Let’s build an “on-campus” stadium at CMU’s Gesling Field

[HailToPitt725]

This will never happen, but it’s the offseason, right? Oakland’s biggest institutions should come together to build a P5 stadium in the neighborhood (technically Squirrel Hill, but it’s close enough).

Tear down Gesling Field + the parking garage along Forbes and you have enough room for a ~45,000-seat stadium. We could create one of the best and most intimate atmospheres in college football if done right, especially if they successfully incorporate the surrounding CMU buildings (Cohon Center, Wesnik, West Wing).

Pitt pays for the costs and CMU gets a free stadium out of it, minus a little less parking. Imagine tailgating on the Cathedral lawn and Flagstaff Hill as the band marches down Forbes Ave… alas, it isn’t meant to be.

 

[HailtoPitt]

Why would CMU want a larger stadium?

 

[Upg bobcat]

And we complain about the logo and markings on the field at Acrisure Stadium ... imagine the embarrassment of the Panthers playing on a field with a Scottish Terrier on the 50 yard line and Tartan pattern endzones.

 

[Pitt_Boss]

It's not Squirrel Hill. It's Oakland.

CMU is trying hard to rebrand itself into Squirrel Hill by just suddenly claiming they are in Squirrel Hill, but it is Oakland. Always has been, always will be.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

It's not Squirrel Hill. It's Oakland.

CMU is trying hard to rebrand itself into Squirrel Hill by just suddenly claiming they are in Squirrel Hill, but it is Oakland. Always has been, always will be.

CMU says they are in Squirrel Hill? Huh? Weird.

This is a crazy idea but what the heck. Lets say a guy like Tepper, who has ties to both programs wants to bankroll CMU going D1 to like the Patriot League. He can build a joint stadium but I'd build on Flagstaff Hill or try to get that stupid golf course from Schenley Park.

 

[Macchiato]

The two obvious places are the top of Bates to the left. It would revitalize the Blvd corridor or that old baseball field off of old kilpatrick

 

[Panther Holla]

This will never happen, but it’s the offseason, right? Oakland’s biggest institutions should come together to build a P5 stadium in the neighborhood (technically Squirrel Hill, but it’s close enough).

Tear down Gesling Field + the parking garage along Forbes and you have enough room for a ~45,000-seat stadium. We could create one of the best and most intimate atmospheres in college football if done right, especially if they successfully incorporate the surrounding CMU buildings (Cohon Center, Wesnik, West Wing).

Pitt pays for the costs and CMU gets a free stadium out of it, minus a little less parking. Imagine tailgating on the Cathedral lawn and Flagstaff Hill as the band marches down Forbes Ave… alas, it isn’t meant to be.

Nice idea, but… no.
As a CMU alum, I think I can speak for that community. The parking garage is an absolute necessity since the new B school wiped out the old Morewood surface lot. The charm of D-3 football is that you can pay to sit in the Gesling bleachers or watch from the open side. Football on the chill, if you will. Carnegie Mellon neither needs or wants Pitt encroaching.

 

[pittiswhereiamfrom2]

They could tear down Phipps and put it there. Would be perfect.

 

[forbesfield]

Even better, have Central Catholic use it as their home field, thus tapping into all of that Donahue money.

 

[Panther Holla]

It's not Squirrel Hill. It's Oakland.

CMU is trying hard to rebrand itself into Squirrel Hill by just suddenly claiming they are in Squirrel Hill, but it is Oakland. Always has been, always will be.

I wondered about this neighborhood thing myself, as CMU literature called Oakland the neighborhood for years. Margaret Morrison Street, the eastern edge of campus, was the boundary.

 

[Pitt_Boss]

I wondered about this neighborhood thing myself, as CMU literature called Oakland the neighborhood for years. Margaret Morrison Street, the eastern edge of campus, was the boundary.

