No new stadium?: Then make Heinz smaller
- Thread starter TIGER-PAUL
- Start date
what problems does tarping the upper deck solve? it looks better on TV? that's it? That's the huge problem we must fix?
No, you're taking it too seriously I think. Just maybe something else to try.
Which goes back to whether the AD has ever actually addressed the issue publicly?
Not that I ever remember. I do remember Steve (maybe 2012?) not making any season tickets available in the bleachers to start but no mention of tarping or whatever. He then reneged.
No, you're taking it too seriously I think. Just maybe something else to try.
Which goes back to whether the AD has ever actually addressed the issue publicly?
Not that I ever remember. I do remember Steve (maybe 2012?) not making any season tickets available in the bleachers to start but no mention of tarping or whatever. He then reneged.
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I'm guessing that the Steelers don't want any type of tarping system beyond temporary black covers for a concert every once in a while, which is why Pitt has never public mentioned the idea. It get's nixed before reaching that point.
Maybe they can use bright yellow tarps...
Tarping won't improve anything at Heinz.
Tarping won't improve anything at Heinz.
Again you've got to ask yourself how the change impacts the Steelers. The same booths are used for their games, right?
It would be temporary like every other Pitt banner and flag they put up and take down every game. I'm guessing Steelers could care less.
Yes, we use the same one. And there will absolutely be a cost. But any of the ideas discussed cost money. How much are high quality, high resolution tarps going to cost and the person power to install them and take them each game for the next 15 years?
Please don't suggest something like that PITT athletic management my pick up on it and actually do something that ridiculous!
You make a simple, but excellent point. I can remember the media and fans harping on the Pirates not being able to sell out Three Rivers for big baseball games. You put 40k into old 3 Rivers and the place looked empty and people were fixated on the visual. You take 40k and put it into a place that seats 38,500 and people are talking about an overflow, unbelievable crowd. We are not getting a new stadium, so the easy and obvious solution is to downsize Heinz to about 50k capacity.Here's the deal. You put 45K in this stadium it looks like this.
If you put 45K in this stadium it looks like this:
If you put 45K in Heinz Field it looks like this:
That is a pretty big (and expensive) undertaking only to show just a few less empty seats on the home side. I thought the whole idea was to improve the atmosphere and the only way to do that is to pack the fans in so they are sitting next to each other and that can only be achieved by reducing capacity to a realistic value for the Pitt program.
Well, it's both. I'm totally in favor of right sizing the stadium with tarps. Tarp off 527 - 518 with a nice graphic and both upper sidelines form row G on up to get is down to 55,000 or so.
The Seattle Sounders do it every game and it looks good.
Exactly - Pitt would make money as well from advertising. Samsung Mobile and XBox 360 are the sponsors in that picture.
Well, it's both. I'm totally in favor of right sizing the stadium with tarps. Tarp off 527 - 518 with a nice graphic and both upper sidelines form row G on up to get is down to 55,000 or so.
The Seattle Sounders do it every game and it looks good.
Indeed. If they can easily be removed in time for a game the next day (which rarely is necessary anyway) and Pitt agreed to pay for the tarps and labor, can't imagine the justification for refusal. Not saying they wouldn't refuse; just that I don't see why. In fact if the upper sections were closed off there would be less surface area needed to be cleaned.
Agree, how soon people forget how the Pirates tarped seats at Three Rivers. Especially for the NLCS.
Perhaps the revenue issue is the quarrel (if any actually existed). Steelers or Stadium Authority might not want Pitt advertising ... or flip side insist one or both of those entities would advertise on the tarps and keep the money ... or maybe advertising would be forbidden by the NCAA or tv networks because it could conflict with their approved sponsors (say Pepsi sponsors NCAA but Pitt wants to sell ads to Coke) ... always follow the money as they say...
This is a good point. I'm trying to recall if Pitt has any sponsors posted at Heinz Field that aren't already there as sponsors of the Steelers, besides the names of sponsors that flash across the scoreboard.
Either way, sponsors or not, Pitt should be able to manage some tarps that look good.
If it were up to me, they'd forgo corporate advertising and instead use pitt related images like the script logo and scenes from campus the Cathedral etc.
Whomever is doing the tarping must understand the tarping must be completed prior to the fans getting to their seats.
No sense taking any chances.
Getting to the point it will be difficult to organize the logistics and cost of tarping.
The tarps will be costly and the crew required to tarp the stadium and remove the tarp prior to the Steelers ( if they play on Sunday) taking the field on Sunday will be challenging and costly!
Unless its a PITT owned stadium which it isnt I doubt PITT will get the ok to tarp.
Also most tarped stadiums are in places where it doesnt snow alot not that we get alot of snow on Nov. or Dec. game days but its a risk in addition to heavy rains which cause alot of excess water that would normally drain thru stadium drains to drain thru field or lower stadium drains. If its not completed by tarping experts high winds can make things fun too even after the tarps are installed.
I was involved in a tarping "fiasco" in a stadium as a volunteer many years ago.
