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After its most recent donation - a $5 million gift earlier this month from a husband-and-wife team - Penn State Athletics confirmed it has officially surpassed the fundraising goal for Beaver Stadium that was set more than two years ago.
It wasn’t known if the seven-figure-gift from prominent business leader Bob Poole and his wife Sandy put the athletic department over the top - or simply added to its growing total. But a $134.3 million fundraising goal was publicly shared in May 2024 and, after the Pooles’ donation, the athletic department confirmed to the CDT that more than $135 million has so far been raised.
The athletic department declined to specify the exact amount raised so far.
The milestone is an important one for the athletic department. Before the university’s trustees approved spending up to $700 million to renovate the stadium - with funds coming from athletics and not education - athletic director Pat Kraft told a relevant trustees committee that his department would seek to raise nearly 20% of the total through charitable giving.
He told the committee, before a vote by the full board, that “if anything” the goal was “conservative.” He cited fundraising at other schools for similar projects such as Kansas ($250M) and Cincinnati ($100M), explaining he was confident the sum wouldn’t be a problem.
“It is time for Penn State to catch up to its peers,” Kraft told the committee in May 2024, adding the stadium hadn’t seen major renovations since 2001. “Beaver Stadium should be more than average.”
Penn State football’s iconic stadium, one of the world’s largest by capacity, saw construction begin shortly after Kraft’s speech in May 2024. It is on schedule to be completed before the 2027 season, and fans should see even more significant changes - replacing the upper deck on the west side, adding suites and club spaces, improving circulation, upgrading the lights and sound system, etc.
Advanced work has already been completed on expanding concourses, installing escalators, upgrading restrooms, and more.
In a public agenda from March 2025, 10 months after the trustees’ formal project approval, it was revealed that the athletic department had already raised “just shy of the $134 million fundraising goal.” Although the athletic department may not make public every sizable donation, the only one it announced in the last 15 months came earlier this month involving the Pooles.
“We have made so many memories through the University and its athletic department and we are proud to support this transformational project,” Bob Poole said in a news release. “This is more than an investment in a building, it is an investment in ensuring Beaver Stadium remains a world-class home for student-athletes, fans, and the Penn State community for decades to come.”
Top donors to Beaver Stadium
Here’s a closer look at the donors that either Penn State or Penn State Athletics have made public, who they are and how much they donated. It is ordered by amount:
$50 million - in March 2025 - by West Shore Home/B.J. Werzyn: This is the 15-year, $50 million naming-rights deal for the field at Beaver Stadium, which the athletic department now formally refers to as “West Shore Home Field at Beaver Stadium.” Werzyn is a 1999 Penn State grad and the founder/CEO of West Shore Home, a home remodeling service provider based in Mechanicsburg.
$25 million - in August 2024 - by Misitano family and PAM Health: The Misitano family includes Anthony and Catherine Misitano and their daughter, Brittany. Anthony is the CEO and founder of PAM Health, a healthcare provider that specializes in rehabilitation, and Brittany serves as president. (Catherine, who holds a non-PSU nursing degree, is CEO of Life Saver CPR, Inc.) Anthony and Brittany are both Penn State alumni, with Anthony earning an undergraduate degree in 1977 and a master’s degree in 1981 in public administration. (Both came from Penn State.) Brittany graduated from Penn State in 2015 and then went to law school elsewhere. Anthony became a season ticket-holder in 1978.
$10 million - in September 2024 - by Ira Lubert and Pam Estadt: Lubert graduated in 1973 from Penn State’s College of Health and Human Development. He competed on Penn State wrestling, and he went on to a career in real estate and private equity. He is the chair and co-founder of holding company Independence Capital Partners and real-estate manager Lubert-Adler. He is also the former chair for Penn State’s board of trustees.
$10 million - in August 2024 - by an anonymous donor: This came from a “generous family,” according to a news release, but they still preferred to remain anonymous.
$10 million - in August 2024 - by an anonymous donor: You’re not seeing double. There were two, separate anonymous $10 million donations in August 2024. The athletic department also described this nameless donor as a “family.”
$5 million - in September 2024 - by PlayFly Sports: This donation came from Penn State’s partner in multimedia rights, and PlayFly Sports is described by PSU as a “sports media, marketing and technology business.” PlayFly Sports’ president said the business has only begun to “scratch the surface of the opportunities this relationship ... will generate.”
$5 million - in October 2024 - by Frank and Jennifer Marzano: Penn State runs deep in this family. Frank graduated from PSU in 1994 with a degree in accounting, and many of his five children are following in his footsteps. Two already graduated from Penn State, one is currently enrolled, and another two are finishing up high school. (And that doesn’t include all the cousins who are also Nittany Lions.) Frank is managing director for Wealthspire Advisors, whom he sold his wealth management firm to in 2023.
$5 million - in January 2025 - by Matt and Anne Schuyler: Matt is a 1987 Penn State graduate with a bachelor’s degree in business, and he served as the chair of the board of trustees from 2020 to 2024. He was the Chief Brand Officer at Hilton Worldwide, the Chief Human Resources Officer for Capital One and held senior human resources positions at Cisco Systems and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
$5 million - in July 2026 - by Bob and Sandy Poole: Bob Poole is a 1972 graduate of Penn State’s Smeal College of Business with a degree in accounting. He is president/CEO of S&A Homes and Allied Mechanical and Electrical, in addition to serving as chairman/CEO of Poole Anderson Construction.
$1 million - in November 2024 - by an anonymous donor: The athletics department referred to this donor as a “family who chooses to remain anonymous.” The department said it included multiple alumni who have been “longtime supporters of Intercollegiate Athletics, Smeal College of Business and THON.”
