Penn State sports are a major draw for the State College region, so the town is a natural destination for sports groups. The school’s Beaver Stadium is the home of Nittany Lion football as well as one of the largest football venues in the U.S.; it seats over 106,000, but Penn State football is so popular that all the last 12,000-seat expansion of this stadium accomplished was to ease the waiting list for tickets.
Over time, though, this Big Ten university has built first-rate facilities for nearly everything else humans can do with a ball, stick, racquet, parallel bars—the list goes on.
The university’s McCoy Natatorium hosts swimming and diving events, while Jeffrey Field seats 5,000 for soccer games, the Penn State Ice Pavilion underpins the university’s men’s and women’s ice-hockey teams, and the 118,000-square-foot Holuba Hall serves as an indoor practice facility for soccer and football, and has hosted regional volleyball tournaments as well. The Sarni Tennis Center offers both indoor and outdoor courts, including one “stadium court” to facilitate spectating, while the White Building is the home of the 10-time national championship men’s and women’s fencing teams as well as a state-of-the-art gymnastics training facility.
For planners contemplating something big but not in the 100,000-seat range, though, the jewel of the State College area’s athletic facilities may well be the Bryce Jordan Center. This 16,000-seat facility was originally built to host Penn State basketball games but finds frequent use for NCAA and Big Ten wrestling, gymnastics and volleyball, along with musical events. It also has six meeting rooms.
A little farther from gridiron and field house, Penn State’s two golf courses, called Blue and White after the school’s colors, each offer 72 holes. The new 6,000-square-foot Walker Clubhouse that serves them both contains a pro shop, cafe and meeting room. Just northwest of State College proper, the Toftrees Resort & Conference Center has an 18-hole course plus six conference rooms and two large banquet rooms.
Opportunities to hike Mt. Nittany or go mountain biking or trail running in nearby Rothrock State Forest abound, and visitors who love this kind of up-and-down have many more opportunities to find it ,since the State College area is surrounded by the Allegheny Mountains.
Finally, those who would like to just relax and watch a pro ballgame can visit Medlar Field, where the State College Spikes play minor-league (AAA) baseball as a farm team for the Pittsburgh Pirates.