www.newpittstadium.com

[Dr. von Yinzer]

Incidentally, Miami is facing a very similar situation right now.

However, somewhat incredibly, they were offered the opportunity to partner with the new MLS team that will be playing down there, and which is building it's stadium next to the Marlins ballpark on the site of the old Orange Bowl.

Naturally, the David Beckham-led MLS team wanted the University of Miami to share in some of the construction costs. After months of negotiations, they announced that they could not come to an accord.

Without knowing all of the particulars, this may be unfair. However, from the comfort of Pittsburgh, that seems like a tragic mistake by the key decision-makers at the University of Miami. If they could come up with a fair arrangement at all, that would dramatically change the way "The U" is perceived both locally and nationally as it would give them an opportunity to play their home games where they experienced the greatest successes and in a brand new stadium that is much more closely aligned with the size of their actual fan base.

 

[HailtoPitt]

Return of the script was free and easy to do.

You can't be this stupid.

Stupid or just constantly trolling.

 

[Z #2]

NO, the revenue from football is merely a speck compared to the $3 BILLION endowment. Got it? Why you and others think football is the biggest show in Oakland never ceases to amaze me.

LOLOL! Thank you for proving that the money to float a Pitt Municipal Bond to build the stadium is there. Also, the greatest form of admissions advertising for any university and it's greatest draw for continued alumni support is their sports programs.....specifically....football.

www.newpittstadium.com

 

[Z #2]

Where do you put it with adequate parking in Oakland?

www.newpittstadium.com It is all covered there. Parking and Transportation routes specifically.

 

[Z #2]

OK Braniac, do us all a solid and link the firm's website and a few of their other public plans. I'm sure an Urban Planning and Governmental Relations Consulting Firm commissioned by the University of Pittsburgh is not just some fly-by-night outfit. Surely they have been attached to numerous other projects. Most notably in the realm of athletic capital infrastructure.

And the gmail and yahoo email addresses attached to the plan and attributed to this "Firm" are a typo, I'm sure.

I'll make some popcorn and eagerly await your reply.

Ask Crazy Paco. It seems that he provided the drawing done by GSPIA for the New Stadium and the plan. You can view the drawing at www.newpittstadium.com

 

[HailtoPitt]

Ask Crazy Paco. It seems that he provided the drawing done by GSPIA for the New Stadium and the plan. You can view the drawing at www.newpittstadium.com

I see that your proposed location has changed from Schenley Plaza to the original Pitt proposed location. That's more realistic.

 

[Z #2]

Please stop posting that; it is embarrassing to have such an amateurish, poorly-written, poorly-designed website/plan associated with our university.

Don't read it. But 80,000 people have already seen the plan and website. Of course you being an architect or urban planner qualifies your opinion as worthy (?) Please feel free to create a plan and website on your own that is much better. I for one would greatly appreciate seeing your acumen as it pertains to urban design.

 

[Z #2]

A more professional, architect's rendition:

You do great work! I think any 5th grader would get an "A" for it. Very good.

 

[Z #2]

Not necessarily. I mean, if you do it like UConn, it can seem very minor league. But neither Stanford or Minnesota's stadiums come across small at all (I realize those are both ~50K and not 45). I was watching a Stanford game a few weeks back and the stadium actually seemed larger than 50K to me.

Ask Boston College or U of Cincinnati about a small stadium. Fit in perfectly with the campus.

 

[pitt-girl]

LOLOL! Thank you for proving that the money to float a Pitt Municipal Bond to build the stadium is there. Also, the greatest form of admissions advertising for any university and it's greatest draw for continued alumni support is their sports programs.....specifically....football.

www.newpittstadium.com

OK.

 

[Z #2]

I'll donate as soon as you belly up to the bar for the first half of the cost. A mere $250,000,000. That's just pocket change for you, right?

