Anyone have insight on this? Seems like it would be on par with Municipal Stadium in Cleveland for worst park in Major League Baseball.
1959 Proposal for Pitt Stadium Renovation
- Thread starter happjack
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He was quoted as saying that if Pitt had to play it's football games on the North Side the school's prominence as a national football power would come to an end.
Is it too late to start another on campus stadium thread?
That configuration makes no sense for the OF. I'd think the upper deck would need to go around the end zone. But even then the OF would have been ridiculous like the Polo Grounds. Interesting though, never heard of this before.
Found a better rendering in an old Pittsburgh Press. Can you imagine the traffic and parking nightmare for a Buccos game that somehow drew 74,000 fans or a football game that drew 80,000.
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=djft3U1LymYC&dat=19590211&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
I thought you were joking, but it does appear that hw said something similar. I can't read all of the scanned text though.
The real question is full circle... how/ if PNC Park can accommodate football for Pitt? Someday when/ if Heinz Field is considered "obsolete" (aka not delivering enough peripheral revenue to the Steelers vs other NFL's teams with new stadiums). To stay in the NS, the only option would be to demolish heinz and play elsewhere for at least a year as the new stadium is constructed in that spot. The Steelers can play in Mountaineer Field or Beaver Stadium that year. Obviously not us. Nutting Manor would seem our only option for home games.
That's probably where the idea came from, but even that was intended to be a short-term fix, as construction on Dodger Stadium commenced as soon as the moving vans arrived from Brooklyn.
PNC has dimensions similar to whatever they now call White Sox Park in Chicago and Northern Illinois has played some games there, so they could fit a football field into PNC.
I can't see them tearing down Heinz Field and starting from scratch, they'll "renovate" sections of the stadium every few years like they just did with the south end zone.
"The record shows that schools like Fordham, New York U. and Santa Clara who relied on off campus stadiums have had their football wither and die. Pitt football could be killed in the same manner."
He also scoffs at the proposed 50,000 North Side stadium because it would be too small.
I'm pretty sure that in those cases there were other factors involved, and New York City schools would be terrible examples to begin with. Fordham would eventually bring back football (albeit as an FCS program), and I believe NYU (still a recognizable basketball name at the time the statement was made) would eventually get out of intercollegiate sports altogether.
OK, after Googling NYU, I have to edit. They did continue an intercollegiate athletic program (except for football, which was discontinued in 1952), but the remaining sports are Division III.
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Also, my favorite Pittsburgh-sports-stadium-proposal-that-never-came-to-be is still the idea to build a stadium over the Monogahalea River that was proposed around the same time as this.
Meet George Jetson . . .
this would be sick.. belly flops off the side after a big win (or loss)..I’ve never seen nor heard of this proposal before. Very interesting. It’s hard to imagine Pitt Stadium with an upper deck, but I believe I read somewhere that it had the capability of adding an upper deck.
Why did Hamilton think that Pitt Stadium would be torn down upon the completion of a North Side stadium?
Also, my favorite Pittsburgh-sports-stadium-proposal-that-never-came-to-be is still the idea to build a stadium over the Monogahalea River that was proposed around the same time as this.
What was the reasoning behind this?I’ve never seen nor heard of this proposal before. Very interesting. It’s hard to imagine Pitt Stadium with an upper deck, but I believe I read somewhere that it had the capability of adding an upper deck.
Why did Hamilton think that Pitt Stadium would be torn down upon the completion of a North Side stadium?
Also, my favorite Pittsburgh-sports-stadium-proposal-that-never-came-to-be is still the idea to build a stadium over the Monogahalea River that was proposed around the same time as this.
The shape was par for the course for "multipurpose" stadia constructed in that era (e. g. Fulton County in Atlanta, Riverfront in Cincinnati, Veterans in Philadelphia and so on).
who thought to involve a bowling alley? I mean such a ridiculously lofty idea, hotels, stadium on the water and oh yeah, lets not forget bowling lanes.. lol, who the hell thinks to add a bowling alley?
