No new stadium?: Then make Heinz smaller
- Thread starter TIGER-PAUL
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Very tired of this rediculous discussion of a quest for a new and smaller stadium and the like. Hopefully the topic will be dropped when camp opens in August.
No, we must find ways to fill Heinz Field for games against UNC, UVa, and Syracuse. Surely, some winning seasons and creative marketing will get 70K yinzers to show up for games like that.
Pitt could be 11-0 with the final game against Virginia at Heinz and the stadium still would not be full. It's too big.
You have to know and admit what your fanbase is. It is certainly not one to fill that yellow monster.
That is the truth and has been a huge problem. Every AD we've had has said the goal is to fill Heinz Field. That's a stupid, unrealistic, and unattainable goal. Its too big for our fan base and "just win" isnt going to do it. If Pitt had Baylor or TCU-like success, would we draw 70K for Syr, UNC, Duke, or GT? Heck no. Maybe 55K-60K in the best of times.
The goal should be how to make 40K-50K into a better atmosphere and how to make it look better on tv.
Tarps with Pitt script would not be a bad thing. U2 tarped so can we.
There are 3 pro teams in town and cultural events out the wazoo. There is only so much discretionary money to go around for Pitt tickets and you still have psu and wvu right around the corner as well.
There are 3 pro teams in town and cultural events out the wazoo. There is only so much discretionary money to go around for Pitt tickets and you still have psu and wvu right around the corner as well.
Our best attendance projections are high 40s to low 50s. anything else is unrealistic. I am all for tarping. including the so called big games.
Except for the Penn State or Notre Dame games...why not? Just makes sense. Go around to college football and look at stadium capacity's? We aren't an Alabama or Michigan. My best example is Stanford. They were in an 80K seat stadium that was ridiculously too big. They redid it and completely renovated it to 50K. TCU built their stadium to 50K. Baylor's new fantastic stadium is 48K. Hell, even much lauded Autzen Stadium for Oregon is only 54K. Even the Hoopies when they redid Mountaineer Field reduced capacity from around 70 to 60K.
Making Heinz's capacity to around 55K makes sense.
"Surely, some winning seasons and creative marketing will get 70K yinzers to show up for games like that."... did not happen in the mid/late 70's and early 80's when Pitt was a powerhouse and not on tv/internet every week why would it happen now? And quit calling me Shirley.
Agree
Also the Pirates tarped Three Rivers Stadium when they played there.
Pitt Administration should investigate the options (50,000 reconfiguration with tarps).
No need to tarp when playing Notre Dame, Penn State, West Virginia at home.
Easy solution, the new Athletic Director needs to seriously consider the "Right Sizing" of Heinz Field with attractive tarps and market advertising to company's by displaying their logos.
WIN-WIN situation.
Hope the new AD is better than the last "Killer B" AD.
HAIL TO PITT!!!!
I seem to recall Pitt once, not too long ago, playing in a professional baseball park. How cool would it be to see the view from a sold out PNC Park college football game...
PNC only has a capacity of about 35,000 and you would have bad sight lines in general for football.
Tarp Heinz.
HAIL TO PITT!!!!
While it is pointless to banter about this on these boards, The quest for an on campus stadium should never go away.
relax about the damn crowd, go to a game, enjoy yourself. pitt fans get soo worked up over this and it's ridiculous. IT'S NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL. it wasn't why Rutherford threw it 20' over yogi roth's head to lose the big east, it wasn't the reason Gilyard had 6 punt returns for a TD and we lost the big east, it wasn't the reason we lost to Kent St. on the road when ranked in top 12.
You guys have this incessant need to be herded together like cattle. So you now have to rub legs with a sweaty fat chick during a game, will that make you cheer louder? if you are fighting over the arm rest with an obnoxious drunk dude (like ME), will that give the stadium the needed ambience to lead our team to victory?
have fun, it's football. you are off work, it's Pitt, the team we like, you got nothing to do the whole day, HAVE FUN, enjoy yourselves. it's enter-f'in-tainment..
the same people that complain about wanting tarps are the same people that will find something else to complain about if we get tarps. they'll be on here complaining about the concession lines, or the lines to the bathroom, or yellow windbreaker teenagers holding up the entrance lines by rubbing your crotch with the back of their hands (Not that I don't find that enjoyable from time to time).
there is always something and the people that want tarps will find something else no matter how many times they get their way..
there is always something and the people that want tarps will find something else no matter how many times they get their way..
There is no way to right size Heinz short of tearing it down and rebuilding it.
Forget about attendance, tarps, closing section... and enjoy the room.
Forget about attendance, tarps, closing section... and enjoy the room.
