There is no space in Oakland
- Thread starter HailtoPitt
- Start date
A well placed strike by Kim Jong Un's temple of doom could clear some space.
Depends on how much relies on government money. I'd build it into a dead end for the right price.
HAHAHAHAHA. You are using this? After reading that article, now I fully understand why Pitt is not moving forward with an on campus stadium. It's pretty damn expensive and a giant pain in the ass.
Did I say "Geez, this looks unprofitable?" No. Did I say it is a pie in the sky? Oh hell yes. You really think that adding office space retail and 3,000 effing parking spaces near the bates/boulevard intersection AND the Oakland exit of the parkway is going to fly with the neighborhood residents and/or the city/county/state?
Of course there are obstacles. Nobody ever said it would be a simple thing to do, but the line of thinking from some that "there is no place to put it" is wrong. There is and have been places to put a stadium, if only Pitt would had spent the last 10-15 years making it so. They simple don't want to do it, unfortunately.
They tried to restore Pitt Stadium in the 80's and 90's, but Pitt alums did not step up with donations. There simply are not enough Pitt alums placing a priority on football.
60th in football recruiting says it all after beating the national champs last year and PSU. You can't compete for championships without elite players. I'm not a Steeler fan in denial.
I question the commitment of their fundraising effort(s) for Pitt Stadium.
The donors aren't there.
Pitt just secured it's largest FB related donation in history of $2M. The donor said he'd hope it spur the other large donors to commit to the program.
Since then, nothing.
There is ample space in Oakland, it just takes $$$$ to buy up land and knock some stuff down. These people spent $2.6 million on a block of homes.
Pitt is happy settling for its super-sized stadium. They aren't willing to spend the money.
Pitt is happy settling for its super-sized stadium. They aren't willing to spend the money.
A carefully planned small war or a really well planned large riot is a good way to launch redevelopment efforts!
I blame myself for getting sucked into this discussion once again, but all of you who think this is JUST about $$ or desire are naive. Even if Pitt could secure the real estate, the infrastructure demands from the city would be outrageous. Repeat after me: The City of Pittsburgh is NOT a friend of the University of Pittsburgh. The University can't even get the small area between the Student Union and the Cathedral of Learning shut down for safer pedestrian movement and green space because of "traffic concerns", but yet somehow a huge stadium is going to be built that requires adequate parking. 
Now I'm going to beat my head against a brick wall.
Now I'm going to beat my head against a brick wall.
Yeah, and they are having hell of a time trying to develop that land they bought. It's not just about money, although that is another huge part of it.
And this backlash is against condos, apartments and retail, imagine the push back for a stadium.
I blame myself for getting sucked into this discussion once again, but all of you who think this is JUST about $$ or desire are naive. Even if Pitt could secure the real estate, the infrastructure demands from the city would be outrageous. Repeat after me: The City of Pittsburgh is NOT a friend of the University of Pittsburgh. The University can't even get the small area between the Student Union and the Cathedral of Learning shut down for safer pedestrian movement and green space because of "traffic concerns", but yet somehow a huge stadium is going to be built that requires adequate parking.
Now I'm going to beat my head against a brick wall.
Maybe, but the argument is that there is no space. Not true.
Just have to wonder if this group has had discussions with Pitt and maybe Lykes
about ground for a new Pitt Stadium after this venture?
about ground for a new Pitt Stadium after this venture?
Well it's only taken Pitt 60 years to beginning courting donors on the stletics dide line they do on the academics side. Donors don't grow on trees and don't grow over night. You have to "court " them over time. Add to that while you're courting them you can't expect them to commit while at the same time, you're doing things to sabotage the success of what you're asking them to contribute to!
pitt as a whole and the Athletic dept is in the middle of a large facilities master plan. there was a detailed time outline on the pitt site, detailing dates and objectives for this plan. pretty intensive projects with regards to athletic and academic infrastructure is in the plans, or at least being discussed.
They will be releasing details probably this winter or early spring. Stadium isn't a plan I'd guess but probably some large projects specific to the athletic dept are going to happen, I'd hope anyways..
Technically there is no space right now.
Pitt has quietly been trying to acquire real estate on Oakland Avenue and have had little/no luck. Homeowners think that the University is brimming with $$, so many are hoping for a cash grab.
They moved the Sheetz so no, there's no room without demolishing the Best Western. Although I hear the Bob Evans is for sale.
They have bought 2/3 of Oakland Avenue on the 1 side and maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of Oakland Avenue on the other side. Its been over many years but they've at least done that.
because despite the fact we get funding from state, we still classify ourselves under private. same reason you can look up every salary of any coach in the history of college football and find out what their exact salary except for pitt..
It doesn't really matter because what is left to be developed is not contiguous. There are certain homeowners who refuse to budge. It's their right and demonstrates the enormous uphill battle that Pitt faces with ongoing academic and housing needs.
State-owned vs. state-operated and Pitt receives a reduced amount of state funding for the classification. PSU, Pitt and Temple all fall into the same category.
I happen to think an on campus stadium is not necessary in the least for success ... access is far more important and Heinz has it in spades over Oakland. But as far as these tired assertions that fans are to blame ... the administration outright murdered the the program after the early 80s to satisfy one of the periodic morality / ivy delusions that infects that insecure university. The campaign was devastating: from perennial top 10 in the early 80s to one of the worst programs in organized sports (not just college football) by the mid 90s, and the basketball team wasn't much better.
Boosters were told to give through the butt and then bend over to take it back up the same place. To Pitt, "Influence" was a something that gives a headache and fever.
Things really haven't gotten a hell of a lot better since then, but it was as dark as can be imagined in the mid 90s ... at precisely the time the suits conveniently decided that boosters should happily dig deep and rescue the administration from the decades and decades of neglect to the stadium. These were the brainiacs who had raised athletic admission standards higher than our peers, hired Paul Hackett and then the corpse of JMII, and had kicked out Calipari in favor of Ralph Willard ... but Pitt donors were supposed to happily trust these clowns with huge donations to rebuild the stadium.
So its always amusing to see the administration minions wail about lack of support.
I blame myself for getting sucked into this discussion once again, but all of you who think this is JUST about $$ or desire are naive. Even if Pitt could secure the real estate, the infrastructure demands from the city would be outrageous. Repeat after me: The City of Pittsburgh is NOT a friend of the University of Pittsburgh. The University can't even get the small area between the Student Union and the Cathedral of Learning shut down for safer pedestrian movement and green space because of "traffic concerns", but yet somehow a huge stadium is going to be built that requires adequate parking.
Now I'm going to beat my head against a brick wall.
Then if Pitt begins to outgrow Oakland, maybe it's time to begin searching for Pitt to move elsewhere....and I'm only half kidding
The don't need to build a stadium IN Oakland, they just need to build a MAGLEV from Oakland to wherever it is. Why doesn't anyone get this?
a light rail system to Oakland has been discussed. link below. proposed costs are 7.25 billion dollars.. I think we should raise this ourselves, I got $10 bucks i'll throw in. I'll leave it up to the rest of you to com up with the 7,249,999,990 dollars
https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsb...-in-the-pittsburgh-region/Content?oid=1924060
.
Well heck, is that all it takes?...let's get cracking then
Time to resurrect the "relocation to Johnstown" rumors.
Imagine how many heavy load trucks it'd take to move the Cathedral down there... wouldn't that be fun to watch.
I am in, but I'd like to see a cost-benefit analysis of a teleportation system before I kick up for a MAGLEV. Thinking ahead a few years, I don't want to be stuck with a MAGLEV that the garbage guy won't even pick up while every one else has a shiny new teleporter.
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