No sense taking any chances.
Getting to the point it will be difficult to organize the logistics and cost of tarping.
The tarps will be costly and the crew required to tarp the stadium and remove the tarp prior to the Steelers ( if they play on Sunday) taking the field on Sunday will be challenging and costly!
Unless its a PITT owned stadium which it isnt I doubt PITT will get the ok to tarp.
Also most tarped stadiums are in places where it doesnt snow alot not that we get alot of snow on Nov. or Dec. game days but its a risk in addition to heavy rains which cause alot of excess water that would normally drain thru stadium drains to drain thru field or lower stadium drains. If its not completed by tarping experts high winds can make things fun too even after the tarps are installed.
I was involved in a tarping "fiasco" in a stadium as a volunteer many years ago.
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The possible problems or obstacles seem moot. They don't seem to have given the idea the time of day. As mentioned above they should have done it from Day 1, not 15 years after. The true "damage" if any from the ugliness of yellow seats is water down the river.
Another example mentioned today in a Post Gazette article in which the PPG Paints arena capacity was reduced using curtains for an event.
Per PPG article.
"It's not a shock that JAY-Z, supporting his 14th album, would pass on Pittsburgh after the turnout for the Magna Carter World Tour here back in 2014. On that cold January night, the top sections of the Consol Energy Center (now PPG Paints Arena) WERE CURTAINED OFF, as only about 6000 fans turned out, well below the arena's capacity."
Same thing that Penn State does for some of their home basketball games in the BJC.
Heinz Field capacity should be reduced ( "Right Size Capacity") for Pitt home football games.
HAIL TO PITT!!!!
Per PPG article.
"It's not a shock that JAY-Z, supporting his 14th album, would pass on Pittsburgh after the turnout for the Magna Carter World Tour here back in 2014. On that cold January night, the top sections of the Consol Energy Center (now PPG Paints Arena) WERE CURTAINED OFF, as only about 6000 fans turned out, well below the arena's capacity."
Same thing that Penn State does for some of their home basketball games in the BJC.
Heinz Field capacity should be reduced ( "Right Size Capacity") for Pitt home football games.
HAIL TO PITT!!!!
Patiently I'll ask again, after 15 years of not bothering, what good would this do now?
And why not just sell tickets to the lower level if wanting to try to increase demand (aka, price) and likelihood of attending somehow merely by limiting supply (forgetting it has to be a desirable product)?
What good is laying some sheets of cloth?
Good point.
Pitt could also use that space to advertise what an outstanding school Pitt is academically.
Examples include AAU Research University which conducts over $900 million in sponsored research.
Top 5 ranked University receiving funding from the National Institute of Health.
All of Pitt's Health Science Programs all all ranked in the Top 20 of US News Graduate School Rankings.
The only Medical School ranked higher than Pitt in the ACC Conference is Duke Medical School.
Many fans do not know how good a school Pitt is and the extra space can be used to advertise and recruit top in-state and out of state students to Pitt.
The Pitt AD and Administration should look into the many options and possibilities.
Turn a negative into a positive.
HAIL TO PITT!!!!
Free advertising for Pitt for National TV Broadcast Games and all regionally broadcast games.
Win-Win
HAIL TO PITT!!!!
Aleady discussed. Could be advertising would cause issues with the Steelers, stadium authority, TV networks, or even the ACC or NCAA somehow. Regardless, If it were that much of a possible bonanza I believe even the clueless Pitt admin would have honed in on it after 15 years! Well, maybe.
So leaving that aside as presumably not feasible, why else wouldn't they have apparently not even considered tarping in 15 years of the same situation (appearance of subpar crowds)? Beyond the basic competency question that is...
As I said it doesn't matter to me either way. Just that a healthy portion of our posters who spoon with the chancellor at hoops games and balls and such regularly assure that these are brilliant guys who are passionate about our sports ... So why is such an apparently desirous solution to such an apparently terrible problem never getting considered?
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I don't know.
Maybe a situation in which most Pitt Fans wanted the AD to go back to the Pitt Script.
However, we had to endure Pittsburgh, Dino Panther, Pitt Block and finally Pitt Script.
Sometimes AD's think they know more than Pitt fans.
Consider Smiley and Killer B Barnes decisions.
New AD and New Pitt Administration.
Hope springs eternal.
HAIL TO PITT!!!!
Put names and pics of all time Pitt greats on the tarps. Ditka, Dorsett, Marino and Fitzgerald going across the upper endzone would look much better then the sun bleached yellow mostly empty seats. When WVU comes to town we can troll them with a large McCoy scoring a TD in the 13-9 game, and then make the visitor section directly across from that image.
I would leave them on even for the WVU game. We should set the capacity and stick to it for the season.
Exactly - set the attendance and do not change it. The only guarantee to obtain seats is if people buy season tickets. Supply and Demand. 7k for students, 5k for visitors, and 38k season ticket packages. They could have a little over flow section set aside for students that want to attend big games.
