State College isn’t for Wolverine football fans. Philly, Pittsburgh bars are nearest safe havens

Stephen Spolar is on the Wolverine side of a Michigan-Penn State marriage.

The Pittsburgh man and 1976 University of Michigan grad lives close enough to take road trips to Penn State’s campus in State College. But that town is not necessarily welcoming to Michigan football fans, he said.

“I have never heard of a Michigan-friendly, or any opponent-friendly bar in State College,” Spolar said.

For Pennsylvania-based Wolverines, the closest safe havens are hours away in the state’s biggest cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. For those driving to State College for the Saturday Nov. 11 UM-Penn State game, Blue Sky Kitchen and Bar in Pittsburgh or Cavanaugh’s Rittenhouse in Philadelphia are alumni-sponsored watering holes enroute.

University alumni club watch parties are planned at both bars this year. Blue Sky in Pittsburgh is at 211 N. Whitfield St. and Cavanaugh’s in Philadelphia is at 1913 Sansom St.

Spolar struck up a conversation with Blue Sky’s general manager Tyler Lewis one year while watching a Michigan basketball game and learned Lewis is from Monroe, Michigan. This connection led to the bar hosting the alumni watch parties, as well as Euchre tournaments, said club member Nathan Willi.

Lewis is a longtime Michigan fan who played strong safety at Oberlin College in Ohio. He was thrilled to make Blue Sky the Wolverine bar, though he jokes his boss is a Penn State grad and has to “turn a blind eye” to all the Michigan fans on Saturdays.

“We started hosting them for the Ohio State game in 2022, and then they came for the Big Ten Championship Game and the (College Football Playoff) semifinal, and they’ve been coming to every game this season,” Lewis said, adding the crowd has grown each week to where big games see more than 100 fans.

Lewis and the club make Blue Sky a maize-and-blue hub on football Saturdays. The bar partners with Bell’s Brewery for the football season to provide local beer and swag, including a Bell’s-themed cooler that alumni can win in a raffle.

A separate raffle for a Jim Harbaugh-autographed football will have proceeds go to the alumni club’s scholarship fund, Willi said.

Pittsburgh is more of a town for Pitt Panthers football fans than Penn State ones, so it’s more accommodating to Michigan fans than other Pennsylvania places, Lewis said. The local alumni base is growing in the city due to the local tech boom and other industries that require degrees from top schools, Lewis said.

“Michigan does have a big presence here,” he said.

Philadelphia, on the other hand, is more of a Penn State city, said Cavanaugh’s manager Mike Anderson. However, he said his bar started housing Michigan watch parties last year after previous alumni bars closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Michigan fans are his most consistent customers on football Saturdays, always bringing dozens of fans even for smaller games, he said.

“On the scale of alumni groups, they are one of the better groups I’ve ever had,” Anderson said.

The interior of the bar can be seen in this post on Instagram.

Anderson estimates a minimum of 30 fans show up for every game, while alumni chapter president Ben Wanger said that number is close to 100 for big games like this weekend’s in State College.

“We have an entire area all to ourselves,” Wanger said, which Anderson confirmed is reserved for Michigan fans with a sound feed of the game.

“Ben does a good job of kind of rallying the troops and then being in touch with expectations on numbers,” Anderson said.

Philadelphia cares more about its professional teams like the Eagles or the Phillies, Anderson said, but Penn State is the college team of choice. While a couple of Nittany Lion grads are on his staff, expect the banter to be friendly, Anderson said.

(Dallas Cowboys fans, on the other hand, should try to tone it down, Anderson said with a laugh.)

Wolverine fans swinging through Pittsburgh or Philadelphia can register for the watch parties here and here. Registration can help the bars determine staffing needs for the games.

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