There was a good discussion on the FAN today

[YourPittDanceTeam]

Practicing and playing where the Steelers play is one of the constant, major recruiting points of the program. And the present stadium is 5 miles away from campus. It is really non-issue except to a small group of people.

I think that your are giving the steelers way more credit then they deeserve. You talk as if they regularly come over and to meet current Pitt players and the players that Pitt is recruiting. From what I know personally and from what I've been told by a couple of friends who work in the South Side complex, the interaction between them is minimal.
Also, we can't even get the steelers coaches kids (who are D-I recruits) to attend the school.
For me, the sooner the Pitt football program gets away from the steelers, the better.

 

[chirurgo]

Pitt has to pay the artists to come in. Then you have to pay to staff the facility, lights, etc. if you get concert series with 10k attendees you are running a net loss.

I worked with Dicesare Engler while I was in college. You have to do none of that. You pay the concert promoter up front to get the act and do the production. Concessions and ticket sales all come back to the university. Why do you think team owners want new stadiums and the rights to operate them as they see fit? It’s a big business outside of 8 games a year. And it will promote small business in Oakland as an added benefit. From a financial standpoint there is no downside.

BTW, Minnesota’s stadium looked amazing yesterday at 50,000 capacity. Built in Minneapolis, on campus.

 

[JohnTurman]

Infrastructure problems? Come on man. Enough with your negativity

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

I worked with Dicesare Engler while I was in college. You have to do none of that. You pay the concert promoter up front to get the act and do the production. Concessions and ticket sales all come back to the university. Why do you think team owners want new stadiums and the rights to operate them as they see fit? It’s a big business outside of 8 games a year. And it will promote small business in Oakland as an added benefit. From a financial standpoint there is no downside.

BTW, Minnesota’s stadium looked amazing yesterday at 50,000 capacity. Built in Minneapolis, on campus.

Ever notice how the nfl owners aren’t paying for them ?

 

[chirurgo]

I think that your are giving the steelers way more credit then they deeserve. You talk as if they regularly come over and to meet current Pitt players and the players that Pitt is recruiting. From what I know personally and from what I've been told by a couple of friends who work in the South Side complex, the interaction between them is minimal.
Also, we can't even get the steelers coaches kids (who are D-I recruits) to attend the school.
For me, the sooner the Pitt football program gets away from the steelers, the better.

Ever notice how the nfl owners aren’t paying for them ?

Most of them don’t because they know that the city would foot the bill for economic stimulus. But the city doesn’t want to manage them. The owners want to manage them via long term lease agreement. When Kenny Chesney plays at Heinz, the Rooney’s pocket the cash after paying $500,000 for the act. At an avg cost of $200 per ticket(not a fan, googled it), you can do the math. Nice supplemental income that doesn’t even include parking revenue and concessions.

 

[H2P 2003]

Most of them don’t because they know that the city would foot the bill for economic stimulus. But the city doesn’t want to manage them. The owners want to manage them via long term lease agreement. When Kenny Chesney plays at Heinz, the Rooney’s pocket the cash after paying $500,000 for the act. At an avg cost of $200 per ticket(not a fan, googled it), you can do the math. Nice supplemental income that doesn’t even include parking revenue and concessions.

yeah, but how many acts can you bring in that will fill the stadium? You can do a couple a year....but a series?

 

[H2P 2003]

Infrastructure problems? Come on man. Enough with your negativity

It takes an hour plus to get out of Oakland after a full b-ball game. What do you think 50k would do?

 

[Panthergrowl13]

Tarp Heinz. (Cheap Fix)

I like Club Seating.

HAIL TO PITT!!!!

 

[chirurgo]

It takes an hour plus to get out of Oakland after a full b-ball game. What do you think 50k would do?

20,000 live in the vicinity, students/faculty. 5000 from out of town stay in nearby hotels. The rest take public transportation or park. Wouldn’t be much different than a full basketball game.

 

[DiehardPanther]

It takes an hour plus to get out of Oakland after a full b-ball game. What do you think 50k would do?

We used to play on campus in a 56,500 seat stadium. As a matter of fact I have picture hanging behind me of the last game ever played there in front of 60k people. Almost 20 years ago to the day.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

Most of them don’t because they know that the city would foot the bill for economic stimulus. But the city doesn’t want to manage them. The owners want to manage them via long term lease agreement. When Kenny Chesney plays at Heinz, the Rooney’s pocket the cash after paying $500,000 for the act. At an avg cost of $200 per ticket(not a fan, googled it), you can do the math. Nice supplemental income that doesn’t even include parking revenue and concessions.

