The following article, a front-page story by Walt Frank in today’s Altoona Mirror, is entirely too funny. It seems that despite having sold out its home football games for decades, Penn State is suddenly having trouble filling the stands. For instance, this past Saturday’s game against Temple drew just over 101,000 fans. Impressive. However, Beaver Stadium’s capacity is 107,282.
Penn State’s sudden inability to sell out Beaver Stadium would be entertaining in and of itself, given that Pitt just sold out all of its season tickets for the first time in years. However, Penn State’s official spin on the problem is perhaps even funnier. Get a load of this.
Penn State University officials say the events of September 11, 2001, may be one reason the university has been finding it more difficult to fill Beaver Stadium, the university’s 107,282-seat football stadium. “For the last two seasons, college football programs across the country have noticed that fans have not been traveling… as in the past,” said Bud Meredith, Penn State Athletics ticket manager. “There are several factors. Some of it is still the after-effects of 9-11. Some of it is the economy.”
Apparently the after-effects of 9-11 and the ailing economy are being felt more by Penn State fans than by Ohio State or Iowa fans.
While Penn State officials say they are seeing a decline, that does not seem to be the case at Ohio State, which captured the NCAA football championship in 2002. “Our fans are traveling. We almost always use about all of our allotment for away games,” said Steve Snapp, Sports Information Director and Assistant Athletic Director… Snapp said Buckeye fans will fill half of the stadium when Ohio State travels to Indiana October 25. Fans of the University of Iowa, coming off of an 11-2 season in 2002, also are traveling in large numbers.
Hmmm… I wonder what Ohio State and Iowa have in common that they don’t share with Penn State? I suppose that winning a lot of games recently may be a part of it. But who knows? Bud Meredith has another, particularly interesting, answer.
Penn State, which always has been known as one of the best “traveling” schools among college football teams, also is seeing a decline in the number of fans traveling to away games. The change from playing an independent schedule, which included many eastern teams, to joining the Big Ten in 1993 has played a factor. “I think going into the Big Ten had an impact on traveling; the closest game is Ohio State, and it is about 6.5 hours away,” Meredith said. “It is not like in the old days when you could just hop in the car and drive to Pittsburgh, West Virginia, or Temple.”
I liked this answer because it implies that Penn State is paying a financial price for refusing to play the likes of Pitt and West Virginia. Furthermore, I genuinely wanted to believe it. However, I can’t. Penn State has been in the Big Ten for ten years now. They never had trouble selling out either their home games or their allotment of away tickets before. If Lion fans didn’t mind traveling to Iowa City in the late 1990s, why should they mind now?
The difference is most likely just winning. Penn State is finally paying a price at the box office for losing so often on the football field, just as Pitt is finally reaping the rewards for winning more often.
I try not to gloat too hard at Penn State’s apparent misfortune, because I remember how embarrassed I used to be at the far, far smaller crowds in Pitt Stadium during the early 1990s. However, all of the taunts that I’ve heard over the years from Lion fans regarding Pitt’s inability to sell out makes it hard. I am hardly a saint.
Hail to Pitt’s Taking Full Advantage of its Sold Out Home in 2003.
