Beaver Stadium Press Box Experience
I am one of those crazy fans who is willing to spend more than I should for unique experiences and game-used collectables. I have about a half-dozen autographed game-worn jerseys from various Penn State sports, basketball shoes, Wheaties boxes, footballs, etc. Really the only thing I am missing is a game-worn helmet, but the last one went for over $450 and I needed that money for my wifes Christmas present so I had to pass. Anyways, Penn State auctioned off a VIP Press Box experience for 2 that I won for $505 to the Indiana game. The experience included pre-game sideline passes, Press Box seats, and admittance to the post-game press conference.
Purchase experience:
Almost all schools offer various auctions on their official athletic websites, particularly those affiliated with CSTV. The auctions are great and are run smoothly and if you have any questions, the CSTV staff usually answers them quickly. The first issue I had was when it came to the Penn State side of things. It took 3 days for me to get an email from the athletic department telling me who to meet and where to meet them. The email also required us to submit the full names of the 2 people who would be enjoying the experience. Besides that there wasn't much info except a note that told us that since it was a "working" Press Box, we would not be allowed to cheer. I kind of expected this, but it would have been nice for it to have been disclosed before you bid. I was hoping they would just put us off in our own area where we could show some emotion.
Gameday:
Meeting the chaperon:
The girl we were suppose to meet was located a good 50 yards from the entrance we were told to meet her at. Luckily we were given her cell phone number so we were able to locate her. Apparently you can redeem (PSU corporate sponsor - uggg) Bank of America rewards points for pre-game sideline passes so we were lumped with 6 other people. Some corporate head kept talking to us about how happy they were to have me as a customer not realizing I wasn't with his credit card company. I just wanted to scream, hey buddy, I don't care, I'm not with your group!
On Field Experience:
We were told we could go wherever we wanted, just don't step on the grass. We headed down toward the Indiana bench area first before working our way over to the Penn State side. It was a fun experience as you can see in the pictures from getting to enter through the player gates to getting close to the players. It was everything I hoped it would be. We were suppose to get a 8x10 photo on the field but that didn't happen. No idea why, but if I had known that, we would have had someone take a picture for us.
Penn State Player Entrance to Beaver Stadium
Standing on the endline during warm-ups
Joe Paterno and to his right, Penn State President Graham Spanier
Picture of the West Side (Press Box side) of Beaver Stadium. I marked where we sat in the Press Box and where our normal nose bleed seats are.
The Nittany Lion leading the pre-game crowd cheers
The Drum Major landing his first of two flips and saluting the crowd
Flyover with a Blackhawk and some other type of helicopters I forget
The Nittany Lion and Cheerleaders leading the team onto the field
The team on the sideline and on the left (red hair) Coach Mike McQueary
Press Box Experience:
We had to go through security before weaving our way through a series of doorways to our seats. I have to say, not what I expected. The Press Box was certainly not luxurious. In fact, it honestly needs major updating. As you can see in the pictures below, I also have a new found respect for the spotters and announcers, you can't see 1/3 of the field! We were told someone would come and check on us later and left to enjoy the game. Didn't make it 30 seconds in our seat before a member of the press broke the "no cheering" rule. Actually, I guess it wasn't cheering, as he was ripping on Penn State for a good 20 minutes straight. Didn't matter if it was the offense, defense, special teams or medical staff, this guy would just hate on them. I don't want to pick on a member of the media, but for a guy who makes his living selling Penn State fluff pieces on his pay website, I thought it was extremely poor. It was getting close to halftime and I needed a drink. We were not sure if we would be able to get back through security if we went downstairs to get something at a concession stand so we just helped ourselves to the media food. This is where being an experienced media member or having someone tell us where to go would have helped because every floor had a different spread of food and we obviously chose the wrong one. We got hamburgers and hot dogs (not Berks even though they are a corporate sponsor) while some other members of the media came back with things like deli sandwiches, soup, and hot apple crisp. Sorry, can't help you, we never did figure out what level those were on. We enjoyed the rest of the game and with a few minutes left, the entire media got up and left, leaving just us in our entire section. Again, no one came to get us or check on us, so we had to go to another room and ask someone to take us to the press conference.
The opening play of the game with Indiana on offense
The view from our Press Box seats. Where are all the students?! It's senior day, come out and support the team! Sad
Our Press Box view when we leaned up over the reporters from the Indiana Daily Student
Press Conference Experience:
We got to the Press Conference maybe a minute before it started. We sat in the back by the video cameras and just tried to stay out of the way. It was certainly another area where we could have used someone to tell us what was going to happen. As soon as Joe Paterno was done with his portion, the entire media split up to different sections and we were in the way where we were sitting. Apparently only Joe sits at the main table, all the players and coaches break off the smaller areas and give individual interviews. I have no idea what you do as a media member if you want to ask questions of 2 people who are giving interviews at the same time. I just know we felt in the way so we took a picture of the Adam Taliaferro painting (see below) and left to get out of the way.
Joe Paterno at the post-game Press Conference
Original Painting of the Miami at Penn State game where Adam Taliaferro led the team onto the field after being paralyzed the previous year in a game against Ohio State. If you don't know his story, click on the link above (his name) and read the "Adam's Journey" part real quick. We have a print of this painting in our restaurant and donate $1 to his foundation for every "Adam Taliaferro" sandwich we sell.
Overall Experience:
I had a good time. I know my review sounds like a negative complaint-filled rant but I was a good experience overall. I wouldn't spend that much to do it again, but I do recommend the experience to anyone who is interested, just be aware that you might have to take it upon yourself to get food or get to the press conference on time. I would give it a 3 out of 5.
Posted By: JGuiher
