Beaver Stadium - A City on Game Day

Photo: Acroterion, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)

A stop on Penn State University Park Campus Walk, a free self-guided tour.

On a fall Saturday, more than 106,000 people fill Beaver Stadium, making it one of the largest stadiums in the country and, for a few hours, one of the biggest cities in Pennsylvania. On other days you can walk around the outside and take in its size.

The stadium is named for James A. Beaver, a Pennsylvania governor and president of the university's trustees. Its steel began as New Beaver Field nearer the center of campus, which was taken apart in 1959 and 1960, moved about half a mile east and rebuilt here, opening that fall with about 46,000 seats. A major renovation is under way and scheduled to finish before the 2027 season.

Joe Paterno coached here from 1966 to 2011 and won two national championships, then was dismissed in November 2011 amid the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal. His statue outside the stadium was removed in 2012. Look for the students' famous White Out games, when nearly every seat turns white.

Getting here: Walk east along Park Avenue and then south on the walks beside the stadium, about 15 minutes, to the plaza at the stadium's southern end.

Did you know?: Penn State's first White Out began at the 2005 Ohio State game, when the student section dressed in white on a cold, misty night.

Photo op: Step back across the plaza to fit the stadium's tall grandstand in one frame, with the stadium sign in the foreground.

More on Wikipedia: Beaver Stadium · James A. Beaver · Joe Paterno · Penn State Nittany Lions football

Beaver Stadium - A City on Game Day

Stops on this tour