Every Penn State home game brings in at least 100,000 people. There are 7 regular season home games this year. According to one article (here: http://blog.pennlive.com/life/2010/08/how_much_does_it_cost_to_go_to.html), it costs around $160 per attendee. That’s 7 x 160 x 100,000, for just game day revenue in the local area alone. Total $112 million, a year.
When can easily double that in ancillary local area revenues associated with the team. The Penn State football team is worth, by that estimate, a quarter billion dollars a year.
If not for that State College is small college town in a very rural area.
It has been reported that Spanier has brought in over $3 billion to PSU in his 16 years.