How much PSU paid outside cops for gameday security

Penn State University paid more than $4.4 million to local and state law enforcement agencies for security at home football games during the 2022 and 2023 seasons, according to financial records gathered by Spotlight PA.

In addition to Penn State’s police force, the university paid, in descending order, Pennsylvania State Police, State College, Patton Township, Ferguson Township, Spring Township, and Bellefonte for security services.

To calculate security costs, Spotlight PA sent open records requests to each of the six law enforcement units, requesting records related to reimbursement totals and the amount of hours their employees worked for home games in the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

The university denied a request from Spotlight PA for similar records, saying that such information is not public. Penn State is largely exempt from Pennsylvania’s open records law — despite being a public university and receiving taxpayer funds — due to its status as one of four state-related universities.

“Penn State provides a level of law enforcement and security at every home football game that is needed for the safety of its athletes, personnel, students and fans who are in attendance,” a university spokesperson wrote in an email to Spotlight PA. 

Penn State paid nearly $2.3 million in additional security costs in 2023, which averaged to about $323,000 for each of the seven home games.

In 2022, the university paid more than $2.1 million, or about $306,000 per home game, according to the records.

Neither of the yearly totals included additional security costs accrued at the spring Blue-White games.

Penn State paid $1.9 million for additional security in 2021, according to previous reporting from Spotlight PA.

Pennsylvania State Police and the State College Police Department received the largest reimbursements in both of the seasons. 

State troopers logged more than 13,300 hours of work in the 2022 football season, for a total reimbursement of $1.5 million, and nearly 13,900 hours in the 2023 campaign, for a total reimbursement of $1.6 million, according to the records.

A Penn State spokesperson wrote to Spotlight PA in an email that Intercollegiate Athletics, which is self-funded, paid for the security provided by the six local and state law enforcement agencies.

“This is a critically important element at a scale that encompasses seven games and about 800,000 people over the course of a typical season,” the Penn State spokesperson wrote. “The use of professionally trained law enforcement from local and regional agencies is a necessary component of the overall game day management plan, as well as an accepted practice used by collegiate stadiums across the country.”

—Wyatt Massey, Penn State investigative reporter