Instead of trying to demolish the top decks (without compromising the club levels, lights, side message boards etc) which is just infeasible…block them off, but in a more study ( but not entirely permanent) manner than cheap flimsy tarps. Semi rigid panels, perhaps even electrified screens of sorts that could display multiple graphics and animation. If they could also act as solar panels, all the better. Even the most hostile Pitt trustee and faculty that despise Neanderthal male football could get behind a solar powered stadium! Partner with Generac. And… I can’t bother to look up Solar panel makers or distributors right now, but yeah, one of those.As a thought exercise, if the Steelers were to build a Westmoreland or Washington county stadium at the end of their Acrisure lease and the stadium authority sold Arcisure to Pitt and you were in charge of right sizing the stadium for Pitt, what method would you take?
Remove the upperdeck and replace it with a smaller lower capacity upper deck?
Make all the seats however many inches wider needed so there are 3 to 5 fewer seats per row?
Permanently remove the upper decks and replace the lower bowl's seatback chairs(club level excluded) with bleachers with narrower seat widths so you could fit 45,000 to 55,000 in the lower bowl?
Something else?
Also, make the field synthetic and able to quickly convert to soccer, lacrosse matches etc…. That will add further appeal to those ‘global’ types.
Adjust seating as needed to reach the most ideal maximum. Look for ways to make the seating flexible (the example, bench seats in some non-season tix sections that have multiple dividers that’s can rise or descend into the seating surface, that can be made as wide or narrow as perceived demand for any given game.