Analysts predict the University's proposed Academic/Athletic Convocation and Events Center will create 1,125 jobs and inject $78 million into the local economy during its three-year construction period.

Groundbreaking on the center is set for this fall and administrators expect the building to be completed in 1994.

But the 16,000-seat center is not expected to operate at full capacity until 1996, said William D. Anderson, who co-directed a study detailing the economic impact the center will have on Centre and five surrounding counties.

"The facility will have to establish itself" and will not operate to capacity until it is fully staffed with managers and maintenance workers, said Anderson, assistant director of the University's Center for Regional Business Analysis.

Once the center is fully operational, the study says, more than 200 events will be held there each year, attracting about 1.25 million attendees.

"We're looking at a wide range of events that are likely to be held there," Anderson said. "Certainly you have your traditional atheletic events: basketball, both mens and womens; wrestling, perhaps. But you also have other events: concerts, convocations, family entertainment and other special events -- such as graduation.

"So this arena will serve a dual purpose," Anderson said. "It will be home to some Penn State athletic teams and it will also house numerous non-athletic events that are expected to contribute to the University's academic reputation."

During an announcement orchestrated for the local media Anderson and three other University employees who participated in the economic impact study said the center will create $100 million during the first five years of its construction and operation.

Anderson said the results of the study would be used by University administrators, but he did not indicate whether the results would be used in a fund-raising campaign to pay for the center.

"First, let me say the study was taken to inform, rather than to persuade or justify," Anderson said.

University President Joab Thomas was not available for comment yesterday. Thomas has said he wants the residents of Pennsylvania, and of the Centre Region in particular, to understand the economic impact of the center and a research park, which is part of the second phase of the $360 million project.

The state government released about $17 million in state money to the University in January for the development of the center. The state has pledged an additional $16 million to be used for the center's construction.

The University launched a private campaign to generate the remaining costs. Edward R. Hintz, president of the Hintz, Holman, and Hecksher management firm in New York, was appointed to chair that campaign. Hintz, a University alumnus, also participated in the five-year Campaign for Penn State.

The economic impact study is speculative, leading some to believe its benefits could be inflated. But one of the researchers rebutted that argument.

Rodney A. Erickson, professor of business administration and geography and research group member, said their figures were conservative.

"Penn State has never told us what to say . . . we did this as academic researchers," said Erickson, head of the Department of Geography.