Penn State’s Pat Kraft offers Beaver Stadium renovation update

STATE COLLEGE — “Let’s talk about the west side.”

With that, Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft on Tuesday discussed at length what has transpired at Beaver Stadium since early January.

James Franklin’s Nittany Lions open their season Aug. 30 against Nevada in State College.

Penn State kicked off its $700 million renovation of Beaver Stadium — one of the most iconic venues in any sport — shortly after PSU defeated SMU in a college football playoff game.

On a chilly Saturday morning, the stadium’s press box on the west side was demolished, and the heavy lifting began.

Here we are, a little more than seven months later, and the temporary seats are in place on the west side.

Kraft, speaking of the process to get to this point, less than two weeks from Game 1, said: “You can see it on paper when you design, you can do all those things, (but) until you walk it, you don’t get an appreciation for what the construction crew did in a very, very quick time.

“It is going to be awesome when it’s done.”

Here are a few of the more important takeaways from Kraft’s news conference.

New capacity

Beaver Stadium was listed at 106,572 seating capacity before the construction began, and the record crowd is 111,030 — a mark set in PSU’s loss to Ohio State last season.

“What’s capacity?” Kraft said. “Our official capacity this season is going to be 106,304. We’re a little below our normal numbers. … But we are ready to go.”

Renovation on schedule

“I think we’re in the second quarter (of the renovation),” Kraft said, noting construction will continue through the year, stopping Thursday night to get ready for a Beaver Stadium game day.

“We’re really in a good spot. We’re moving, we’re on time.”

Seating checked, double-checked for stability

Kraft said Penn State brought in an independent third party to put the stadium through a rigorous safety inspection.

“The structure is safe. It is safe, it’s been looked at, it’s been inspected,” he said.

“We’ve got the keys to the castle, we are in that building, we are off and running.”

Kraft added that Penn State will continue to inspect the stadium before and after every game.