Between Bigelow and Ruskin on Fifth Ave across street from Cathedral

[OnSHATterday]

agree, they don't care because the game is an event unlike old people in Pittsburgh who consider it something to do for 3 hours between their kids soccer games and Saturday evening television.. Hence the priority to have easy access to/from games..

I think another big factor in da burgh: Yinzers sit in frustrating traffic Monday through Friday, whether it's 28 or any of the parkways, and have grown to loathe it. The thought of them having to sit in it on THEIR day off is downright frightful. If there is a single orange barrel on their route, you should ecstatic that they even showed.

In the SEC: it's a nice leisurely drive in the 50 mile vicinity for 359 days the rest of the year.

 

[Jpripper88]

I think another big factor in da burgh: Yinzers sit in frustrating traffic Monday through Friday, whether it's 28 or any of the parkways, and have grown to loathe it. The thought of them having to sit in it on THEIR day off is downright frightful. If there is a single orange barrel on their route, you should ecstatic that they even showed.

In the SEC: it's a nice leisurely drive in the 50 mile vicinity for 359 days the rest of the year.

You know 90% of those people don't live in those college towns, right? They live in Birmingham, Atlanta, Nashville, Huntsville, Memphis, Jackson, etc. However, the SEC fans either deal with crazy long days of drives and traffic on Fall Saturdays or get there on Thursday or Friday. Why? Because they care a lot, lot more.

 

[OnSHATterday]

You know 90% of those people don't live in those college towns, right? They live in Birmingham, Atlanta, Nashville, Huntsville, Memphis, Jackson, etc. However, the SEC fans either deal with crazy long days of drives and traffic on Fall Saturdays or get there on Thursday or Friday. Why? Because they care a lot, lot more.

Atlanta is the only city you name there with really bad traffic. I agree it's because a portion of their fanbase cares more there. I mean even here, folks put up with it 8 Sundays a year here to go dahn. I'm just saying I bet there are a lot of internal monologues in this city that go something like:

"Hey, Pitt's at home Saturday. They're 4-1, it's an ACC game. Eh, but outbound Parkway east is 1 lane, and I hate the West End. Eh, I'll just watch it on TV. Plus they don't sell beer."

Pittsburgh is an event town - it's why an 8-3 Pitt team drew only 2,000 more fans for Miami than the 2010 39-71 Pirates drew on 8/7 because it was SKYBLAST III.

With that being said, most of society is an "event" crowd. Ain't much going on anywhere in Alabama most days - football becomes their event. That's the same for most SEC schools. So it's more about going and putting up with the crowd because it's the thing to do to be in that hoard of people than actually caring more about the team for most of their fanbase.

 

[HailtoPitt]

You know 90% of those people don't live in those college towns, right? They live in Birmingham, Atlanta, Nashville, Huntsville, Memphis, Jackson, etc. However, the SEC fans either deal with crazy long days of drives and traffic on Fall Saturdays or get there on Thursday or Friday. Why? Because they care a lot, lot more.

Most 'yinzers' don't realize that Pittsburgh commute time isn't too bad in comparison to most cities, and in general for the eastern US the commute times are mostly pretty comparable.
http://project.wnyc.org/commute-times-us/embed.html#5.00/42.000/-89.500

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

That is such a lie. 100k are not commuting into Oakland in a two hour period.

I also said "through" Oakland like going Downtown. Point is, more people get into and out of Oakland during rush hour than after a Pitt football game if we had a stadium. Those doctors, nurses, receptionists, and professors dont live in their offices. They do have homes you know.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

The footprint covered by the parking lot, the UPMC office building and the hotel would be enough space for a modest stadium. No need to tear down the PAA or Alumni Hall. In fact the PAA could benefit from being right next to the stadium.

Its not wide enough which is why the PAA and Alumni Hall would have to go. Believe me. You'd have to come up with a crazy design to fit a stadium without tearing those buildings down like only a few rows of seats on the PAA/Alumni Hall side and most of the seats on the Schenley Farms side with an upper deck which completely hung over the lower deck to save overall space. That would be really cool and unique but they wouldn't do that.

 

[HailtoPitt]

I also said "through" Oakland like going Downtown. Point is, more people get into and out of Oakland during rush hour than after a Pitt football game if we had a stadium. Those doctors, nurses, receptionists, and professors dont live in their offices. They do have homes you know.

Doesn't matter how much sense you try to make, people think that they will be stuck in Oakland for 3 days.

 

[Jpripper88]

Atlanta is the only city you name there with really bad traffic. I agree it's because a portion of their fanbase cares more there. I mean even here, folks put up with it 8 Sundays a year here to go dahn. I'm just saying I bet there are a lot of internal monologues in this city that go something like:

"Hey, Pitt's at home Saturday. They're 4-1, it's an ACC game. Eh, but outbound Parkway east is 1 lane, and I hate the West End. Eh, I'll just watch it on TV. Plus they don't sell beer."

Pittsburgh is an event town - it's why an 8-3 Pitt team drew only 2,000 more fans for Miami than the 2010 39-71 Pirates drew on 8/7 because it was SKYBLAST III.

