It's funny how so many of you want to discuss detailed ideas all the time, and the actual athletic depart doesn't even have this on a vague "maybe to do list''.
Populous Architecture Firm - Stadium examples
- Thread starter ZetaZetaBeta
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In P5? 0 decent programs. I mean schools like Wake probably would, but is that who we want to be in parallel with?
what athletic dept? You mean the AD that went home to care for his ailing 83 year old grandmother or the one before him that got rid of the script for block PIttsburgh and added a seal as our logo? Which one are you referring too?
I value the opinion of this board way more than that of our ever failing athletic dept. Our athletic dept and its' leadership over the better part of a century have been the biggest enemies of success, the athletic dept at pitt is the biggest obstacle, is it's own worst enemy..
Any site that has more than a few houses to buy up is a non-starter.
I know its not my money but Pitt should have a 50 year plan to buy every single South Oakland home to rent out. Then when you own enough, raze the whole neighborhood and build nicer stuff there whether it be new student apartments, classroom buildings, or a stadium.
I wonder why nobody ever thought of putting a football stadium there?
When I first arrived in Pgh, I was delighted to hear of the "Pitt Relays". Coming from Philly, where I often went to Franklin Field for the Penn Relays....and NCAA championship there in 1962, I grabbed my 2 stopwatches and a notepad, and trucked into Oakland. Sat there with about 14 of my newest Pittsburgh friends to watch schools like Mt. Saint Mary, Akron and Point Park compete with the Panthers. Wow.
All you need is one taco truck for concessions, or a tailgate setup parked on the street. It just shows how difficult finding space in Oakland will be. 19 years gone. What's interesting is Pitt won the college 4x400 relay at Penn a couple years ago, trashing several "blueblood" schools. That was 75 years after their prior win.
All true. As for the funeral atmosphere, it's because of the countless losses and overall bad teams, not the stadium. PNC Park is gorgeous, yet a tedious bore to be when (as typical) the Pirates suck. Conversely, boring Ole Heinz has ROCKED in the disgustingly few truly big games we were won at home (this program is so backward that even when we pull off shockers, it's on the road).
Hell, I've been to "big" Steelers, Penguins, and Pitt home games (both hoops and football), and hands down, the Pitt crowds are more raucous. We have it in us. It just needs the dumbkopf administration to unleash it.
At this point you just hope they have "avoid multi-annual laughingstock fiascoes" on that fabled list. Failed at that last year (Stallings, Barnes). On the clock for 17 but not looking too promising (as the OC crisis careens into Month 3, and the Stallings debacle grows worse). What next, combine the AD with the Dean of Accounting?
LOLOL, The New Pitt Stadium Supporters and are on offense here. The naysayers are on defense.. unlike our hoop team. Also, they lack the fundamental understanding that building a basketball arena and losing by 50 is not the same as building a 50K on campus football stadium. In fact, FOOTBALL DRIVES THE CAR NOW FOLKS.
I don't know about any of that, I do know for sure that a new stadium in Oakland is nowhere on the radar.
http://grfx.cstv.com/schools/pitt/graphics/auto/PSCHeader2242011.jpg
Did they ever think of building a football stadium here? You can play soccer in a football stadium. Maybe design some sort of building where you could also play baseball and softball in it? maybe 40000-50000 seats?
Did they ever think of building a football stadium here? You can play soccer in a football stadium. Maybe design some sort of building where you could also play baseball and softball in it? maybe 40000-50000 seats?
The area where the new fields are would have been a cool spot for a stadium. Parking and accessibility would have been rough no doubt.
Make a deal with the City and Housing Authority to build on the lots that include Kennard Playground and space to the east of it.
There is definitely room to do it up there as everything between the VA and Robinson is expendable. I don't see it happening but it is possible.
It really is too bad Pitt couldn't grab that patch of land between Kennard and the sports complex. Would have been perfect.
I do not agree with that assertion.
I think playing in a stadium that is at least 10-15K seats too large is definitely hindering us. In fact, I don't think we can reach our full potential as a program if we continue playing at Heinz Field.
It's just too big for us and it always will be.
Please don't misconstrue what I'm saying here. I'm not talking about knocking down Hillman Library to build a stadium in Oakland or going into a billion dollars in debt to fund something that is used only 8–10 times per year.
Also, I am well aware of the infrastructural challenges a football stadium in Oakland would present. I've already lived it for many years so I well know the challenges and opportunities involved. I also know that the proponents of on campus stadium always understate that issue while the opponents of it always exaggerate it.
It was crowded getting in and out and there's no denying that point. However, it wasn't exactly "Beyond ThunderDome" (if you catch my drift).
I always thought getting home to the South Hills from the Civic Arena after a Penguins game was just as difficult. You basically had to cut across people going to the north and east on Center Avenue and it bottlenecked in about 10 different places and was often a miserable experience. Sometimes PPG Paints Arena can also be tough – depending on where are you park.
Somehow, through the grace of God, I have survived all of those experiences hundreds of times over the years.
Getting back to the University of Pittsburgh, it doesn't make any sense to not at least have this conversation. Why wouldn't we want to know where we could put an on campus stadium and what it would cost? Those are pretty germane points, don't you think?
I mean, quite frankly, that means a lot more to me than whether or not we have a track and field or a band room.
I just don't know how the football program – which is the bell cow program for the entire university, can ever reach its full potential playing in a stadium that is objectively and demonstrably too big for its needs and whose seats are so brightly colored that they serve to not just highlight our attendance troubles, but to actually exaggerate them.