Sorry, you are way off. The New Pitt Stadium will cost 100 million or 150 million with extras. As for selling advertising in the stadium down to seat plaques and gate entrances, 50 million can be raised. A permanent gate entrance naming could be worth $5 million alone. Ask Baylor. Ask Pizza Hut if they'd like it? Concession royalty alone will be worth $5 million. It all adds up. The University of Pittsburgh just redeemed a municipal bond of $250 million. They could easily float a 100 million bond. The great missing element here is a huge corporate donor (like a T. Boone Pickens Stdium at Okie State). His name is David Tepper at Appolossa Management. He has a net worth od 13-15 BILLION dollars. He is a huge donor at CMU (his grad school). Guess where he drank his beer as an undergrad and grew up in East Liberty? Tepper has also donated $1 million to the Pitt Basketball team for scholarships. That's worth 11 fully funded scholarships at $100,000 a piece when he did it. Nordy and stevie let him languish because they didn't want football to be King at Pitt. It'sa whole new ball game today.

 

[Z #2]

I think you could fit that stadium on that plateau. But nothing else. You could put a series of elevators to get people up to the stadium from the parking lots. That is of course if we had parking lots, which we wouldn't.

However, we do have a very good Pitt Bus Shuttle all through Oakland. It is at www.newpittstadium.com It has some very good ideas for parking and transportation. That's why all the "hoop" supporters keep knocking the website. They know football is king.

 

[UPitt '89]

Here's a solution to the "too much supply" problem and "thousands of empty yellow seats" problem that is 1/100000th the cost of a new stadium.

Bad photoshop attempt here:

That tarp removes 10,000 seats from the capacity... makes the capacity about 58,000 for the stadium....provides a cool logo for blimp shots.... A giant script-Pitt with perhaps retired numbers on it...

 

[HailtoPitt]

Here's a solution to the "too much supply" problem and "thousands of empty yellow seats" problem that is 1/100000th the cost of a new stadium.

Bad photoshop attempt here:

That tarp removes 10,000 seats from the capacity... makes the capacity about 58,000 for the stadium....provides a cool logo for blimp shots.... A giant script-Pitt with perhaps retired numbers on it...

Nice job. We would need to tarp more than that though, as too much yellow will still be visible when there are less than 50,000 in attendance. I would tarp the entire upper deck sections. All three of them. The lower bowl is for season tickets only. Once we get that sold out, then peel back sections of the tarp and sell those. The goal should be to limit the yellow.

 

[UPitt '89]

Nice job. We would need to tarp more than that though, as too much yellow will still be visible when there are less than 50,000 in attendance. I would tarp the entire upper deck sections. All three of them. The lower bowl is for season tickets only. Once we get that sold out, then peel back sections of the tarp and sell those. The goal should be to limit the yellow.

Try the one tarp in my photoshop first. That's 10,000 seats removed.

Filling a 58,000-seat stadium is something that is feasible in the future. In 2003, we averaged that, so it is doable.

Even if we average 48,000...... that's still 80% full...... and it sure beats the look of 60% full.

 

[HailtoPitt]

Try the one tarp in my photoshop first. That's 10,000 seats removed.

Filling a 58,000-seat stadium is something that is feasible in the future. In 2003, we averaged that, so it is doable.

Even if we average 48,000...... that's still 80% full...... and it sure beats the look of 60% full.

We averaged that one time in Pitt football history, and that is for tickets sold and not actual butts in seats, as people tend to purchase very cheap season tickets for one or two games and then not show up for the others. Tarp all three upper levels, and sell the lower bowl as season tickets at an increased price. Then people will be more likely to either show up or unload their tickets to someone who will use them.

 

[Z #2]

Here's a solution to the "too much supply" problem and "thousands of empty yellow seats" problem that is 1/100000th the cost of a new stadium.

Bad photoshop attempt here:

That tarp removes 10,000 seats from the capacity... makes the capacity about 58,000 for the stadium....provides a cool logo for blimp shots.... A giant script-Pitt with perhaps retired numbers on it...

That's a very good idea! It would work well in Heinz Field.

As I have said before, I believe a new on campus stadium as the cornerstone to our school's athletic facilities footprint is why we need an Oakland based football stadium, Olympic sports venues and outdoor/indoor practice facilities. www.newpittstadium.com is the only plan that I have seen that discusses the entire athletic facilities footprint on the Hill.

 

[Z #2]

OK.

