2 Penn State Trustees Challenge Beaver Stadium Renovation Plan

In interviews with the Wall Street Journal, Jay Paterno and Anthony Lubrano question the $700 million investment.

A rendering of the proposed $700 million renovation of Penn State's Beaver Stadium, which is scheduled to be completed in 2027. / Courtesy Penn State Athletics

Penn State Trustees Jay Paterno and Anthony Lubrano questioned the viability of the planned $700 million renovation of Beaver Stadium, telling the Wall Street Journal that the project conflicts with the university's economic situation.

"There has to be some responsible adult in the room who says we just can’t afford to do this,” Lubrano told the Wall Street Journal for a story that frames Penn State's renovation plan as an outlier in college athletics.

The Wall Street Journal piece, headlined, "The $700 Million Clash Over Penn State Football," (subscription required) examines the Beaver Stadium renovation in part through the debate that occurred at the Penn State Board of Trustees' May meeting. During the meeting, the trustees voted 26-2 to approve funding for up to $700 million for the planned renovation, which is scheduled for completion in 2027. Trustees had approved the first $70 million for initial stadium work in 2023.

Three trustees abstained from the vote, including Jay Paterno, who questioned the plan's economic viability to the Wall Street Journal. Paterno, who was re-elected to the board in 2023, abstained from the May vote because he was involved in a proposed stadium redevelopment plan that included private investors. The board did not consider the proposal.

“It’s hard to project 30 months, even 30 weeks, let alone 30 years,” Paterno told the Wall Street Journal. "You don’t want to be the most leveraged university in this new world."

Paterno and Lubrano, both alumni-elected trustees, have questioned the stadium renovation plan publicly in the past. They weren't alone. Before the May 21, alumni-elected trustee Barry Fenchak wrote that Penn State "can't afford" the plan. Fenchak voted against the renovation proposal.

Paterno wrote for his website that Beaver Stadium requires renovation but that he questions the plan's scale. He also wrote about the uncertainly regarding college football's economic future.

"Yet Trustees have been asked in a resolution to sign away an additional $630 million and to yield oversight and decisions to 'officers' of the University," Paterno wrote on his website. "... But rest assured, if more money needs to be borrowed to complete the project the resolution stipulates that the officers of the University will come back to the Board to ask for more."

RELATED: The Beaver Stadium renovation FAQ

At Penn State's May 21 trustees meeting, Lubrano, who voted against the renovation project, said his "trepidation really centers on what's going on in the college landscape today." That includes proposed revenue sharing with athletes and how that will affect athletic budgets. Lubrano also said he was "disappointed" that the board did not consider any public-private partnerships.

"If we’re wrong about our revenue assumptions, what impact might that have on our budget if we're unable to service the debt we're about to accrue?" Lubrano asked the board.

Penn State's Beaver Stadium is under construction ahead of the Nittany Lions' 2024 football season. / Mark Wogenrich/AllPennState

Penn State officials have said repeatedly that they will not use tuition dollars or university funds to pay for the stadium renovation. In a May 21 interview with AllPennState, Sara Thorndike, Penn State's senior vice president for finance & business/treasurer, said that the university "stress-tested" multiple renovation scenarios, from performing only required maintenance work to building a new stadium. It found the $700 million renovation plan to be the most feasible.

In addition, Thorndike said that the renovation plan would generate enough new revenue streams to create a $44 million surplus over its 30-year lifespan. Penn State is positioning a renovated Beaver Stadium as a year-round entertainment and hospitality venue that could host a variety of events.

"We are determined that this will be an athletic self-sustaining project," Thorndike told trustees in May. "Our pro formas are very conservative. We believe that there's more upside on the revenues. And if we need to, we can reduce expenses. Even though the pro forma has us borrowing debt for the entire 30 years for the entire project, we do not actually intend to borrow debt for that long or for that amount of money."

During the May meeting, other trustees asked the board to pause the vote until July to gather more information. Former trustee Alvin de Levie asked, "Why are we rushing this decision?" Board chair Matt Schuyler told the Wall Street Journal that Penn State officials provided the board "an inordinate amount of background detail and everything trustees needed to make that decision.”

The Wall Street Journal also reported that, during one meeting, Schuyler suggested some trustees were too focused on the renovation plan's details.

“When you’re talking about $700 million, that doesn’t seem like weeds to me.” Paterno told the Journal.

Penn State has begun work on Beaver Stadium, which includes general maintenance, winterization and installation of a new ribbon video board. Demolition of the stadium's West side, where the large-scale renovation is centered, will begin after the 2024 Penn State football season.

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AllPennState is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on X (or Twitter) @MarkWogenrich.