Advertisers Pull Ads from Penn State Games

Beyond the profound embarrassment and ethical questions surrounding the sexual abuse scandal at Penn State, the controversy is also hurting the University's bottom line.

The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that no less than six advertisers have pulled their commercials from upcoming Penn State football broadcasts on ESPN.

I have multiple advertisers pulling ads from the ESPN broadcast, one media buyer told the Journal. I am advising my clients to move out of games for the short term, another buyer added.

The Journal's report followed an announcement on Friday that Cars.com would pull its commercials from the school's upcoming games.

Penn State operated the third most profitable football program in the U.S. last season, pulling in income of $50 million off revenue of $70 million.

That's all in peril because of a long-brewing sex scandal in which Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach at the school, is accused of molesting eight boys.

The school's legendary head coach, Joe Paterno, was fired last week after a 46-year-career in which he amassed the most wins in college football history. Paterno passed along a reported incident of Sandusky's misconduct to the school's athletic director nine years ago, but is under fire for not reporting the crime to the authorities and for not taking more decisive action to stop the abuse.

After the most traumatic week in the school's history, the Nittany Lions returned to their home field on Saturday, where they lost to Nebraska, 17-12.