That's funny because when you ride a PAT bus outbound on Forbes, as soon as it passes Margaret Morrison, the automated voice says 'now entering Squirrel Hill'. But CMU has been pushing this Squirrel Hill thing for a few years now, and they will probably eventually 'win' because perception becomes reality and they will just convince the city to redraw the neighborhood boundary lines, which are a bit arbitrary anyway. If you go on Google maps, for instance, the entire CMU campus + other areas like Central Catholic all show as being in a neighborhood called "Squirrel Hill North" and not in Oakland.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Even better, have Central Catholic use it as their home field, thus tapping into all of that Donahue money.

Maybe the Donahue's can build a joint Central Catholic/Pitt/Duquesne stadium when this sale hits.

https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/luxury-homes/americas-most-expensive-home-for-sale-naples-florida-81535a6b

 

[joeydavid]

They could tear down Phipps and put it there. Would be perfect.

The only real viable answer is to tear down "the run" in greenfield. Leave Big Jim's and make it part of the "club seats". Easy access to highways, plenty of room for parking and an end zone view of the cathedral.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

Tear down the VA, they can move somewhere else, or give them part of the old presby since a new one is being built. There's already a parking garage that could remain, and nice access from Bigelow blvd to the parkways leading Easy, South and North.

 

[brdst11]

According to the City, CMU is in Squirrel Hill, but so is Central.

https://gis.pittsburghpa.gov/pghneighborhoods/

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

The only real viable answer is to tear down "the run" in greenfield. Leave Big Jim's and make it part of the "club seats". Easy access to highways, plenty of room for parking and an end zone view of the cathedral.

Well as long as you are leaving Big Jim's, I think that's a plan we can all get behind!

 

[Fk_Pitt]

Even better, have Central Catholic use it as their home field, thus tapping into all of that Donahue money.

I can see it now. Pitt rents from a high school. Or Pitt rents from a D3 school.

 

[wbrpanther]

This will never happen, but it’s the offseason, right? Oakland’s biggest institutions should come together to build a P5 stadium in the neighborhood (technically Squirrel Hill, but it’s close enough).

Tear down Gesling Field + the parking garage along Forbes and you have enough room for a ~45,000-seat stadium. We could create one of the best and most intimate atmospheres in college football if done right, especially if they successfully incorporate the surrounding CMU buildings (Cohon Center, Wesnik, West Wing).

Pitt pays for the costs and CMU gets a free stadium out of it, minus a little less parking. Imagine tailgating on the Cathedral lawn and Flagstaff Hill as the band marches down Forbes Ave… alas, it isn’t meant to be.

And the 6 lane Forbes Avenue would make fan access fantastic.

 

[pittdan77]

Do you have a MSPaint rendering?

 

[CrazyPaco]

Why build it on Gesling? Build it on the CMU mall. Imagine the view out of the open west endzone:

 

[Slag Dump]

CMU says they are in Squirrel Hill? Huh? Weird.

This is a crazy idea but what the heck. Lets say a guy like Tepper, who has ties to both programs wants to bankroll CMU going D1 to like the Patriot League. He can build a joint stadium but I'd build on Flagstaff Hill or try to get that stupid golf course from Schenley Park.

I'm told by lawyers who would know that you can't build it on Flagstaff Hill or Schenley due to Mary Schenley's trust which clearly dictates what the land at Schenley Park can and can't be used for.

 

[CrazyPaco]

It's not Squirrel Hill. It's Oakland.

CMU is trying hard to rebrand itself into Squirrel Hill by just suddenly claiming they are in Squirrel Hill, but it is Oakland. Always has been, always will be.

Nearly all of CMU's campus, the main quad part and such, actually falls in Squirrel Hill.

The actual boundary between North Oakland and Squirrel Hill North is Boundary Street and then South Neville St. So, you know, the giant chasm behind the Carnegie Museums is actually the boundary between Oakland and Squirrel Hill.

https://gis.pittsburghpa.gov/pghneighborhoods/

 

[CrazyPaco]

I'm told by lawyers who would know that you can't build it on Flagstaff Hill or Schenley due to Mary Schenley's trust which clearly dictates what the land at Schenley Park can and can't be used for.

Mary Schenley stipulated it could never be sold.

I believe anything built on it has to be available for use by the public.