With that being said, most of society is an "event" crowd. Ain't much going on anywhere in Alabama most days - football becomes their event. That's the same for most SEC schools. So it's more about going and putting up with the crowd because it's the thing to do to be in that hoard of people than actually caring more about the team for most of their fanbase.

I don't agree that Pittsburgh's traffic is especially bad compared to many/most of those cities. Atlanta is far worse than Pittsburgh.

Everyone plays that card, but a huge amount of UGA fans live in Atlanta and Jacksonville and they find their way to Athens every Saturday, while passing up events in their cities. Same is true of UT fans leaving Memphis and Nashville for Knoxville on the other side of the state. Many of those people are in traffic every day to and from work and then drive hours to their college town and wade through worse traffic once they get there.

"Events crowd" is a cop out. Pittsburgh just frankly doesn't have enough fans that really care about Pitt. Part of that is the program and part of that is the student population Pitt has attracted over the years.

 

[OnSHATterday]

I don't agree that Pittsburgh's traffic is especially bad compared to many/most of those cities. Atlanta is far worse than Pittsburgh.

Everyone plays that card, but a huge amount of UGA fans live in Atlanta and Jacksonville and they find their way to Athens every Saturday, while passing up events in their cities. Same is true of UT fans leaving Memphis and Nashville for Knoxville on the other side of the state. Many of those people are in traffic every day to and from work and then drive hours to their college town and wade through worse traffic once they get there.

"Events crowd" is a cop out. Pittsburgh just frankly doesn't have enough fans that really care about Pitt. Part of that is the program and part of that is the student population Pitt has attracted over the years.

Atlanta has 5 lanes on each side sprawling for miles though. We go three wide for a mile before it abruptly goes down to two lanes again. Pittsburgh traffic may not be especially bad, but the combination of infrastructure and volume cause it to be much worse.

Yep, they live in Atlanta and Jacksonville - and probably don't care about the Braves and the Jaguars. There's your difference. Most Pitt fans who "bag it" because of the construction and traffic are locals who strategically choose when to "fight the masses." It's just a strange Pittsburgh mindset. Until Pitt wins, they're okay rooting from their den and saving all that angst for after the Steelers-Ravens game.

People care, especially when they produce...2009 saw 4 games over 50k in attendance for example. The reality is coaching turnover, truncated recruiting classes, and a dark cloud over the program for a few years will keep anyone outside of the die hards on their couches caring and not in those yellow seats.

If Pitt were 9-0, any remaining home game would be sold out and most folks would be coming from the tri-county area.

 

[NTOP]

Atlanta has 5 lanes on each side sprawling for miles though. We go three wide for a mile before it abruptly goes down to two lanes again. Pittsburgh traffic may not be especially bad, but the combination of infrastructure and volume cause it to be much worse.

Yep, they live in Atlanta and Jacksonville - and probably don't care about the Braves and the Jaguars. There's your difference. Most Pitt fans who "bag it" because of the construction and traffic are locals who strategically choose when to "fight the masses." It's just a strange Pittsburgh mindset. Until Pitt wins, they're okay rooting from their den and saving all that angst for after the Steelers-Ravens game.

People care, especially when they produce...2009 saw 4 games over 50k in attendance for example. The reality is coaching turnover, truncated recruiting classes, and a dark cloud over the program for a few years will keep anyone outside of the die hards on their couches caring and not in those yellow seats.

If Pitt were 9-0, any remaining home game would be sold out and most folks would be coming from the tri-county area.

Pgh traffic is a breeze, though the garages are a bad solution for HF. Make Oakland a hassle, too.

 

[Jpripper88]

Atlanta has 5 lanes on each side sprawling for miles though. We go three wide for a mile before it abruptly goes down to two lanes again. Pittsburgh traffic may not be especially bad, but the combination of infrastructure and volume cause it to be much worse.

Yep, they live in Atlanta and Jacksonville - and probably don't care about the Braves and the Jaguars. There's your difference. Most Pitt fans who "bag it" because of the construction and traffic are locals who strategically choose when to "fight the masses." It's just a strange Pittsburgh mindset. Until Pitt wins, they're okay rooting from their den and saving all that angst for after the Steelers-Ravens game.

People care, especially when they produce...2009 saw 4 games over 50k in attendance for example. The reality is coaching turnover, truncated recruiting classes, and a dark cloud over the program for a few years will keep anyone outside of the die hards on their couches caring and not in those yellow seats.

If Pitt were 9-0, any remaining home game would be sold out and most folks would be coming from the tri-county area.

I think you are completely mischaracterizing both to excuse Pitt fans, but we can agree to disagree completely on that and the traffic.

 

[Phillypanther2]

How do we INCREASE attendance in a 50K stadium?? Or do we just move psu/ND or wvu to HF, where we should certainly average over 50K??? The numbers don't work. They haven't since Pitt allowed the Stadium to fall apart.

