Penn State making progress on Beaver Stadium upgrades, NIL and more, AD Pat Kraft says

INDIANAPOLIS-Beaver Stadium has been a sticking point for the last couple athletic department regimes at Penn State, and for the first time in a long time, it seems real progress is being made on renovations and upgrades with the massive venue sitting on the west side of Penn State’s campus.
Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft said Tuesday night that it is still on track.
“Architect and construction management firms are in the process right now,” Kraft told the media the day before Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis. “I would love to be able to tell you, but I can’t because they’re not under contract. But they’re going through it. It should be done, I would think, very, very soon. ... That’s now starting up — the design, what’s the look, what can we do, how do you do it, how do you create the revenue. We’re literally starting that in the weeks coming forward.”
One of the primary goals of the renovations was to create revenue through premium seating and the program has already found another avenue to do that.
The athletic department created a “Tunnel Club” on the inside of the stadium, with fans having a window into the tunnel where the Nittany Lions take the field.
Kraft chuckled as he described the immediate response from the fan base.
“We just sent an email out,” he said. “And we’re like, well we don’t have very much premium in the building and so we’re trying to find unique ways. We’ve got to continue to create revenue. I think it was like 150 emails in an hour. There were 30 in like five minutes.”
While the first 30 members — the area’s current planned capacity — are determined, the athletic department has plans to expand the area where more fans will be able to go in and out of during the game.
As for alcohol sales, they will continue this coming season at Beaver Stadium after a test run. Last season, the department shut them down at times during games due to logistical issues with lines forming and crossing with lines for other concessions and bathrooms.
MAKING PROGRESS IN NIL
Penn State struggled in name, image and likeness (NIL) when it was implemented into college sports, with the athletic department focusing on educating athletes rather than being proactive with collectives and other facets of the legislation that have become popular ways for them to profit as student-athletes.
Just over a year into Kraft’s tenure, the athletic department is making headway. There were multiple collectives — organizations that raise funds and help organize opportunities for athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness — that have now formed into one singular collective called Happy Valley United.
“This is such an evolving space,” Kraft said. “I thought the collectives coming together was a really important piece. ... We have to continue to educate why this is really important. The way we look at it is, this is the new scholarships. We’ve been raising money for scholarships, we’ll continue to raise money for scholarships, but the NIL piece is becoming more and more prominent and it’s not just football.”
Kraft emphasized the importance of those collectives in helping the Nittany Lions when it comes to making progress as an athletic department.
“I will say this right now. It’s OK to give to the collective. I need you to give to the collective,” he said. “If that’s something you want to do, that’s OK. You also can give to scholarships, you can also give to facilities. But you’ve got to let that go. This is the real world we’re in.”
And while Penn State head football coach James Franklin went on a podcast hosted by former Nittany Lion tight end Adam Breneman and said he felt the program was two years behind, Kraft said the department as a whole is in a much better spot than it was, despite still being behind.
He pointed to the collectives combining and the pace at which Penn State is catching up.
“James is passionate,” Kraft said. “As we look at where we are, we’ve got to continue to get better at it. .... The Happy Valley United crew coming together it’s a business. There’s going to be people hired to fundraise. ... If we’re going to continue to be the best, we should have the best collective — I said it from day one.”
NEW BIG TEN SCHEDULING
The conference released the new scheduling format for 2024 and 2025 this offseason and Penn State notably went without a protected rival — a team it would be guaranteed to face every year.
That outcome, Kraft said with a laugh, was fitting.
“James and I laughed. Well we really are unrivaled,” he said, referencing one of the program’s slogans.
The athletic director said he’s happy with teams not being able to pick their schedules — saying that’s how it should be because it can become political — and the program will play whoever the conference puts in front of it.
“When it comes down to who you’re gonna play, when you’re gonna play, that’s not our place,” Kraft said. “And so we just got to go and beat the people in front of us no matter who it is.”
That being said, if he had one protected rival, Kraft joked that the choice would be easy.
“Indiana,” he said smiling. “Why would I not want to go play my alma mater all the time. ... I don’t want to pick one, I mean if I did it would be, well, I wanna play my alma mater every year.”
QUICK HITTERS
Kraft said the department sat down and had discussions about the evolution of the basketball practice facility situation, emphasizing the need to streamline things for the basketball programs.
He added that wrestling coach Cael Sanderson was “not as supported as some might think” by the athletic department previously.
Kraft hired former Boston College head coach Mike Gambino as the new baseball coach at Penn State after leading the BC athletic department during a portion of the coach’s tenure. He said he believes the program can win the Big Ten “in short order.”