Yes
Nice income
No expenses for them


just profit

I’ll say again- if stadiums made money the owners would pay for them


Pitt won’t get that benefit- as the tax payers voted down the stadium for the Steelers

 

[cbpitt2]

It takes an hour plus to get out of Oakland after a full b-ball game. What do you think 50k would do?

Wonders for the Oakland business community: hotels, restaurants, bars.....

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Mark Cuban Stadium

Someone tell him to buy an MLS franchise and build a joint MLS/College Football stadium.

 

[YUK2]

Not true, I would say 90% of callers, students, alums, young and old wanted it and thought it would be a good thing for the whole school. So, I feel you are the minority

He is in the minority.

 

[YUK2]

Yes
Nice income
No expenses for them


just profit

I’ll say again- if stadiums made money the owners would pay for them


Pitt won’t get that benefit- as the tax payers voted down the stadium for the Steelers

You are not correct. Owners know they have the city by the short hairs. You think the City of Pittsburgh would let the Steelers walk because of a stadium?!?! Rooney’s hold all the chips.

 

[Safety Blitz]

Nice dream, but not going to happen. University can’t possibly justify the expense when Heinz (or whatever takes its place) is available.
Over the next few years, the rising cost of higher education (and student debt that comes with it) is going to be addressed in some form. Universities are going to come under pressure to reduce costs, which means cutting expenses.
And who knows what the status of American football, as we know it today, will be in the next decade or two. High school participation is slipping and we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg on concussion studies.

 

[chirurgo]

Yes
Nice income
No expenses for them


just profit

I’ll say again- if stadiums made money the owners would pay for them


Pitt won’t get that benefit- as the tax payers voted down the stadium for the Steelers

...and they built it anyway. Taxpayers won’t have to vote on this one

 

[SisadaPITT]

...and they built it anyway. Taxpayers won’t have to vote on this one

Doesnt matter, they voted no on PNC and it went up, with tax payers footing the bill. POLITICS BROTHER

 

[chirurgo]

Nice dream, but not going to happen. University can’t possibly justify the expense when Heinz (or whatever takes its place) is available.
Over the next few years, the rising cost of higher education (and student debt that comes with it) is going to be addressed in some form. Universities are going to come under pressure to reduce costs, which means cutting expenses.
And who knows what the status of American football, as we know it today, will be in the next decade or two. High school participation is slipping and we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg on concussion studies.

All speculation. Football isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The NFL is too big a business and still there are attempts being made for additional pro leagues.

As for University expenses, strong football programs at other institutions help fund the university. Penn St didn’t get their academic status through research. They got it through football and the strong alumni support it generated. The cost of education is a separate issue that is the result of an overall lack of state funding. PA is ranked 49th in the country for funding and as a result the state schools and state funded(land grant) schools are amongst the most expensive in the country.

Furthermore, it wouldn’t be at the University’s expense if they get the same kind of donors that Victory heights has attracted and/or sell naming rights.

 

[DiehardPanther]

All speculation. Football isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The NFL is too big a business and still there are attempts being made for additional pro leagues.

As for University expenses, strong football programs at other institutions help fund the university. Penn St didn’t get their academic status through research. They got it through football and the strong alumni support it generated. The cost of education is a separate issue that is the result of an overall lack of state funding. PA is ranked 49th in the country for funding and as a result the state schools and state funded(land grant) schools are amongst the most expensive in the country.

Furthermore, it wouldn’t be at the University’s expense if they get the same kind of donors that Victory heights has attracted and/or sell naming rights.

Ironic that the poster “Safety Blitz” is a Penn St. fan, and is chiming into this thread that has nothing to do with Penn St.

 

[Burgh15]

It's an easy discussions topic for Gorman, but I'll bite.

I don't care if the stadium has academic facilities or not attached to it. If it's built by donors, let them do whatever they want. Minnesota and Baylor did things right with their stadiums and in the very unlikely event that Pitt ever builds one, I'd hope for the same. Put me in the crowd that wants a stadium on the lower end of capacity...no more than 45,000. And no, do not play the big games at Heinz Field.

 

[BFo8]

It's an easy discussions topic for Gorman, but I'll bite.

I don't care if the stadium has academic facilities or not attached to it. If it's built by donors, let them do whatever they want. Minnesota and Baylor did things right with their stadiums and in the very unlikely event that Pitt ever builds one, I'd hope for the same. Put me in the crowd that wants a stadium on the lower end of capacity...no more than 45,000. And no, do not play the big games at Heinz Field.

