Penn State hires industry leader Populous to develop renovation master plan
Penn State dropped some big news this morning as the calendars flipped to October. The university has hired architecture and sport event planning firm Populous to lead the way in developing a master plan for facilities upgrades for the athletics program. That includes the football program, which could lead to some interesting decisions regarding Beaver Stadium.
In short, Populous is one of the leaders in the sports facility game. They are responsible for many stadium constructions and renovations in the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS and MLB. They have worked at Texas A&M and Kansas State and are in the midst of preparing for a renovation project at Oklahoma. Populous is already aware of Penn State’s facilities after working on the 2001 expansion of Beaver Stadium. Rest assured, Penn State is in good hands.
ICYMI: Watch @kstate players' jaws drop as they enter Vanier Football Complex for 1st time: http://t.co/9iOtHTeF2o pic.twitter.com/rJ9a1rDEgp
— Populous (@Populous) September 30, 2015
A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to be invited down to Texas A&M by Populous for a social summit they conducted in conjunction with the opening of the recently renovated Kyle Field at Texas A&M. While down there I got a chance to meet and learn from a number of people from the firm working on various stadium and arena projects and those that had close ties to the project at Texas A&M. I learned a lot and got some previews of technologies and ideas being worked on that will one day be introduced in stadiums in the years to come. There are some fantastic concepts being worked on. So here’s what I came away feeling about the work Populous did at Texas A&M.
First and foremost, Populous took great care in preserving the history and tradition of Texas A&M’s football program while also providing elegant facelifts where appropriate and adding a touch of modern technology upgrades where possible. I had not stepped foot in Kyle Field before a few weeks ago so I could not possibly compare what the stadium was life before to what it is now, but I feel as though I could get a firm grasp of the work done on the old venue.
As I learned, Texas A&M and Populous evaluated every possible scenario with regard to Kyle Field. The decision to renovate the current stadium came after deciding the current location for the stadium was the most ideal out of the eight possible stadium locations reviewed. I would suspect that will be the case with Beaver Stadium.
Whether that means building a new stadium or beginning work on a massive makeover of the current Beaver Stadium, expect Populous to give it a more modern-day stadium feel where it can. That could mean a spacious concourse that has areas to buy concessions without getting in the way of those making their way to seats, a significant upgrade on restroom facilities and even technology-enhanced displays to show off the program’s history. For a stadium that has already been broken down and relocated, I am very interested to see what Populous ends up suggesting to Penn State.
I spoke specifically about Penn State in a hypothetical sense to one member of the Populous team while down in College Station, and he mentioned a few things about Beaver Stadium. Without admittingly knowing the exact specifics of the surrounding area, he believed the best possible and ideal scenario would be to build a new stadium from the ground up simply because the structure of Beaver Stadium has been added on over the years. While structurally sound and secure, this architect believed the best way to go would be to build from scratch. The other question would be whether or not building another 110,000-seat venue would be the best way to go. That will surely raise a few eyebrows by fans reading that, but it does make some sense and the concept is not completely unprecedented. Before joining the SEC and expanding Kyle Field, Texas A&M came very close to reducing the seating capacity for their stadium.
Again, this was without the benefit of having the updated research and information in front of him, but he travels around the country and knows this business pretty well so I found his comments to be interesting.
One thing that I learned was the mutual respect between Texas A&M and Populous. As in any business relationship, having enthusiasm on both ends makes for a better partnership, and that was certainly the case for Texas A&M and Populous. As long as Penn State officials share a similar enthusiasm for improving the facilities, Populous will deliver.
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