Penn State set for reseating at BJC, moving student section
From the onset, head coach Micah Shrewsberry understood the scope of his task to lift the Penn State men’s basketball program. Taking a perennial middling program to another level would require investment and, in his words, innovation.
Citing “outside the box” thinking ahead of his first season, Shrewsberry acknowledged a receptiveness to his vision for the Penn State program within the athletic department. But with improvements already made to the weight room, training room and locker room ahead of his arrival, he wanted to take time to understand what else needed to be addressed.
“Now, the work is, what we do on the court I think drives everything else. It’s hard for me to come in and say, let’s change this, this, and this without having seen the products. I want to get into the Bryce Jordan see the Bryce Jordan Center and coach games in there,” Shrewsberry told BWI last October. “I want to feel that environment, I want to see, Okay, this is how we need to schedule to make it the best way, to get more fans in there.
“How do we get more students? Those are things I think I need to go through before I can make a determination on this, but that’s kind of the next step that we’re working on and we’re trying to attack is making the environment inside there the best that they it can be to give our guys an advantage just like other teams in our league have an advantage.”
New seating plan announced
Tuesday morning, the program took that next step with an announced plan for a complete reseat of the Bryce Jordan Center ahead of the 2022-23 season.
Plans include shifting the student section, a consistently strong presence at the Bryce Jordan Center, from the opposite sideline to a place immediately behind the team benches. That student section will then wrap around and extend behind the baskets.
From the Penn State announcement:
“The relocation of the student section will enhance the game day atmosphere, the student-athlete experience, the Penn State student experience and the overall fan experience by helping to create an intimidating and raucous environment for opposing teams.”
Also as part of the reseating, new and existing season ticket holders will have an opportunity to select new seats.
According to the release, existing and new Penn State season ticket holders can place a deposit to be eligible to take part in the reseat process until August 9. The reseat process will then begin with seat selection on August 23.