Not the erudite response I thought you might give me.

 

[Z #2]

This 'Consulting Firm' is located at the 'Glam Bar' in Philly or is it on Fairview Street in Allentown?

ZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE 22222222222222222222222222222

ahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Who are you man?! Who are you man?!

 

[Z #2]

I hope this doesn't make me a troll or an idiot but I think it is much more realistic that Pitt will one day build a 45–50,000 seat stadium on or near its campus than it is that we will ever consistently fill up Heinz Field.

As such, I think the only way for Pitt to reach its full potential is to play in a stadium that is right-sized relative to the size of our average/above average attendance.

Now, I am open to the tarps for all of the reasons listed. That is obviously a much cheaper option and if done well it could look nice. I am definitely open to giving that solution a chance to work.

What I am not in favor of is hoping that we win enough to fill that giant monstrosity on the north side. That is never, ever going to happen – at least not with any degree of consistency.

Also, I reject out of hand the notion that building on campus stadium is some sort of pipe dream. That is absolutely ludicrous.

Of course Pitt could build a stadium on or near its campus and there's just no question about that. If schools like Tulane, Houston, TCU, Temple, Baylor, Minnesota and UCF can do it, so too can the University of Pittsburgh.

Now, that doesn't mean that we should do it or that it is the right way to spend all that money. That is an entirely different debate and frankly, that is a much bigger obstacle.

What I'm saying is there's absolutely enough room all over Oakland to put in a suitable stadium and parking. It would require some cooperation and creativity - and likely some demolition, which would of course increase the cost - but it could happen, just as it happened at all of the aforementioned places.

You don't think those places ran into some major challenges too? You don't think North Philadelphia is as congested as Oakland? What about New Orleans – especially the area near Tulane's campus?

Again, I want to make it clear that I am not advocating spending $29 billion (or whatever other grossly inflated number people want to throw out there) on a 45,000 football stadium. I'm just saying that it is absolutely worthy of consideration and further study.

People on both sides of this issue tend to grossly overstate their point. Pitt Stadium was not nearly the panacea some like to pretend it was. However, neither was going to a game in Oakland a miserable experience from towed to tip – except in the late 90s.

45K = 100 million to 150

 

[pitt-girl]

Not the erudite response I thought you might give me.

Look Z#2, I appreciate the enthusiasm, but Pitt does NOT have the money, wherewithal or desire to build an on campus stadium at this point and most likely anytime in the near future. Their focus must be on the University as a whole, not just what benefits the football team. But like the student attendance and Sweet Caroline threads, this just goes on and on and on.

 

[Pghfan]

Pitt doesn't have any money left, they spent it all fixing the elevators for the cathedral. I guess it takes 10 million dollars to fix elevators nowadays. Willy Wonka "Not pleased"

Btw, waste of money, you kids are young, TAKE THE DAMN STAIRS.

 

[UPitt '89]

We averaged that one time in Pitt football history, and that is for tickets sold and not actual butts in seats, as people tend to purchase very cheap season tickets for one or two games and then not show up for the others. Tarp all three upper levels, and sell the lower bowl as season tickets at an increased price. Then people will be more likely to either show up or unload their tickets to someone who will use them.

I would leave the upper deck between the 20-yard lines available if you do that. Those are good seats. If you tarp from the 20s to the ends only, you get something that looks like this:

Now you've just set the capacity to around 48,000-50,000. Which is "right-sized". Put more Pitt logos or designs on those four tarps and you've got something.

 

[BuffetParrothead]

Looks like you have a plan just change the seat color to gray or black. I like this idea except I'm still in my North end zone seat with that PITT tarp over me I must have fallen asleep????

 

[UPitt '89]

45K = 100 million to 150

It would cost more than that to buy the land and put in the infrastructure for access.

You really aren't being realistic at all.

 

[UPitt '89]

Looks like you have a plan just change the seat color to gray or black. I like this idea except I'm still in my North end zone seat with that PITT tarp over me I must have fallen asleep????

No.... move to better seats and get out of those endzone bleacher seats. Allow people to move from those at minimal increase or no increase in cost to other parts of the stadium.

