The Big Score: Penn State’s Beaver Stadium Lands $50M Naming Rights Deal From West Shore Homes

The great philosopher Julia Sugarbaker from the television series “Designing Women” once perfectly encapsulated America’s relationship with college football: “In the East, football is a cultural experience. In the Midwest, it’s cannibalism. In the West, it’s a tourist attraction. But in the South, it’s a religion.” 

Fans of the Penn State Nittany Lions might argue their devotion is more akin to that of their Southern neighbors than to their Midwest brethren in the Big 10 or their geographic neighbors in the west.

And that near-religious devotion makes college football cathedrals feel sacrosanct. Counter to the nearly ubiquitous practice of naming rights deals present in the NFL, college stadiums have held tightly to their traditional names, typically carrying just the school’s name (Notre Dame Stadium and the like) or honoring some combination of school administrators and legendary coaches (Alabama’s Bryant-Denny or Neyland Stadium at the University of Tennessee). 

And so it has been at Penn State, where the Blue and White have played at Beaver Stadium — named for a former governor and university trustee — since 1960. Now, the name’s a bit longer. In March, Penn State trustees accepted a $50 million gift from local home improvement company West Shore Home to expand the full name of the facility to West Shore Home Field at Beaver Stadium. The deal, which begins this fall and runs through 2039, is the second largest gift ever received by the university’s athletic department.

The 15-year deal is front-loaded to help fund the $700 million renovation of the stadium and further reflects the sea change in big-time college athletics brought on by the allowing of NIL payments to student-athletes, essentially negotiating salaries that can hit seven figures.

Not to disagree with Ms. Sugarbaker — college football is indeed a cultural experience, cannibalism, a tourist attraction and, yes, even a religion. But it’s also something else — in every part of the country: big business. And sometimes the home venues even host big concerts, like Luke Combs’ April 2024 show at Beaver Stadium that sold 73,339 tickets and grossed $9.2 million.