Nov. 16, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (November 16, 2015) ââ'¬" Several changes have been made to enhance the Penn State men's basketball gameday experience in the Bryce Jordan Center for the 2015-16 season. The recent changes are designed to streamline aspects of the ticketing process and to help generate the most dynamic atmosphere for Nittany Lion basketball fans, season tickets holders and, most importantly, the student-athletes.
The crowd of nearly 6,000 for Saturday's season opener was described as awesome by head coach Patrick Chambers following the game, commenting how the players had difficulty hearing him at some points. [WATCH: CHAMBERS VIDEO]
1 - Mobile Ticketing
Mobile ticketing is now available for men's and women's basketball games. This technology will allow fans to enter the Bryce Jordan Center using only your phone, no paper tickets required. Season, single game and mini-plan tickets are all eligible to be viewed on your phone. Visit the mobile ticketing information page and follow the steps to view your tickets on your smartphone. Once you view the ticket on your phone, the barcode on the paper ticket will be de-activated.
2 - Lower Bowl Seating
Upper bowl tickets in the Bryce Jordan Center will only be available for purchase in advance for three games during the 2015-16 season. Because of early ticket sales and expected demand, the curtains will be raised for games vs. Eastern Michigan (Dec. 5, Noon; Hoops for the Holidays), Michigan State (Jan. 10, Noon; Coaches vs. Cancer) and Indiana (Feb. 6, 8 p.m.; Alumni Weekend). The remaining 10 Jordan Center home games will be limited to lower bowl ticket sales with a full capacity of 8,046.
The primary goal of this decision is to foster an exciting environment to create home-court advantage for the program, while also offering an increased value to the Nittany Lion season ticket holders. Fans are encouraged to buy their tickets in advance for home games throughout the season.
3 - Ticketmaster Plus
Season tickets holders can avoid tickets going unused for the Nittany Lion games this season by taking advantage of TicketMaster Plus (TM+) for ticket exchange. For season ticket holders, listings are now posted on TicketMaster's main page and will be seen by more people looking to purchase compared to the old TicketExchange. They now also have the option to receive a direct deposit payout or account credit from their sale.
Single-game buyers will now have access to a greater number of seating options in one convenient location, including tickets from Penn State and tickets being resold. They know they are getting authentic tickets and will not have any issues on game day.
4 - New concession items
The Bryce Jordan Center instituted an expanded selection of concessions, highlighted by pulled pork sandwiches on a pretzel roll, pulled pork nachos on house-fried kettle chips, foot-long hot dogs and giant family-size pretzels. Pretzel Revolution came on board as an outside vendor, offering gourmet pretzels and filled pretzels (buffalo chicken, ham and cheese, and pepperoni). For select games this season, Oreo-filled churro bites, boneless buffalo wings and Italian meat strombolis will be added to the menu.
5 - Enhanced branding on concourse
The Bryce Jordan Center concourse went through a facelift during the offseason as Nittany Lion and Lady Lion basketball branding went up around all the entrances to the stands. All 33 sections of the arena are wrapped in images of the two programs, including dedicated sections for D.J. Newbill (Portal No. 2), Joe Crispin (No. 3), Talor Battle (No. 12), John Amaechi (No. 20), Jesse Arnelle (No. 22) and Tim Frazier (No. 23). Other highlights are: Coaches vs. Cancer (No. 35) and THON (Nos. 32 and 33).
The Nittany Lions opened the 2015-16 campaign with a 62-50 win over VMI Saturday and will return to action at 5 p.m. Tuesday vs. DePaul at the Jordan Center as part of the Gavitt Tipoff Games and ESPN Tipoff Marathon. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU, the first of nine games on the ESPNU family of networks for the Nittany Lions this season.
Three starters finished in double figures vs. the Keydets, led by Shep Garner's 15-point performance. Brandon Taylor added 13 points, while Payton Banks put up career highs with 12 points and six rebounds. Freshman Josh Reaves also started in his first career appearance filling in the stat sheet with six points, five rebounds, three blocks and two steals.