There won't be any Altoona-Dickinson rivalries, Thanksgiving Day classics or Juniata blowouts. The stadium won't be jammed full with drunken students wearing "Altoona -- A drinking town with a football problem" T-shirts.

Then again, would anyone have noticed?

The Div. III circus came to town, put on a show, packed its bags and went on its way. Unfortunately, no one came out to see it. But who can blame them? I mean, if you don't know where the party is, you can't attend.

For the past two years, a group of Penn State advisors has proposed the installation of a football program at Penn State Altoona. Monday, all that discussion came to an end with an announcement from Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley saying, "There is not enough financial support to warrant it at this time."

Seriously, I'm not sure there ever was. What I am sure of, however, is that Curley and his henchmen made the right decision, regardless of money. Div. III football is about the equivalent of post-graduation high school football. The difference is people actually go out and watch high school football.

It would have been much easier if Altoona was its own school and did not bear Penn State's name. But playing in the shadow of the Div. I program just miles away would frustrate many executives and coaches thirsting for attendance.

People from Altoona and the rest of Pennsylvania routinely visit University Park and Beaver Stadium on autumn Saturday afternoons for a day of tailgating with friends, betting with co-workers and watching football with their wives. Students from the 22 Commonwealth campuses carpool with friends and scalp freshman student tickets at twice the sale price for games against the likes of Southwestern Montana State. Rich alumni arrive in their "team buses" sporting mesh hats, knee-high white socks and T-shirts that say, "Proud father of a Penn State football coach."

You'd never see this at Altoona. Penn State Altoona has only been a four-year school since 1997, and it has yet to establish anything resembling an alumni association. Besides, the Penn State Alumni Association includes mostly graduates from University Park. Furthermore, even after more people graduate from Penn State Altoona, they will come to Beaver Stadium because that is where Penn State football is traditionally played.

If the advisors had decided to go along with the project, they would also have had to provide more women's programs to agree with Title IX, the law that denies federal funds to schools that practice discrimination. Providing women's programs is often beneficial, but you don't need to create a peewee college football team to balance it out.

Picture this: You are a Penn State Altoona student. It's 2015, and you and a friend have tickets (and a ride) to two Penn State football games. Your school, league champions for three years straight, is playing Juniata. Forty five minutes away, Penn State, although out of the national title hunt following another loss to Minnesota a week earlier, is hosting No. 1 Ohio State and Heisman Trophy candidate Zile Ratsberg.

Which game do you attend?

I thought so.

You see, there's a good reason people flock here by the tens of thousands every home weekend.

Penn State football is played in Beaver Stadium, coached by Joe Paterno and has a reputation of being one of the best programs in the nation. Installing a minor-league program for Penn State football would have compromised that position by giving people a choice they really didn't need.