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It has been a very interesting weekend for Penn State athletics. Friday saw their deal with the NCAA concerning Joe Paterno's win totals which... nope. Not touching that hot button issue.
On top of that, you had the following:
@HammerAndRails @BoiledSports great game today other than driving 4 hrs only to not be let into a 2/3 empty Bryce Jordan
— Doctor Hartman (@EHartman11) January 18, 2015
@HammerAndRails we were turned away at #PennState today because they were "sold out".. upper bowl was closed .. proceeds went to charity
— Katy Toth (@KToff7) January 18, 2015
@HammerAndRails @BoiledSports BJC "sold out" today for "charity". Turned away 100s of PSU & PU fans. Not so charitable..
— Doctor Hartman (@EHartman11) January 18, 2015
@HammerAndRails That's what I heard. They didn't want to open the curtains so they turned people away.
— Zach Berger (@theZachBerger) January 18, 2015
The Bryce Jordan Center seats 15,261 people. Today's announced attendance was 8,949 people. That means there were 6,312 empty seats. Today was their Team Ream day to raise money for cancer research. While only tickets purchased through said site had a portion go to charity, apparently they were still turning fans, and cash, away at the gate with thousands of empty seats. Undoubtedly, on a big event like this Team Ream there were still opportunity to toss a couple of shillings into the coffers simply by walking around the concourse, but several people were denied the chance for reasons unknown.
Great job, Penn State!
UPDATE: Ben Jones, the excellent Penn State beat writer out there, had this:
@HammerAndRails for whatever it's worth though. pic.twitter.com/6BP4NfyZkg
— Ben Jones (@Ben_Jones88) January 18, 2015
Translation: "We built a huge arena that never uses the upper deck and we're too lazy to remove the curtains in the remote possibility that those seats might be needed."