Penn State Football Poised to Break Attendance Record in White Out Game vs. USC

Penn State could set a Beaver Stadium attendance record Saturday night against USC in Matt Campbell's first White Out game as head coach. That's partly due to Beaver Stadium's increased capacity this season during the $700 million renovation.

Penn State has put out more than 110,000 tickets to the Nittany Lions-Trojans game on Saturday, according to an athletics department spokesperson, which represents a single-game program record. The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC's Big Ten Saturday Night telecast.

According to TicketMaster, Penn State's offcial sales ticketing partner, fewer than 1,000 tickets are available on the resale market, and prices have inched upward since Friday. Resale tickets started at $88 on Saturday morning after falling as low as $60 on Friday.

Resale prices for White Out tickets fell sharply after the Nittany Lions lost to Northwestern last week. They were down by about 60 percent from the previous week and nearly 75 percent from late August.

The increased ticket optimism is a signal that Penn State fans could break the Beaver Stadium attendance record on Saturday night. Penn State set its all-time record in 2024 against Ohio State with an announced crowd of 111,030.

Penn State just missed breaking that record in the 2025 White Out game against Oregon, which had an announced crowd of 111,015. Those are the only two games in which Penn State has announced attendance higher than 111,000.

Beaver Stadium is bigger this year

A view from the new upper deck bleacher seats on the west side of Penn State's Beaver Stadium. | Mark Wogenrich | Penn State on SI

Penn State could break the attendance record Saturday in part because Beaver Stadium's capacity is larger this season. Penn State Athetic Director Pat Kraft said this summer that he expected Beaver Stadium's capacity to reach 109,000 this season because of the construction timeline required during the $700 million renovation process.

At that capacity, Beaver Stadium would be the nation's largest venue, surpassing Michigan Stadium (107,601). Before the renovation began, Beaver Stadium's capacity was 106,572. Penn State is not a releasing specific capacity number because "the stadium footprint continues to change throughout the construction process," according to an athletics spokesperson.

Beaver Stadium is bigger this year because of the unique, three-phase construction process Penn State has scheduled for the renovation. To build the new West Tower, which will house a collection of premium suites and club facilities, Penn State started at the top of Beaver Stadium.

Penn State felled the press box and the former bleachers after the 2024 season and has constructed the tower over the past two seasons. After staging temporary bleachers on Beaver Stadium's West side in 2025, Penn State moved to construct the new permanent bleachers ahead of the 2026 season.

Kraft initially said that the entire West bleacher deck would not be available until midseason. But all the sections have been open since Penn State's first game against Marshall. That created a significant number of new tickets, some of which went to students.

After this season, Penn State will demolish the lower bowl on the stadium's West side and replace it with premium chairback seating. That will naturally reduce capacity below 109,000. But with bleacher seats across Beaver Stadium's West side this season, along with two temporary seating structures on the East side, Penn State essentially was able to expand Beaver Stadium for one year.

"In order to keep our attendance where it needed to be financially for who we are, we did the opposite of what you would normally do in a construction project," Kraft said at Big Ten media days in July. "Normally, you'd go front to back. We went back to front, which makes this [2027] season more tricky because you've got to take that lower infrastructure out of the building and then rebuild."

With the larger stadium capacity and Penn State's attendance-counting method, Beaver Stadium could set a record Saturday night. Penn State's announced attendance figures include tickets sold along with "press box, suites, bands, ushers and other stadium personnel," according to the media guide.

Penn State enters Saturday's game against USC on a two-game Big Ten losing streak. Campbell said he still expected to see a big crowd for his first White Out game.

"We've got an unbelievable fan base," Campbell said. "I'm grateful for it and really appreciative for them. The great thing is they've been with us from day one, and my guess is they've always been with this program good days and tough days. So I'm really grateful to be in a program like that."

A general view of the Stripe Out at Beaver Stadium during the game between the Penn State Nittany Lions and Marshall. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Penn State's 10 largest crowds at Beaver Stadium

Date	Opponent	Attendance
Nov. 2, 2024	Ohio State	111,030
Sept. 27, 2025	Oregon	111,015
Sept. 29, 2018	Ohio State	110,889
Nov. 11, 2023	Michigan	110,856
Sept. 23, 2023	Iowa	110,830
Oct. 21, 2017	Michigan	110,823
Sept. 14, 2002	Nebraska	110,753
Sept. 2, 2023	West Virginia	110,747
Oct. 19, 2019	Michigan	110,669
Oct. 27, 2007	Ohio State	110,134

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