Penn State athletic Director Pat Kraft spoke with the media on Monday, Feb 24, for an offseason update on the state of the program. He spoke about the athletic department’s desire to compete for championships in football and its commitment to wrestling, basketball, and the rest of the 31 varsity sports. Hear his complete comments on the Blue White Illustrated YouTube Channel or embedded in this article.
Don’t Call it NIL
Right off the bat, Kraft was asked about the state of the team’s NIL efforts in football and how the program was positioned to compete in the new landscape. Kraft started by pivoting the conversation.
“So how about we change the narrative,” he said. “It’s marketing, marketing dollars, I think, with the new rev-share in the $20.5M, and it increases 4% every single year after that.”
Kraft is referring to the new model predicted to emerge from the House Settlement with the NCAA which will be finalized this summer. College athletic departments will share revenue with athletes.
How they share that money is still undefined. Does Penn State need a football general manager to help with the process?
“A lot of these general managers that you’re seeing higher have full roster discretion… meaning they’re choosing the players much like the pros. I don’t, I don’t agree with that. I do not think that’s right.”
Kraft said that he was open to a person filling that role if the fit is right but it won’t be in the traditional definition of a GM.
Penn State working to get max capacity for Beaver Stadium next season
Of course, the biggest item on Kraft’s docket is the renovation of Beaver Stadium. He discussed several aspects of the project, including what it will be like for fans next fall.
“So we’ll have temp seating. Or, to give you an example, of kind of think of Northwestern a little bit, how they built that stadium on the shore or on the lake,” Kraft said.
Kraft went on to say that the renovation should not impact the total capacity of Beaver Stadium for the 2025 season and says that the plan is to maintain the team’s mystique as one of the hardest places to play in college football.
“You know, I think, I really believe it’s gonna be something fans have been proud of. We’re trying to make it so it’s as loud as humanly possible and continue to keep this as the greatest home-field advantage in all sports.”
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