That said, Pitt received special permission to build the Frick Fine Arts building on the edge of Schenley Park. I believe there are stipulations that it must be available to the public in some capacity. But while Pitt operates and controls the building, it does not own the land that it sits on.

Pitt more recently, well in the late 90s/early 2000s tried to build a softball field for their varsity team on Mazeroski Field, the public softball field besides Frick Fine Arts that also is technically in Schenley Park. Essentially Pitt wanted to bring it up to D1 standards, was going to pay for the whole thing, but the city would not guarantee Pitt priority access to the facility for practices and what not so the project died.

There may be nothing technically preventing a sports stadium from being built in Schenley Park, other than it would have to serve the public, wouldn't be under the control which would be needed by Pitt, and there would be huge political hurdles before even getting to access, parking, and cost.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Mary Schenley stipulated it could never be sold.

I believe anything built on it has to be available for use by the public.

That said, Pitt received special permission to build the Frick Fine Arts building on the edge of Schenley Park. I believe there are stipulations that it must be available to the public in some capacity. But while Pitt operates and controls the building, it does not own the land that it sits on.

Pitt more recently, well in the late 90s/early 2000s tried to build a softball field for their varsity team on Mazeroski Field, the public softball field besides Frick Fine Arts that also is technically in Schenley Park. Essentially Pitt wanted to bring it up to D1 standards, was going to pay for the whole thing, but the city would not guarantee Pitt priority access to the facility for practices and what not so the project died.

There may be nothing technically preventing a sports stadium from being built in Schenley Park, other than it would have to serve the public, wouldn't be under the control which would be needed by Pitt, and there would be huge political hurdles before even getting to access, parking, and cost.

Sounds like a great opportunity for Mark Cuban to build an MLS/college football stadium which could also serve as the home of City League football. Also have midget league games there on Sunday. Someone get Cuban on the phone.

 

[TIGER-PAUL]

Midget league facilities or an erector set plan sound about right. Pitt's conference TV money most likely going to get gutted and future schedules a steady diet of smu, ucf, texas tech. The big plan OC lot file will be mothballed and another 30 year Steelers extension looms.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

Midget league facilities or an erector set plan sound about right. Pitt's conference TV money most likely going to get gutted and future schedules a steady diet of smu, ucf, texas tech. The big plan OC lot file will be mothballed and another 30 year Steelers extension looms.

Steelers will never ever leave the North Shore, it is just as much their ancestral home as Ireland is.

The "erector set" would be the way to go, if a new stadium ever came to be. Just make sure it has some suites and maybe a club section. UCF's stadium was pretty much that and serves its purpose well. Heck, when you get right down to it, Acrisure is probably the erector set of NFL stadiums.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Steelers will never ever leave the North Shore, it is just as much their ancestral home as Ireland is.

The "erector set" would be the way to go, if a new stadium ever came to be. Just make sure it has some suites and maybe a club section. UCF's stadium was pretty much that and serves its purpose well. Heck, when you get right down to it, Acrisure is probably the erector set of NFL stadiums.

Would rather they not build than build a UCF style erector set.

 

[Pitt_Boss]

This from Paco:
"There may be nothing technically preventing a sports stadium from being built in Schenley Park, other than it would have to serve the public, wouldn't be under the control which would be needed by Pitt, and there would be huge political hurdles before even getting to access, parking, and cost."

Schenley Park /Panther Hollow is never happening for a Pitt stadium for reasons that have nothing to do with construction feasibility. Like 0% chance. I meany any new Pitt stadium anywhere has an uphill battle, but it would never happen there. A couple of years ago they tried to just put a driver-less tram from roughly the Big Jim's area to South Neville to make it more attractive to park off-campus, easier to get to Hazelwood Glen area, etc. The project was DOA due to community interest groups, local politics, etc. Taking park land and turning it into something commercial never goes over well with politicians, community groups, etc. and is bad PR for many. And that would just be to build the stadium, then you have to fight these fights again and again to get roads, access, mass transportation, parking,etc...I don't think David Tepper with an open checkbook could get this done in this City.