Pitt shouldn't even be selling season ticket plans in the upper deck endzone anyway.

 

[BuffetParrothead]

No.... move to better seats and get out of those endzone bleacher seats. Allow people to move from those at minimal increase or no increase in cost to other parts of the stadium.

Pitt shouldn't even be selling season ticket plans in the upper deck endzone anyway.

We have other sideline seats but kept buying our old North End Zone seats just for the memories and some friends who actually still sit there.
There's some crazy fun people up there in that North End Zone and I'll leave it at that!

 

[HailtoPitt]

I would leave the upper deck between the 20-yard lines available if you do that. Those are good seats. If you tarp from the 20s to the ends only, you get something that looks like this:

Now you've just set the capacity to around 48,000-50,000. Which is "right-sized". Put more Pitt logos or designs on those four tarps and you've got something.

That would be more appropriate, but I still think there are too many seats.

 

[brickfhouse]

Who are you man?! Who are you man?!

Simple Question, is the 'office' in Philly or Allentown?

 

[wbrpanther]

Here's a solution to the "too much supply" problem and "thousands of empty yellow seats" problem that is 1/100000th the cost of a new stadium.

Bad photoshop attempt here:

That tarp removes 10,000 seats from the capacity... makes the capacity about 58,000 for the stadium....provides a cool logo for blimp shots.... A giant script-Pitt with perhaps retired numbers on it...

A tarp doesn't change reality. It doesn't make the crowd bigger and it doesn't make the seats disappear. It's like a toddler who covers his face so you can't see him. You are an idiot if you believe you can't see him.

 

[NTOP]

LOLOL! Thank you for proving that the money to float a Pitt Municipal Bond to build the stadium is there. Also, the greatest form of admissions advertising for any university and it's greatest draw for continued alumni support is their sports programs.....specifically....football.

www.newpittstadium.com

The endowment can't be used for that. Nor should it be.

 

[HailtoPitt]

A tarp doesn't change reality. It doesn't make the crowd bigger and it doesn't make the seats disappear. It's like a toddler who covers his face so you can't see him. You are an idiot if you believe you can't see him.

A tarp considerably lowers the number of bright yellow empty seats that I have to look at every game, reminding every whose stadium it is.

 

[wbrpanther]

A tarp considerably lowers the number of bright yellow empty seats that I have to look at every game, reminding every whose stadium it is.

Wach the game, not the yellow seats. Don't obsess over unimportant things.It's healthier that way.

 

[HailtoPitt]

Wach the game, not the yellow seats. Don't obsess over unimportant things.It's healthier that way.

Hard to avoid because I have eyes.

 

[UPitt '89]

A tarp doesn't change reality. It doesn't make the crowd bigger and it doesn't make the seats disappear. It's like a toddler who covers his face so you can't see him. You are an idiot if you believe you can't see him.

- It concentrates the crowd so they aren't so spread out
- It makes buying tickets ahead of time a necessity, because the supply is much lower. You can't wait until gameday and hope to get seats.
- It looks better on TV, because the 47000 at the game will be clustered together, leaving less open eyesore yellow.

 

[HailtoPitt]

- It concentrates the crowd so they aren't so spread out
- It makes buying tickets ahead of time a necessity, because the supply is much lower. You can't wait until gameday and hope to get seats.
- It looks better on TV, because the 47000 at the game will be clustered together, leaving less open eyesore yellow.

Exactly.

 

[UPitt '89]

A 48,000-seat Heinz Field for Pitt games...... with every seat being a good one. And the cost is minimal:

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

It's not about that. You seem to favor short term gain at the expense of long term success. That's why you loved Steve.

No- I favor things which are financially responsible and improve the sustainability of the program.
Not fluff and fantasy.

 

[TheKellyTaylor]

A 48,000-seat Heinz Field for Pitt games...... with every seat being a good one. And the cost is minimal:

Can you put a Pitt script logo at midfield and Panthers in one end zone?

 

[UPitt '89]

Can you put a Pitt script logo at midfield and Panthers in one end zone?

I suck at photoshop. You're lucky I was able to do that much. ;-)