Penn State Sets a White Out Record Vs. Oregon

STATE COLLEGE | Penn State wedged a near-record crowd into Beaver Stadium for Saturday night's White Out against Oregon, nearly breaking the venue's attendance for the second consecutive year. Penn State managed the feat despite working with a slightly reduced capacity during the Beaver Stadium renovation.

Penn State announced the White Out crowd at 111,015, just missing the record of 111,030 for the 2024 Penn State-Ohio State game. It marked only the second time that Penn State has announced a home crowd above 111,000 and was the largest crowd for a White Out game. According to Penn State Athletics, Beaver Stadium attendance figures include those in the "press box, suites, bands, ushers and other stadium personnel."

The total also was 4,711 fans higher than Beaver Stadium's announced 2025 capacity of 106,304 fans. Penn State reduced its capacity by just 268 seats this season despite embarking on a $700 million renovation of Beaver Stadium.

Penn State demolished Beaver Stadium's upper deck last winter and began constructing the new West Tower that is the centerpiece of the renovation. For this season, Penn State contracted with InProduction to build more than 9,000 temporary seats on both sides of the stadium.

Penn State located most of those seats on the stadium's west side atop a platform that will become the tower. In addition, Penn State squeezed two sets of bleachers in empty concourses on the stadium's east side. Before the season, Penn State coach James Franklin said he loved the idea.

"Why didn't we do that in the past?" Franklin said. "That was wasted space forever."

The temporary-seating solution helped Penn State maintain Beaver Stadium as the nation's second-largest venue (behind Michigan Stadium) for the most anticipated season of Franklin's career. Penn State was ranked third nationally entering Saturday's White Out game vs. No. 6 Oregon.

"Would we rather there be 10,000 less people in the stadium for a year? That's always the question," Phillip Glaeser, InProduction's director of marketing, said in an interview before the season. "A lot of colleges are having this problem, and how do you bridge the gap? You can't build a stadium in seven or eight months, so what do you do? This is the method they figured out. You tear down a portion [of the stadium], you build it up to a percentage and then you go from there. This is the new kind of model in modern revamping of historic college stadiums."

Penn State set a single-season attendance record in 2004, hosting 864.665 fans in eight home games that included a date in the College Football Playoff. Penn State has hosted eight home games in two other seasons since 1991: 2002 (857,911 fans) and 2009 (856,066).

Penn State's 2024 average attendance was 108,803, which ranks second in program history. The 2007 season averaged 108,917 fans per game. The 2001 Beaver Stadium expansion raised the venue's capacity to 107,282. In 2011, capacity was lowered to 106,572 to meet standards of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Penn State coach James Franklin's teams are responsible for eight of the program's 10 highest attendance figures. A look at Beaver Stadium's top-10 crowds.

Penn State's 10 Largest Beaver Stadium Crowds