Going to guess that most of us hated it when Pitt would play the big games at the Civic Arena instead of Fitzgerald. I guarantee opposing coaches loved it.

 

[HailtoPitt]

Bottom line of all bottom lines... Pitt was lazy, stupid and cheap in the late 70s and 80s and allowed a solid football program to fall on hard times and they did very little to improve an aging Pitt Stadium. Fan attendance was actually pretty good once the program got rolling relative to the attendance of comparable college football programs during that era. Pitt then made a big mistake attempting to go 'back to the future' with Majors, and then the administration decided to go all in on Heinz Field by building the Pete on the stadium footprint, even though they already had a separate location for the proposed arena. This was done on purpose so that fans pining for a new stadium in the future could be told that "there is no room". Then, failed to spend any of the following two decades making the search for a stadium location a priority, and now there are fewer options and at greater expense. All of this is placed squarely on the Pitt administration, including the 'Bestest Chancellor Evar' Mark Nordenburg and his Golden Parachute Boy Steve P. Their pomposity and stupidity have pretty much screwed Pitt football forever. But, let's blame the fans.

 

[DruidTM]

Yeah but they did put alumiwrap around the wooden bleachers at one point ... I remember that.

Wood slivers and yellow jackets at Pitt Stadium. My Saturdays as a kid.

 

[CaptainMurphy]

The truth of the matter is that Pitt needs to be exploring options for a "second campus" similar to what WVU did with Evansdale decades ago. Oakland is indeed land locked and gobbling very brick from the slumlords is cost prohibitive. If that happens to be Hazelwood, so be it. Truthfully, they should have been acquiring the land where Hotel Indigo and the business park is.

Yes they missed a golden opportunity with Hazelwood, though I bet the city would have fought to death over that one given that they won't even give us Bigelow.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

You are not correct. Owners know they have the city by the short hairs. You think the City of Pittsburgh would let the Steelers walk because of a stadium?!?! Rooney’s hold all the chips.

Citizens of Pittsburgh absolutely voted down the stadium
Why some of you are so obsessed with giving welfare to billionaires so they can make more is mind blowing .

stafoums are money losers / which is why owners don’t buy them.

3 rivers had two pro teams and was still $28 million owed on the construction when it was imploded.

So please explain the pretty penny concept .

 

[thom67]

I worked with Dicesare Engler while I was in college. You have to do none of that. You pay the concert promoter up front to get the act and do the production. Concessions and ticket sales all come back to the university. Why do you think team owners want new stadiums and the rights to operate them as they see fit? It’s a big business outside of 8 games a year. And it will promote small business in Oakland as an added benefit. From a financial standpoint there is no downside.

BTW, Minnesota’s stadium looked amazing yesterday at 50,000 capacity. Built in Minneapolis, on campus.

The reason why team owners like new stadiums and want to run them is that team owners are not paying for the the new stadiums. Taxpayers pay for the new stadium. Owners get the money.

 

[MarshallGoldberg]

Citizens of Pittsburgh absolutely voted down the stadium
Why some of you are so obsessed with giving welfare to billionaires so they can make more is mind blowing .

stafoums are money losers / which is why owners don’t buy them.

3 rivers had two pro teams and was still $28 million owed on the construction when it was imploded.

So please explain the pretty penny concept .

The only way the Pirates and Steelers came out ahead on the stadiums was the awful deal where the city leased it to them at a loss to the tax payers. It was a bad enough deal it would have literally been cheaper for the city to simply give the stadiums to the Pirates and Steelers for free (which is what Dan Cohen on city council actually proposed but was shot down.) It was literally a worse deal for citizens than building them a free stadium because of the ongoing RAD contributions.

They also got the first $50 million (each team) rent free on top of the tax subsidy.

I will say one major difference now is the city runs a yearly surplus, has plenty of private development (so much that people fear being pushed out), and there is more skepticism from our elected officials about corporate welfare than there was in the more "desperate" Pittsburgh era.

 

[Dr. von Yinzer]

Look, land acquisition costs are going to be huge. Once you start building on offices and academic facilities you are going to be looking at a near billion dollar project.

That is just a wild guess. It’s impossible for anyone to throw around any numbers without at least first studying the issue. I’m not necessarily a proponent of an on-campus stadium. However, I am absolutely for legitimately studying the issue before a green lighting or flatly dismissing any proposed idea.

 

[HailtoPitt]

Land gets more expensive with each year passing and Pitt pretending like Heinz Field is a great option. However, I think the Oakland solution would likely involve Pitt using mostly land they already own.

