Punishing Penn State's football program financially is a penalty that's much easier for people in our area to support than the bowl sanctions, taking away scholarships or taking back wins from past teams.
We conducted an exclusive NBC10/Survey USA poll the same day as the NCAA announced its crippling sanctions. Among the key findings:
71% of adults in the NBC10 viewing area agree with the $60 million fine against PSU's football program.
| $60 Million Fine | Agree | Disagree | Not Sure |
| A $60 million fine will be used to establish an endowment to support nationwide programs that serve the victims of child sexual abuse. This amount is the equivalent of one year's gross revenue of the football team. Do you agree? Or disagree with this sanction? | 71% | 22% | 2% |
Most people -- 65% --do not like the idea of taking away games that the team won for all the years that The Freeh Report shows key people at the university, including Joe Paterno, were aware of reports that Jerry Sandusky was sexually abusing children.
| Vacating Wins | Agree | Disagree | Not Sure |
| Penn State must vacate all wins from 1998-2011. | 32% | 65% | 3% |
People in our area are more evenly divided over the bowl bans, losing scholarship money and changing the name of the school's Paterno Library:
| Bowl Ban | Agree | Disagree | Not Sure |
| Penn State will be banned from all bowl games and any other postseason play for four years. | 45% | 53% | 2% |
| Scholarship Reduction | Agree | Disagree | Not Sure |
| Penn State's football team will have its initial scholarships reduced from 25 to 15 per year for four years. | 41% | 56% | 3% |
| Change Library's Name | Should | Should Not | Not Sure |
| Do you think the name of Penn State's library should be changed from Paterno Library? | 43% | 52% | 5% |
Nearly 6 out of every 10 people we polled think removing Joe Paterno's statue over the weekend was the right thing to do:
| Removal of Paterno Statue | Agree | Disagree | Not Sure |
| Do you agree with the removal of Joe Paterno's statue outside of Beaver Stadium? | 59% | 38% | 3% |
And finally, more than 6 out of every 10 area adults tells us Penn State will be able to recover:
| Penn State's Reputation | Will | Will Not | Not Sure |
| Do you think Penn State will or will not be able to restore its reputation? | 64% | 25% | 11% |
The phonesurvey [full results here] included 500 adults in the NBC10 viewing area and has a +/- margin of error of up to 4.5%.
