Philadelphia, PA

State Farm Insurance has pulled out as major sponsor for Penn State football team as display of support for victims of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

"As a result of all the activity that's happening, we decided to pull the sponsorship to continue to show our support for the victims," said State Farm spokeswoman Arlene Lester said.

"We have decided to cancel our football sponsorship for the coming season, but will remain sponsors for all the other Penn State teams we support," she added.

Meaning no State Farm radio or television ads will be aired during Nittany Lion home games and any banners and ads inside the stadium will be pulled, according to Lester.

"We're still supporting the NCAA as a whole," Lester said, adding that State Farm will not pull any ads during football games when Penn State is the visiting team.

The NCAA levied drastic sanctions against the Penn State football program to punish former leadership, including late coach Joe Paterno, for not reporting Sandusky's child sex abuse of boys.

Penn State was fined $60 million that will go toward charities that support victims of sexual abuse, banned from bowl games for four years, lost significant scholarships and vacated all wins from 1998-2011.

The NCAA's decision came after former FBI director Louis Freeh reported that Paterno, former president Graham Spanier, athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz had concealed allegations of child sexual abuse made against Sandusky to shield the university and its football program from negative publicity.

Curley and Schultz await trial on charges of failing to report child abuse and lying to a grand jury while Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts of child abuse and currently awaits sentencing.

Freeh's report has forced Penn State officials to order the removal of Joe Paterno's 7-foot statue outside Beaver Stadium Saturday.

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