A lof of "gameday atmosphere" problems can be solved if they tarp down the stadium to 45K seats. Close the upper deck endzone and Pitt upper deck sideline (because its not the TV view).
Pitt is a 45K seat program anyway. We dont need 70K seats available.
Tarping is stupid, we can average close to 60K if we have some 10 win seasons and play with a ranking. If we're 8-1, ranked #10 and ND or Clemson or FSU come to town, we'll sell out. We're a 45k program assuming we're 7-5/8-4 and never better.
If we are 5-4 and ND comes to town it would be a near sell out as well. The problem is that we will never consistently fill Heinz Field for an average game. It's just too big and ends up looking bad. Every. Single. Year. That won't change. Ever.
When ND or PSU come to town, you dont tarp it. Its not that complicated.
The Seattle Sounders tarp the Seahawks' stadium down to 40K and have one of the best gameday atmospheres in the country for any sport. For bigger games, they take the tarp off.
Again, I know some here think I'm full of crap when I say it, but I really do know someone on the athletic committee and it's true that an on campus stadium is not even on the radar, in fact they might not even have a radar to look at for it, it is really that far out of the conversation.
One place I have real experience at is WVU. I lived a block (not even) from the football field. The main parking lot for Mountaineer Field is also used by Ruby Hospital. Gee, are there any hospitals in Oakland? Also, the terrain around the stadium is eerily similar to Oakland. There is no "freeway" within 5 miles (the Parkway is closer to Oakland than 79 is to where the WVU football stadium is located. Alot of students are located a mile away, down a big hill. It is not ideal. They get 50-60K a game. Which wouldn't be any more than what Pitt needs.
There are just excuses. It can be done. Pitt and Pittsburgh can make it happen if they so choose.
I am struggling to see why this is so difficult? I think ego has gotten in the way of common sense.
Ego and I think the tarp makes it harder for us to make up attendance numbers. I think we are drawing 20K-25K more often than anyone would want to believe but with a 70K stadium, you can say the crowd was 39K or 41K and its hard to prove otherwise.
If a 45K seat tarped-down stadium, is hald empty, you cant say there were 39K there.
$200 million for something that is used 6 times a year? yeah that's going to happen in our lifetimes.
True. You could use the hubble telescope and still not be able to find it
Absolutely this! Been saying the same since, well, 2001.
But an even better solution is simply to spend on the best coaches, and the juice needed to secure the best possible recruits. Win 10 plus games multiple years, at least the Coastal, then the ACC champ and a run or two at the NC. It is indisputable that the stadium would be filled if that happened, no tarps and restricting needed, at increased prices and donations that would more than make up for the couple extra million this might cost beyond the rock bottom they invest now.
I'd hate to let the athletic dept try to operate a Hubble Telesccope??
They've had trouble doing simple things like hiring football coaches over the last five years, securing an AD that can find his a-s with both hands, replacing a basketball coach with a worse coach.
I think they need to stick to simple things!
Just because I only go to one or two games a year, doesn't preclude me from commenting on attendance. They should thank me for coming that much. I'm sure there are tens of thousands of Pittsburghers who live there all their lives and never go to a single game. And if they where 12-0 and ranked #1, I wouldn't come to any more games than I do now.
Right sizing Heinz Field (Tarping) for Pitt Football games is the way which should be studied.
70,000 seats tarped down to 55,000 (Old Pitt Stadium) would be a simple task.
When playing Penn State, Notre Dame, WVU, no need to tarp and sell 15,000 additional game day tickets.
Worked for years at Three Rivers Stadium where the Pirates tarped a 60,000 seat stadium down to a 30,000 seat stadium for Pirate baseball games (Right sizing Three Rivers Stadium).
This concept should realistically studied by the Pitt Administration for implementation.
A new stadium to be used only 7 times or a total of 28 hours per year costing maybe $500 million is a total waste of money.
That money could be better spent on maybe hiring a good AD or basketball head coach or retaining a very good OC.
HAIL TO PITT!!!!
70,000 seats tarped down to 55,000 (Old Pitt Stadium) would be a simple task.
When playing Penn State, Notre Dame, WVU, no need to tarp and sell 15,000 additional game day tickets.
Worked for years at Three Rivers Stadium where the Pirates tarped a 60,000 seat stadium down to a 30,000 seat stadium for Pirate baseball games (Right sizing Three Rivers Stadium).
This concept should realistically studied by the Pitt Administration for implementation.
A new stadium to be used only 7 times or a total of 28 hours per year costing maybe $500 million is a total waste of money.
That money could be better spent on maybe hiring a good AD or basketball head coach or retaining a very good OC.
HAIL TO PITT!!!!
yeah it truly amazes how incredibly bad the athletic administration has been. And when not bad, it is average (i.e. the Nordenberg/Pederson era), never excellent. I thought Barnes had promise but he turned into another in the long line of losers.
And we have a ton of experience hiring coaches and barely ever get it right (Narduzzi seems like he will be an exception, as was Dixon). How does Penn State make only 3 head football coach hires in 60 years and picks a winner?
Pitt Athletics, making the easy seem hard for 35 years and counting.
Your argument's bull $hit. 98% of div one schools have their own stadium. If you can't get past the utility of Pitt's having its own stadium, go root for somebody else. We don't need you.
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