 

[pittmeister]

1. Ask the players on the current team, the players that they have received commitments from and some of the highly recruited players that considered Pitt whether an on campus stadium was a factor in their decision to attend / not attend Pitt.

2. Ask the same group whether practicing at the same facility as the Steelers was a big part of their decision to attend / not attend Pitt.

3. Once again ask the same group of players if the scenario was switched and Pitt had an on campus stadium instead of practicing at the Steelers facility whether that would have changed their minds about attending Pitt.

I think you’ll find that an on campus stadium had little to no bearing on their decision, but the practice facility did make Pitt more attractive...

 

[HailtoPitt]

1. Ask the players on the current team, the players that they have received commitments from and some of the highly recruited players that considered Pitt whether an on campus stadium was a factor in their decision to attend / not attend Pitt.

2. Ask the same group whether practicing at the same facility as the Steelers was a big part of their decision to attend / not attend Pitt.

3. Once again ask the same group of players if the scenario was switched and Pitt had an on campus stadium instead of practicing at the Steelers facility whether that would have changed their minds about attending Pitt.

I think you’ll find that an on campus stadium had little to no bearing on their decision, but the practice facility did make Pitt more attractive...

Seems like it would be better to ask these questions to players Pitt recruited who committed elsewhere.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

Land gets more expensive with each year passing and Pitt pretending like Heinz Field is a great option. However, I think the Oakland solution would likely involve Pitt using mostly land they already own.

Hello Johnstown !

 

[pittdan77]

1. Ask the players on the current team, the players that they have received commitments from and some of the highly recruited players that considered Pitt whether an on campus stadium was a factor in their decision to attend / not attend Pitt.

2. Ask the same group whether practicing at the same facility as the Steelers was a big part of their decision to attend / not attend Pitt.

3. Once again ask the same group of players if the scenario was switched and Pitt had an on campus stadium instead of practicing at the Steelers facility whether that would have changed their minds about attending Pitt.

I think you’ll find that an on campus stadium had little to no bearing on their decision, but the practice facility did make Pitt more attractive...

Pitt has a reputation of putting guys in the league that understand how to be professionals because of the relationship with the Steelers. Not every kid will appreciate that relationship @HailtoPitt but it is important to many of the kids that choose Pitt over other places. A campus stadium would be great. Nobody argues that. But Pitt has a differentiator in their relationship with the Steelers.

 

[pittmeister]

Seems like it would be better to ask these questions to players Pitt recruited who committed elsewhere.

1. Ask the players on the current team, the players that they have received commitments from and some of the highly recruited players that considered Pitt whether an on campus stadium was a factor in their decision to attend / not attend Pitt.

I kind of did...

 

[pittmeister]

Pitt has a reputation of putting guys in the league that understand how to be professionals because of the relationship with the Steelers. Not every kid will appreciate that relationship @HailtoPitt but it is important to many of the kids that choose Pitt over other places. A campus stadium would be great. Nobody argues that. But Pitt has a differentiator in their relationship with the Steelers.

Correct. Before making this huge investment, find out from the kids recruited by Pitt whether a campus stadium would make a difference in their decision. I think playing time, education, playing in a pro scheme and winning plays a bigger role...

 

[mike 301]

I would be willing to bet Pitt has an on campus stadium in my lifetime, not sure I will still be able to walk there under my own power by that time though.

No worries .
The space aged bike lanes will be able to handle your banana peal powered Delorean made wheelchair

 

[Safety Blitz]

Ironic that the poster “Safety Blitz” is a Penn St. fan, and is chiming into this thread that has nothing to do with Penn St.

Interesting topic and interesting discussion.
You have an issue with me taking part?
I wrote nothing disrespectful toward Pitt, Pitt fans, or anybody posting on the thread. I try very hard to be respectful wherever I post. I would never discount someone’s opinion based on the football team he/she roots for. Seems kinda silly to me.

 

[yc_ballcat]

Going to guess that most of us hated it when Pitt would play the big games at the Civic Arena instead of Fitzgerald. I guarantee opposing coaches loved it.

Calipari said after the 96 UMass game ‘I’m the only one dumb enough to play them here.’ Of course, Jim Calhoun also played Pitt in Fitzgerald, along with Seton Hall and others.

 

[BFo8]

Calipari said after the 96 UMass game ‘I’m the only one dumb enough to play them here.’ Of course, Jim Calhoun also played Pitt in Fitzgerald, along with Seton Hall and others.

I bet Billy Tubbs would have preferred playing at the Arena, Fitzgerald was literally a circus that day.

Hard to describe that atmosphere.