Joe Paterno's family says no deal to renaming Beaver Stadium

It seems like the relationship between Penn State University's administration and members of the Paterno family continue decline. Today the Patriot-News is reporting , that Joe Paterno's family have recently turned down an offer by Penn State to rename Beaver Stadium after JoePA as part of a package deal that would have prohibited the family from suing the university.

This so called deal is simply outrageous. Imagine what the members of Paterno's family have gone thru these past five months, especially his wife Sue Paterno, and now we find out that the administration offered them to rename the stadium after Joe as part of a "deal". This is just shameful.

Thank God the family said no deal and apparently renaming the field in Joe Paterno's honor was not important to Joe anyway. Renaming Beaver Stadium is pretty much a fan driven idea but it is interesting to see the family's take on the matter.

A source close to the Paterno family says renaming the field would still be “a tremendous and humbling honor,” but it “has always been a fan-driven matter. It was never important to Joe.”

So in January, when Penn State tried to use the issue as leverage to get the family to sign a full release in exchange for paying the full contract, the family didn’t budge, the source said.

Renaming the stadium was one of three items in the package that would have come in exchange for a full release. The school also offered an apology for firing Paterno over the phone and said they would fully honor the late coach's contract.

Penn State did honor the terms of Paterno's contract last week by making an estimated $5.5 million termination payment to his estate, but an attorney representing his family stressed that the payout was not a settlement.

"The university had requested that the family agree to a full release in return for the payments under the contract," attorney Wick Sollers told the newspaper in a statement. "That request was declined and no release was signed. It would be incorrect, therefore, to characterize the payments as a settlement."

The terms of the contract also included a $3 million retirement bonus and the use of a Beaver Stadium suite by Paterno's family for 25 years, a privilege valued at roughly $1.5 million. Paterno's wife, Sue, will also receive a monthly payment of $1,000 for the rest of her life and has been granted access to specialized hydrotherapy equipment in the Lasch football building.