I don't care about the empty seats and actually enjoy having the extra room where my season tickets are located. However, from an atmosphere perspective, we all know a crowd of 45-50,000 packed together makes for a greater buzz with the crowd. Given they aren't building a new stadium, I'm fine with the setup how it is.
is tailgating the same as "pre game festivities?" I am not understanding pitt's goal here. I know Pederson actually did some cool things, had the band marching thru tailgate areas, one of the ADs set a tent up along the river for students. stuff like that is cool but what else can you really do in regards to pre game stuff? How many blow up houses and rock climbing fixtures do you really want outside of the stadium before it gets dull..
id recommend getting actual fans who show up before halftime into the Gold 1A lots to make the pregame atmosphere more enjoyable, actual fans that tailgate and have fun who are now delegated to parking a mile away while Gold1 lease holders no show leaving a vacant lot open, but that problem is taken care of by new garage so scratch that idea..
not sure a school or an AD needs to spend too much time worrying about tailgating for fans, leave that up to us.. no need to advise us on how to drink a beer, cook a hot dog or throw a bean bag.. just put on a good show for us so we wont leave at halftime to go back to our own tailgates..
id recommend getting actual fans who show up before halftime into the Gold 1A lots to make the pregame atmosphere more enjoyable, actual fans that tailgate and have fun who are now delegated to parking a mile away while Gold1 lease holders no show leaving a vacant lot open, but that problem is taken care of by new garage so scratch that idea..
not sure a school or an AD needs to spend too much time worrying about tailgating for fans, leave that up to us.. no need to advise us on how to drink a beer, cook a hot dog or throw a bean bag.. just put on a good show for us so we wont leave at halftime to go back to our own tailgates..
It is upon a visual and atmosphere standpoint. Which translates into recruiting disadvantages.
35,000 seems about right. Drives demand. You would be able to squeeze in a few thousand more with some temp sideline seats. Packed house every game with a beautiful view. I have 50 yard line seats at heinz on the aisle lower level a couple games a year and those sight lines are awful because idiots are constantly in the aisle. Sight lines would be fine at PNC. Not sure how you would miss anything at that venue as people seem able to watch baseball and see the center fielder from below the press box just fine. Tarp is more embarrassing than empty seats and is a loser "we're not even trying anymore" attitude.
no to PNC, Terrible sight lines. you cant move the seats like 3 Rivers so you cant do the typical football field straight out from home plate to center.
You'd have to run it along either the first base or third base line.. Great seats for one side, about 500' away on the other side.. maybe even need temporary bleachers.. it would be ugly... plus the public outcry and PR nightmare you'd face by going thru this much trouble 6-7 times a year when you have an open football stadium less than 2 blocks away
If PITT wants to attract even 50k fans on a game to game basis they have to do things that make people excited about attending a PITT game!
I say adopt the Casino Model which has helped casinos attract "suckers" I mean gamblers.
Giveaways - Giveaways- Giveaways
We go to an Atlantic City casino on a regular basis that was a ghost town and now its jam packed.
They have money, merchandise, free rooms, restaurant, and car giveaways on a regular basis.
For example anyone in the casino is eligible for $ 1k which they give away every hour for a period of time as long as your players card is in a machine or active at a table game.
They also have a quarterly car giveaway. The more you play at the casino the better chance you have to win a car.
So PITT could get some sponsors and give away $ 500 / qtr with a $ 1,000 drawing with two minutes to go in the 4th at each home game.
Maybe a car dealer would put up a car for a final last home game drawing. The more games you go to increases your chances to win the car.
Free season passes to the PENS, Steelers, Pirates, or PITT Football or Basketball at each game.
Gift certificates to local restaurants and hotels!
There's lots of possibilities but this type of innovative marketing is what I would expect from the new AD
People like free stuff, the casinos found this out, and use it as a draw which works for them.
I say adopt the Casino Model which has helped casinos attract "suckers" I mean gamblers.
Giveaways - Giveaways- Giveaways
We go to an Atlantic City casino on a regular basis that was a ghost town and now its jam packed.
They have money, merchandise, free rooms, restaurant, and car giveaways on a regular basis.
For example anyone in the casino is eligible for $ 1k which they give away every hour for a period of time as long as your players card is in a machine or active at a table game.
They also have a quarterly car giveaway. The more you play at the casino the better chance you have to win a car.
So PITT could get some sponsors and give away $ 500 / qtr with a $ 1,000 drawing with two minutes to go in the 4th at each home game.
Maybe a car dealer would put up a car for a final last home game drawing. The more games you go to increases your chances to win the car.
Free season passes to the PENS, Steelers, Pirates, or PITT Football or Basketball at each game.
Gift certificates to local restaurants and hotels!
There's lots of possibilities but this type of innovative marketing is what I would expect from the new AD
People like free stuff, the casinos found this out, and use it as a draw which works for them.
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I don't understand how people dismiss the negative effect of a half empty stadium has on the fanbase, the team who plays on the field, and recruits. Another consideration is the positive effect it would most likely have on season ticket purchases.
It is a problem that will never be addressed by "just win baby".
