Pennsylvania’s third big-time football franchise — the Penn State Nittany Lions — springs back to life in the biggest way possible Saturday night, with a prime-time game against Top 10 arch-rival Ohio State University.
It’s the home opener AND biggest game on the home schedule this year.
In normal times, it would have brought somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 people on a pilgrimage to this cultural mecca, ready to party and unleash their inner warrior alter egos at Beaver Stadium, outside at tailgates, or in taprooms and house parties across the town. And, if all went according to plan, drop some considerable disposable income here in the process.
Of course, these aren’t normal times.
This year, in the middle of the latest surge of the global coronavirus pandemic, there are active efforts to keep the fans away:
- The university, in accordance with Big Ten Conference rules for football in the midst of a pandemic, has ruled out selling tickets to Beaver Stadium for this or any of the 2020 home games. (Admission is being granted to families of players and coaches.)
- All nearby parking areas will be closed in an effort to prevent tailgating.
- State College police say they plan to strictly enforce local ordinances limiting indoor social gatherings to 10 people, and outdoor functions to 25, and borough officials are also keeping their two-hour time limit on downtown parking in place through the weekend.
- Bars and restaurants are still dealing with the Wolf Administration’s pandemic emergency rules limiting capacity to 50 percent and, and stopping all alcohol sales at 11 p.m. - putting a damper on post-game revelry for this prime-timer.
For State College, it actually feels like the latest reprise of the self-imposed economic lockdowns that swept the nation last spring, during the first attempts to limit the spread of coronavirus and keep medical facilities from being overwhelmed.
For all of that, many are still wondering — or depending on your perspective, worrying — if the first home game of this on-again, off-again season still might be an irresistible, semi-outdoor, draw for many PSU alumni and friends in need of a jolt of pandemic excitement in their lives.
“We’re in uncharted territory at this point,” said State College Borough Manager Tom Fountaine. “We’re concerned about a late game. I think it’s compounded by Halloween being the same day. And it’s, in this case, a full moon also and a blue moon. So it’s a convergence of things that I think cause us a lot of concern.”
Penn State’s messaging has been unequivocal, if a little heartbreaking for fans and the hospitality business here that exists to support them: Root for the Lions, but do it from a safe distance.
Here’s a part of Penn State President Eric Barron’s appeal before last week’s season opener, an away game against Indiana:
“It is especially important that everyone clearly understands that our efforts to achieve a downward trend in the number of COVID-19 cases in the region could be jeopardized if there is an influx – even a small influx – of visitors to town. We love our Nittany Lion fans – and we want to keep them healthy and safe until experts determine there is a time when we can again come together without fear of contracting what is for some a deadly virus.
If preliminary indications are accurate, State College is going to dodge the worst of this public health bullet: The pilgrimage to Football Mecca appears to be off.
Hoteliers report that bookings for the big game are virtually non-existent, and Airbnb rentals in the State College area of Centre County are showing about $95,000 worth of bookings for this week, as opposed to the $1 million in sales recorded for the biggest home game in 2019.
Fritz Smith, President and CEO of the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau in State College on Aug. 11, 2020. Joe Hermitt | jhermitt@pennlive.com
“There’s seems to be this expectation on the part of some government officials and people in the community that there’s going to be a horde of people coming in for the Ohio State game, and it’s not the reality,” said Fritz Smith, president and CEO of the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau, the region’s tourism promotion agency.
"Right now, it’s shaping up as a disaster... Our hotels are like, at best, 30 percent occupied for that weekend, and at very low rates. It is about as opposite of Penn State weekend as you can imagine.”
One of the region’s major hotel operators agreed.
“From my vantage point, I am sorry to say that we are not seeing an increase in activity and bookings,” said Ed Tubbs, chief operating officer of Hospitality Assets Management, which operates six franchise-flagged hotels around State College. HAM’s busiest property, the Days Inn, is at about 50 percent occupancy, the rest are all below that.
“If this was a normal season, you would not have gotten a room if you didn’t book it last year already. So we are not seeing football creating a demand to rush to State College,” Tubbs said. "And from our perspective, if it’s not going to happen for the Ohio State game, there’s no reason to think it’s going to happen with any of the other games.”
Some still wonder, though, about a late uptick of visitors from the 20-something demographic, in search of old friends and a good party.
Rob Schmidt, executive director of the Downtown State College Improvement District, said his gut feeling is that may be the one cohort — which as a group tends to feel less vulnerable to coronavirus and craves that feeling of attachment to their college days — that shows up at State College’s doorstep in the greatest numbers, welcome or not.
Schmidt noted members of Penn State’s Class of ’19 were asked to leave at spring break last year, didn’t have a traditional graduation ceremony and probably haven’t been back since, but yet still count some of their best friends in the current student body.
