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Message: [QUOTE="Section137, post: 30464, member: 1266"] Mention "On-Campus Stadium" on our site and it will turn into a 20 page fist fight within minutes. This is one of the bones of contention for why people revile Steve Pederson. Pederson oversaw the demolition of PITT Stadium and the move to Heinz Field in 2001. There are two sides to this story. One, there is no space in Oakland (where the campus is located) for a stadium. Parking is non-existent in Oakland. There is a one-way street in and one-way street out of Oakland so when 50,000 people are trying to access/egress the area, it is a nightmare. Even during basketball games where there are 12,500 people, there is horrific gridlock. However, the students need to board buses before and after the game and travel to/from Heinz Field (maybe a 3 mile trip), which is a pain for them. I have had tickets at both locations and I can say that Heinz Field has been such an upgrade with regard to all of the issues listed above and also has been used as a tremendous recruiting tool. Often, other schools will poke fun at the fact that we play in a "rent-a-stadium", but when reading the comments of the recruits who are on visits they are in awe of Heinz Field and the facilities. Playing in a professional stadium has been a major plus (PITT Stadium was a dump). The bottom line is that there were no more people going to games at PITT Stadium as there are currently at Heinz Field. In fact, PITT's record attendance has been achieved while playing at Heinz Field. People who claim to remember strings of sellout games at PITT Stadium are romanticising times that didn't exist. People who claim a difference in atmosphere at these games is doing the same. There is no doubt that Heinz Field is too big for our standard base of "hard-core" fans, and the yellow seats really drive that point home when they aren't all sold. However, there is also no doubt that Heinz Field is a great place for PITT to play football. There have been rumors that when PITT's lease is up at Heinz Field, there are plans in place for an on-campus stadium but I'm not certain about that. [/QUOTE]

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