For 60 years, Frank Fryburg has held season tickets to watch the Nittany Lions play football.

But when football season begins next year, the Lions will be kicking off without him. Fryburg, a Manheim Township Republican committeeman and dedicated Penn State fan, is giving up his view from the 35-yard line.

"I'll probably watch them on TV," he said.

Fryburg isn't alone. In Lancaster County, which seems at times as much a suburb of State College as Philadelphia, many longtime fans are relinquishing their beloved seats in Beaver Stadium because of a steep increase in cost.

Tickets will still cost $55 per game. However, Penn State has initiated a Seat Transfer & Equity Plan, which establishes a hierarchy of seating based on annual donations to the university.

In the past, donating $100 per year was enough to retain seating privileges in the stadium.

Now, with new pricing guidelines going into effect in 2011, $100 might get fans a seat in the end zone. Donation levels approaching midfield rise rapidly, with the best seats requiring an annual donation of $2,000.

Each.

"That's outrageous," Fryburg said.

For Fryburg's block of four seats, the required donation level is increasing to $600 per seat. That means a donation $2,400 for the block.

"A jump of that magnitude at one time is a very bad thing," he said. "And they take no consideration if you're a new ticket holder or an old one. I've been a member of the Nittany Lion Club since the blooming thing began."

Wednesday was the deadline for current season ticket holders to declare their intentions for the seats.

Retired county Judge Wayne Hummer, like Fryburg, let the deadline pass — with regret.

"I made no commitment for next year. I guess I'm out of the box," he said.

Hummer has held onto a four-seat block of tickets for 35 years, he said.

His second-level seats on the 25-yard line "were not premium seats … but they were my seats," he said.

But now his required donation has jumped from $400 per year to $1,600. "And then you pay for the tickets and parking. I just can't afford it."

Hummer said he'll watch games on TV or listen to them on the radio after the new rates kick in. "At least you can get up, go to the bathroom, get some snacks and it doesn't cost a fortune," he said with a laugh.

"I'm really discouraged with this," he added. "I know others who have given up their seats, too. In fact, I haven't talked to anybody who has paid these quadrupled rates."

According to published sources, athletic director Tim Curley estimated that more than half of the school's roughly 75,000 season-ticket holders won't be affected by the new pricing plan.

The change is necessary, he said, to meet budget requirements while remaining financially independent from the academic arm of the university.

People who didn't want to renew their seats had a chance to pass them along to a friend or relative. That plan, which expired in June, imposed a transfer fee ranging from $500 to $2,000 per seat, depending on location.

Also causing grumbles is an increase in the cost — from $20 to $40 — of same-day parking. (Buying a parking pass in advance — the PSU ticket office suggests at least two weeks before the game you're attending — is $12.)

Rick Miller, president of the Lancaster County chapter of the Penn State Alumni Association, has also decided to give up his seats in the end zone.

"My wife and I had season tickets for 25 straight years," he said.

"In the past, we just automatically renewed," said Miller, who owns The Back Page restaurant in Leola. "But we don't have tickets this year. We decided to beat the rush and get out early."

Miller, too, said he doesn't know of anyone locally who is renewing their seats for next year.

"It will be a change," he said. "It's going to be weird."

"I think (Penn State is) making a mistake," Hummer said. "But who am I to know? Maybe they have a tremendous waiting list. I guess they'll have a whole new crowd."

He's just disappointed that fans with years of support under their belts are being shoved aside for people with thicker wallets.

"I guess we're not needed any more," he said. "Or, if we are, we have to dig up our life savings and use it to buy tickets."

tknapp@lnpnews.com