“For them, this will be their first homecoming,” he said.
If that happens, of course, the next question becomes where will they go?
Bars without kitchens are closed, given Wolf’s pandemic rules requiring meal service with the sale of alcohol; those that are open are operating at 50 percent capacity; and Penn State fraternities are observing a party-free fall as part of the university’s “Back to State” plan.
“Our bars and restaurants are operating at anywhere from 15-35% capacity, and about a half-dozen are shuttered," Schmidt said. “So, alumni who do come back will find accessibility to be a challenge... but any business would be of help to our retailers right now.”
If visitors do largely stay away, that’s just half the battle.
State College will still have its large, resident student population to contend with. By most estimates, there are about 35,000 to 40,000 students who have returned for the 2020-21 academic year.
There were issues with last Saturday’s season opener against Indiana.
State College police said officers were dispatched to break up parties at Penn Towers, the Here, and the Rise student apartment complexes in the borough’s downtown.
At each site, police said, there were parties with more than 100 persons, “with no physical distancing and limited mask wearing. Police were called to disperse the crowds and a follow-up meeting is planned for later this week with local landlords to engage their help in controlling any future issues.
Police said Monday they are continuing to investigate the parties, which Penn State Vice President for Student Affairs Damon Sims said were broken up right around the time that the Indiana game kicked off, with potential citations to follow if those responsible for the apparent violations of the local ordinances can be identified.
“At least it wasn’t sustained for any time,” Sims said, “but it was very disappointing to see some relatively small subset of our students still congregating together in large crowds creating that kind of risk for themselves and everybody else in the community.
Sims said Penn State has been creating alternative plans for the Ohio State game.
As a safer alternative for students than packed TV lounges, the university will host stadium-style watch parties at various venues around campus, including the lacrosse, softball and baseball fields, where potentially thousands of ticketed students can gather in a socially-distanced way to watch the game in a community experience.
“So they’ll be outdoors. We’ll have bIg screens, it will be real-time,” Sims said.
“They’ll be able to enjoy something of a football-like atmosphere without the problems that might otherwise be presented. And it’s a way of discouraging them from going downtown or into the fraternity community or apartments or houses off campus where the gatherings can be much more problematic, both for them and for everybody else.”
Local medical officials say the concerns are well-placed.
Since the return of students Penn State in late August, Centre County’s new COVID 19 case incidence rate has zoomed upward to become one of the highest in the state, and more recently, that has translated into hospitalization rates at Mount Nittany Medical Center that are two or three times what doctors there saw in the spring.
The current COVID in-patient census is 15, Mount Nittany’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Nirmal Joshi, told PennLive Monday. It’s already at a level where the hospital’s leaders are meeting daily to take stock of their capabilities, and implementing various aspects of its surge plan. every day.
The last thing doctors there would want to see, Joshi said, is a super-spreader event on its doorstep at the start of the cold and flu season. “There is no other option but to be responsible,” Joshi said. “This is not the time to be partying. This is not the time to out there in large groups.”
For Penn State, that’s where this weekend’s watch parties come in. It’s a way to minimize risk.
“We’re not taking it away completely because we can’t accommodate enough of our students to take it away completely,” Sims said.
"But I think by giving the students who will attend the opportunity to participate in that part of the college experience safely, that’s a lot better than leaving them to their own devices to congregate in gathering of twenty or forty or more to watch a game and have their own form of celebration.”
A sign on the corner of College and Allen streets reminds everyone to mask up in the downtown area. Penn State students are moving in and getting ready for the start of the fall 2020 semester. August 20, 2020. Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.com
Like many, Paul Clifford finds himself trying to wrap his head around this new normal where big-time football is played in front of nearly empty stadiums. See, Clifford, as president of the Penn State Alumni Association, lives for these moments where former students of all ages come back to Penn State and celebrate their shared passion for the university.
Except for this year.
The alumni association is adding its now voice to the “stay away” chorus.
“What we’re encouraging alumni to do is celebrate in their home communities and cheer on the Nittany Lions from their home communities,” he said this weekend. “It’s an unusual position for us, but it’s one that is necessary, we think... An influx of people coming in for the weekend is something that could jeopardize the students ability to finish the semester the way they want to.”
Schmidt, of the downtown improvement district, has a longer-term goal in mind.
“We (Penn State football) are scheduled to host Auburn next September,” he said. “My goal is that I’ll be able to walk around downtown State College right before that game and see our businesses open and full of customers, and not see ‘For Lease’ signs on the doors.”
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State College braces for the return of big-time college football at Penn State, no fans requested - PennLive
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