to Pennsylvania and create memorable experiences that go beyond traditional sponsorship, from fan activations to unique food and beverage offerings and limited-edition merchandise.”
And while Sheetz has deep roots both to Penn State and the Centre region – along with a broader footprint than Onvo – and Wawa is opening up its first location in Centre County in 2027, a partnership for Aulakh between Penn State and Onvo makes a lot of sense to grow the brand.
“I just think about: What are the opportunities that really connect Pennsylvanians together despite different backgrounds or different allegiances to different pro teams?” he said. “Penn State was really the one underlying consistent property that really aligned with everyone.”
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