I'm guessing that was quality entertainment in 1950's Pittsburgh.
Three Rivers could have been a pie-with-a-wedge-cut-out like Shea in Queens, with the outfield open to a grand view of Dahntahn. But the original concept was to have a sloping profile. To achieve that rake, the steel girders would need to be in a range of sizes. That was deemed cost prohibitive. Interestingly, the original plans were for 56,000 seats with the open end. But 3RS opened at 50,350 capacity, totally enclosed. Why fewer seats with what appears to be more seating area? Answer: the f***ing Allegheny Club, a two level waste of space that jacked up the upper deck by 15-20 feet or so. Football and baseball had separate press boxes because the football field ran home plate -to-center-field, necessitating a separate press box at the 50 yard line (akin to 1B-RF side). Most of the other cookie parks could share one long press box because their gridirons were angled so they ran parallel to either the 1B or 3B line. Much of the remaining 3rd and 4th levels were picnic areas. The original big scoreboard hung between LCF and RCF in that level 3-4 space as well. (And that old board was a GREAT scoreboard in the early days of animation!).
Yes...I was about to say the same thing after reading the previous comment. Those multipurpose stadiums all looked the same from the outside. I'm wondering which one was first.
I'm thinking that SF and SD also had multipurpose stadiums that fell into that same category, but can't recall.
The first stadium concept I recall was on the sight of 3R with a crescent shape sloping roof from Home Plate down the lines and an open view of the city. First glance said baseball park, but it was to be multipurpose of course.
As you pointed out that design came in way to high.
When the Pirate execs saw the next plan they were shocked....went back to the owners and said we’re going to be playing in a FB stadium.
Candlestick (by all descriptions a poor location for a stadium, but apparently one where the land could be assembled quickly and cheaply) eventually became something somewhat resembling said description after a) they realized the effects of the wind once they started actually playing baseball there, and b) the 49ers found old Kezar Stadium to be inadequate.
Well, there's nothing "bigger" than a bowling alley. What, no room for bocce courts?
Hah. I didn't see your post before mine. Obviously great snarky minds think alike!
Hey, that's what made Nick Perry a household name long before the Pennsylvania Lottery . . .
That is some impressive ambition. Although Pittsburghers have created some amazing things. So maybe this wasn't so far-fetched to some super thinker back then.
My Dad used to talk about playing duckpins. That and church league dartball.
Where did you grow up? Both of those were staples of the sports section of the McKeesport Daily News.
Story goes that the real estate agents only drove old Horace to that site in the morning....when it was calm and warm....by late afternoon it was a mess there weather wise.
Saw a night game in August there and FROOZE MY ASS....
ExactlyAre you talking about this design?
It reminds me a little of Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Of course, the sightlines for football games wouldn’t have been ideal.
Beautiful for 1970
It did have that moveable sideline capability but definitely looks better suited for baseball
I was up in Erie at my buddy’s birthday party and it was at this club and it had some duck pin lanes. I was like, this is silly. Then I rolled a ball and I loved it. Kids would like it cause they can roll the ball.
Not sure why we don’t have any.
Candlestick came first, circa 1961, but it was configured for baseball before the 49ers moved from Kezar Stadium. Shea 1964. Atlanta 1966, St Louis 1966, San Diego 1968, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh 1970, Philadelphia 1971. I saw a game at all of them except SF and Atlanta. While similar, the "cookies" were far from identical. I'd say Cincy and STL were the closest thing to twins. Lower, more gently sloped upper decks than Three Rivers. San Diego and the Vet were rounded squares. SD was really nice for such a big park. The sightlines were great. Shea was ice cold with the winds, even in summer. The Vet was the worst. Huge and dirty.
That's the one. The upper deck came down lower. There are just two tiers of seats in the model plus the double press level. Three Rivers ultimately had a loge level between the box seats and the press level. I thought the sight lines at Three Rivers were very poor overall. Too shallow belo w press level and too high above it. Unless you had a front row seat.Are you talking about this design?
It reminds me a little of Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Of course, the sightlines for football games wouldn’t have been ideal.
