UNIVERSITY PARK — The Penn State Nittany Lion mascot is known for bringing down the house at Beaver Stadium with his sideline antics during the college football season.

Early Saturday morning, the legendary Lion brought down the famed stadium’s press box, assisting the demolition which kicked off Penn State’s $700 million Beaver Stadium renovation project.

Following a 10-second countdown by fans, there were flashes from beneath the press box followed by loud booms that echoed across Happy Valley for miles.

It took roughly nine seconds from the time the Nittany Lion mascot pressed the ceremonial detonator box until the press box fell backward as it was blown off the west side of the stadium.

The metal structure smashed onto the snow-covered ground.

And then it was over.

After a bit of a stunned silence, hundreds of Nittany Lions fans, who braved freezing temperatures and steady snowfall to watch from a distance, began to cheer and broke into a “We Are …” chant.

“There is a highly technical exercise happening here, a series of … three black boxes going up the column all the way across the press box,” said project director Scott Mull, explaining the demolition process to those in attendance. “There’s charges in those and those will be detonated … basically kicking the legs out from under this.”

Steve Jones, longtime football announcer who served as an emcee for the event, got a bit emotional during the demolition.

“Now, where do I work?” he quipped after watching the structure fall.

While the press box held plenty of memories for those who worked there, it had in many ways become an embarrassment for Penn State in the nation’s second-largest stadium in terms of its 106,572-seat capacity. The middle part of the press box was moved from the old Beaver Field when Beaver Stadium was built in 1960. It was expanded in 1980, but in the past two decades became the most outdated press box in the Big Ten.

For the 2018 regular-season finale against Maryland, the pipes in the press box froze, meaning there weren’t any working bathrooms for that game. Indeed, in anticipation of playing host to a late December College Football Playoff opening-round game this year, athletic director Pat Kraft had to make sure the press box – as well as other parts of the stadium – were winterized.

It proved to be good planning, as Penn State welcomed SMU to Beaver Stadium for a first-round CFP game on Dec. 21, winning 38-10.

The work to take down the press box began the next day. Over the next six weeks, crews will work around the clock to clear the debris so further construction on the west side can take place before the 2025 football season. But the new press box is not expected to be ready until at least the 2026 season.

Temporary seating will be in place for each of the next two seasons, to maintain the stadium’s capacity, and construction is scheduled to be finished before the 2027 season. Upgrades will be made to the restrooms, concessions and select seating, in addition to improvements such as concourse expansion, fencing and fan experience zones and more. A number of items — including West stadium signage and bleachers — have been salvaged and will be available for purchase at a later date, according to the athletic department.

While the renovation project has seen some significant changes to Beaver Stadium, such as the addition of new escalators at Gates A and E, most of the most intensive work wasn’t expected to begin until 2024’s home slate was finished, and work resumed days after the CFP game.

‌A public viewing area was set up in the Stadium West parking lot, next to the marquee of the Bryce Jordan Center. The early morning event hosted by the athletic department also gave fans the opportunity to sign a bleacher from the upper West stands and enter a drawing to win signed construction hats by Penn State coaches.

Terra Noerr, of Lewistown, was there with husband, Chris, and posted a video on social media of the demolition. She was at a loss for words while watching the press box fall.

“Wow! Wow!” Terra kept repeating. Chris is a 1998 alumni of Penn State, their oldest son will be graduating from Penn State this May and their youngest son just got accepted there.

“Our family truly bleeds blue and white,” Terra said. “My husband’s father, uncle and brother are also alumni. We have been attending football games at Beaver Stadium for many years. So many great memories.”

While fans got the exterior view, the athletic department posted a video of what the demolition looked like from inside the stadium.

The overall renovation project for the stadium is expected to be completed in time for the 2027 season.

Watch a video here: