Senator Yudichak: Freeh Costs Will Hit $150M

(Extended surprised whistling sound.)

State Senator John Yudichak (D-14th District) is a new voice among the opposition to the Penn State Board of Trustees. Just last week, he took Rodney Erickson to task over the university’s acceptance of the Freeh Report during a committee hearing.

Now the Northeast PA representative has given the first total estimate of the Freeh Report’s impact. He says the Freeh Report could cost the University $150,000,000. To date, Senator Yudichak says the Freeh Report has already cost the University approximately $80,000,000.

The senator did not source where he obtained these numbers. Mark Emmert’s fine comes at a cost of $60,000,000. Meanwhile, the Board of Trustees has spent $13,000,000 for communications/PR work and the Freeh investigation. The loss of bowl revenue from the Big Ten sanctions will cost Penn State approximately $13 million.

How did Senator Yudichak reach $150,000,000? Other than by saying “some,” he doesn’t give the names of the people or organizations that reached this estimate. At the last Board of Trustees meeting, an audience member said the cost neared $110,000,000. The best guess is that someone estimated lost revenue by accepting the Freeh Report.

“That’s a lot of money to be spent on an incomplete report,” said Yudichak.