LOL! If you believe in the Easter Bunny and pots of gold at the end of the rainbow, I suppose it won't go away. But it's not happening and has less than a 0% chance of happening in any of our lifetimes. Not until they find a way to create new land masses and better infrastructure in the Oakland area. And even then, it won't happen because Pitt has priorities and this isn't one of them.
Everyone in yankee stadium above can see fine...6-7 times a year? Buccos are done by Oct 1 pretty much every year....PR nightmare? TV shots of view of skyline during game from a packed house on sunny crisp Fall days or lit up nights would be a Chamber of Commerce bonanza. Not as exciting as a flapping tarp with Pitt on it covering up your shame mind you, but pretty cool nonetheless.no to PNC, Terrible sight lines. you cant move the seats like 3 Rivers so you cant do the typical football field straight out from home plate to center.
yeah, if you can get away with that layout, then fine but I don't think you can at PNC.. you ask how I know this? Because I researched it, here's how.
I google-imaged north shore, clicked satellite option. went to Heinz, measured the football field with a post-it then scrolled over to PNC, used that stick-it note and put it over the field and it went way to far into center field seats..
3 rivers could do it because the seats behind home plate rolled over, pnc's doesn't do that. dude, I like the out-of-the-box thinking and pnc kills Heinz but I just think it wouldn't be conducive to a football field.
wow dude, you take a never gonna happen, middle of June something to ponder silly hypothetical and run with it....good for you. Satellite imagery and everything...
I don't mess around.. I kid you not, I did the same thing with trying to find a pitt football stadium on prime river front property along the hazelwood land.. actually measured Heinz, shrunk it since we can make one smaller, outlined it on post it on my monitor, then scrolled over on that hazelwood barren landscape to see if we can build a stadium there. didn't work.
talk about wasting time on "never gonna happen" scenarios, I had plans of a pitt stadium along the river, open side facing water, with pitt fans tailgating in boats on decks outside stadium while we have live music pre game going, all with unmanned trams driven by Uber technology, going up the mountain to get students to/from the stadiums, went all for not.. it would have been nice..
might have to think about some sort of extension over the water, a dock, supporting a part of the stadium. still trying to find funding. imagine that, a stadium that has a portion of the stadium on the river. Our recruiting would be sick..
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Again, I don't know how Pitt fans dismiss this as nothing and not accepting how poor Stanford was in the 80K stadium and how good they have been in a 50K stadium. I am not saying it is a 1:1 correlation, but I am saying that it is related.
I like to think of myself as being down the middle on this issue. I think Pitt had an opportunity to renovate Pitt Stadium into something modern and fantastic, but obviously that ship has sailed. It's concerning that the sport bringing home the money is the one getting shafted in the end.
I'm not sure there is a reasonable fix honestly. My fear is that if you tarp, Pitt then just decides to live with it and becomes OK with tarping off the upper deck. Posters are correct here, you will never draw 70K weekly, and you likely won't draw 60 or 50 either. I personally am less concerned with where the stadium is, and more concerned that Pitt has a place of it's own.
I think we all can agree, the atmosphere at Heinz Field is awful. It doesn't feel like a college football environment should. I'm not sure Pitt can do anything to make it feel more like a Pitt home environment either. Heinz Field is too big and too yellow to mask the attendance issues.
Heinz Field would actually be perfect if you could chop off the upper decks and just keep the lower bowl and rename it Pitt Stadium. Throw some field turf down and paint the seats blue.
I'm not sure there is a reasonable fix honestly. My fear is that if you tarp, Pitt then just decides to live with it and becomes OK with tarping off the upper deck. Posters are correct here, you will never draw 70K weekly, and you likely won't draw 60 or 50 either. I personally am less concerned with where the stadium is, and more concerned that Pitt has a place of it's own.
I think we all can agree, the atmosphere at Heinz Field is awful. It doesn't feel like a college football environment should. I'm not sure Pitt can do anything to make it feel more like a Pitt home environment either. Heinz Field is too big and too yellow to mask the attendance issues.
Heinz Field would actually be perfect if you could chop off the upper decks and just keep the lower bowl and rename it Pitt Stadium. Throw some field turf down and paint the seats blue.
Here's an interesting take. We talk about atmosphere and how big Heinz is. But really, do you all know how REALLY BIG it is?
It's area is 1.49 million Sq ft.
Michigan's stadium (aka "the Big House") is 422,000 sq ft.
Beaver Stadium is 1.2 million Sq Ft.
Notre Dame Stadium is 750,000 Sq ft.
That just shows you how big and expansive Heinz Field is.
It's area is 1.49 million Sq ft.
Michigan's stadium (aka "the Big House") is 422,000 sq ft.
Beaver Stadium is 1.2 million Sq Ft.
Notre Dame Stadium is 750,000 Sq ft.
That just shows you how big and expansive Heinz Field is.
