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PSU must feed football, hoops first

Having read Cory Giger’s column, I totally agree with his overall assessment of the Penn State master plan presented last week for public consumption.

Like it or not, you have to feed the programs that brings in the revenue first, and that would be football and basketball.

Penn State must stay at least equal to, if not superior to, other football programs and facilities in the Big Ten and the nation or there won’t be money for all of those other nice-to-have programs.

Those are wonderful programs, but there has to be a revenue-producing pecking order.

Now is the absolute best time to ask football fans for more money after this past season’s success with the future starting to look bright again.

I’ll have to trust Giger on the Bryce Jordan Center as a basketball arena since I’ve only seen a few games there. However, that revenue stream must be developed further than it ever has been in the past. It can be a significant revenue producer with proper attention.

I wonder if Rec Hall can be repurposed to where it can add additional seating? I understand that Cael Sanderson loves the intimacy of Rec Hall over the Bryce Jordan Center.

Perhaps the same thing could work for the basketball program for a few years, and then work on a new basketball arena.

I don’t have to be reminded about Penn State’s attitude to date as far as basketball is concerned. I remember them never recruiting Altoona’s Johnny Moore or Tyrone’s Nick Leasure. I also remember how much Bobby Knight hated coming to Rec Hall when PSU joined the Big Ten.

For loyal Penn State fans, having to wait at least six years for improvements to Beaver Stadium is unconscionable.

Unless you are in a premium seating area, the seats are way too small, and the concession areas are not any better then backing up hot dog and taco trucks under the bleachers.

I’m also not a fan of lowering the seating capacity. Call it a matter of pride, but I believe there is room to improve the seating and keep or exceed the seating capacity of today.

Those four open corners, or at least three, if you’re leaving the view of Mount Nittany, surely can be reconfigured to provide a few extra inches to existing bleacher type seating or even chair back seats.

I’m hoping solid and reasonable decisions are made for the immediate future.

Will Walk

Spring, Texas

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