I would love to have an on campus stadium. But what is the point of building a 40,000 - 45,000 seat stadium? Can anybody name any big-time programs that play in a stadium that size?
I bet Coach Narduzi wouldn't be on board.
Unfortunately if you plan on being the type of football program we're all hoping to be, don't even bother if it is not in excess of 60,000 capacity.

 

[QuitCallingMeWanny]

Plus Atlanta is investing billions in public transportation,...could you imagine the uproar if the yinzer contingent got word of this if Pittsburgh wanted to do this?

 

[UPitt129]

I also said "through" Oakland like going Downtown. Point is, more people get into and out of Oakland during rush hour than after a Pitt football game if we had a stadium. Those doctors, nurses, receptionists, and professors dont live in their offices. They do have homes you know.

Yeah, but they aren't all log jamming at the same time, and I don't count taking the parkway through going through Oakland.

You do realize that 100k would be one third of the citi's population, right?

 

[UPitt129]

Doesn't matter how much sense you try to make, people think that they will be stuck in Oakland for 3 days.

I have been stuck in my car parking in the oc lot for an hour, after a bball game with 10k there. I have been stuck in the soldiers and sailors garage for 45 minutes agree a bball game. I could reasonably expect to double or triple that for a football game with 50k...no thanks.

 

[UPitt129]

Traffic depends on where you are going. The north hills, where I am from, is easy. However the south hills and eastern part of the city suck.

Getting in and out of Oakland is not easy as it is. If there was public transportation that was reliable, it wouldn't be an issue...I would park downtown or transfer. Unfortunately PAT only runs buses it seems every hour on the weekend and after 6 so tyat gets tedious. Not to mention if you get a bus it is stuck on surface streets in traffic.

Add to it constant closures if you have to come through any of the tunnels, and I fully understand where people don't want to deal with it.

 

[HailtoPitt]

I have been stuck in my car parking in the oc lot for an hour, after a bball game with 10k there. I have been stuck in the soldiers and sailors garage for 45 minutes agree a bball game. I could reasonably expect to double or triple that for a football game with 50k...no thanks.

If you are a fan, you would come.

 

[Ski11585]

If you are a fan, you would come.

Where do you draw the line between putting up with a bit of hassle and having your experience so inconvenienced that it isn't worth it. This just seems like another metric to determine who is a "real fan."

 

[UPitt129]

If you are a fan, you would come.

I try to come to every game. However, if it is going to take me three hours to get out, I won't come to any sporting event.

 

[HailtoPitt]

I try to come to every game. However, if it is going to take me three hours to get out, I won't come to any sporting event.

How long does it take people to get out of Oakland everyday at 5pm? Not anywhere close to 3 hours. And that is without police officers assisting to direct traffic.

If people's goals are to get away from the stadium as quickly as possible, to the point where 30 minutes makes or breaks your enjoyment of the day, then stay home and watch college football on tv. That way travel time = zero minutes.

 

[UPitt129]

How long does it take people to get out of Oakland everyday at 5pm? Not anywhere close to 3 hours. And that is without police officers assisting to direct traffic.

If people's goals are to get away from the stadium as quickly as possible, to the point where 30 minutes makes or breaks your enjoyment of the day, then stay home and watch college football on tv. That way travel time = zero minutes.

Absolute strawman argument there, because you never have 50k leaving Oakland at the exact same time.

This has been touched on multiple times...comparing the evening rush to a sporting event letting out is not a valid comparison. 30 minutes isn't an issue..two or three hours is.

This is another one of those discussions that is so frustrating on here, because the same talking points are used over and over despite loads of factual evidence being used to debunk those talking points.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

How long does it take people to get out of Oakland everyday at 5pm? Not anywhere close to 3 hours. And that is without police officers assisting to direct traffic.

If people's goals are to get away from the stadium as quickly as possible, to the point where 30 minutes makes or breaks your enjoyment of the day, then stay home and watch college football on tv. That way travel time = zero minutes.

How many people are leaving Oakland in cars between 4 and 5? I did that commute for a little while and it wasnt that bad. Took maybe 15-20 minutes to get out of Oakland.

 

[HailtoPitt]

Absolute strawman argument there, because you never have 50k leaving Oakland at the exact same time.

This has been touched on multiple times...comparing the evening rush to a sporting event letting out is not a valid comparison. 30 minutes isn't an issue..two or three hours is.

This is another one of those discussions that is so frustrating on here, because the same talking points are used over and over despite loads of factual evidence being used to debunk those talking points.

How many people do you think leave Oakland at rush hour?

 

[Swervin27]

hailtopitt said it best, if worrying so much about getting home and that is such a huge priority, why the hell go out in the first place??

 

[UPitt129]

How many people do you think leave Oakland at rush hour?

Rush hour, in a three hour period I would say probably 20-30k but again, that is staggered.

I don't know why we keep making the same argument though because it isn't all at the same time.

 

[UPitt129]

Let's be honest here. If you are going north after a game with 50k game you have options. You can cut out through Bloomfield and it wouldn't be awful. However, if you have to go to the south hills or monroeville... Those directions...forget it. The entrances to the parkway as they currently stand would be gridlocked for hours.