Pitt development

[mjcatl2]

Pitt made a major announcement regarding various delevopment plans.

The University of Pittsburgh plans to spend more than $1 billion on construction over the next 12 years, largely to bring buildings up to date but also for additions and new athletic facilities.

The university yesterday released a 12-year facilities plan for projects in various stages.

[Death To Johnstown]

Goodbye Trees Field ; Hello 21st Century for Pitt baseball, soccer, etc.!

[TheGerbil]

Just a reminder, when linking articles include some comments of your own. Just one or two sentences about your own reaction or thoughts.

But anyway, that looks like a lot of development. Pretty cool. I just wonder where they money is coming from.

[mjcatl2]

I understand abou the comments, but "articles' like this are just the paper's rewording of a Press Release (in this case from the University) But I understand

[Evergrey]

The PG had a good editorial about how Pitt should actually just replace the Hillman Library. I have to agree... that brutalist abomination is outmoded, aesthetically hideous and inadequate for a "world class university". Certainly Pitt has the financial resources to do such a thing. They could also dismantle Posvar Hall... like yesterday...

[facilities man]

Why did Pitt not build a new football stadium when they knocked down the old one?

The field condition for the Monday night football game last night was an embarrassment to the city and the league. I understand there were numerous football games played there over this past weekend and it rained hard right before the game, but the over use of this one facility made everyone look like they got caught with their pants down.

Can't the high school games be played at another college field?

Why didn't Pitt build a new stadium? Are they giving up on being a serious football school and concentrating on basketball?

They should have postponed this game because of the field conditions. I'm not talking about the weather. In football you play in the conditions as they are, but the field was unacceptable. The NFL should not have let this game go on.

[Evergrey]

Yes... I'm sure all of us here in Pittsburgh are feeling mighty embarrassed about the condition of the sod at Heinz Field... just another black eye in a long list of black eyes for Pittsburgh... steel-related pollution, steel-related economic collapse, steel-related population decline, Sienna Miller's "Sh!tsburgh", and now... the sod at Heinz Field... I don't think I can take it anymore... everyone is laughing at the city of Pittsburgh because of the sod at Heinz Field...

The last thing the city of Pittsburgh needs is another hulking football stadium that is empty 99% of the time... WPIAL championship games are played at Heinz Field because the Rooneys have a bit of class and want to give the region's young athletes a chance to make memories on an NFL field... it would be nice if the schedule-makers for NCAA and NFL could figure out a way not to schedule both Panthers and Steelers games at Heinz on WPIAL weekend... it seems like we go through this crisis weekend every year

[mjcatl2]

Huh? Are we not making more out of this than there is? It was raining. Yeah Heinz Field has a crapty field, but it was raining.

[facilities man]

Huh? Are we not making more out of this than there is? It was raining. Yeah Heinz Field has a crapty field, but it was raining.

[tooluther]

Many of the North's "urban" campused football school moved into shared facilities with their NFL team when the last round of stadiums went up. Temple & Minnesota for example. The idea of an "off campus" stadium is less of an issue in a big city environment than in the rural schools.

I don't think it was a money issue as much as a space issue. Oakland raw land is non existent, and Pitt is having trouble fitting their baseball and olympic sports programs anywhere close to campus. I can't imagine where they'd rebuild Pitt Stadium (not that I'd be sad if they did. Having gone to a "rural" school with a on campus football stadium that holds 5 times the student population, I can tell you Pitt students are missing out on an awesome atmosphere.

As far as the turf goes, I agree with mjcat. If we had not had record rains, it would not have been an issue. Putting new sod over top of an existing field was the NFL's idea and it didn't allow for any drainage. If the rain hadn't come everyone would be gushing about the field since it would have been brand new.

[facilities man]

Many of the North's "urban" campused football school moved into shared facilities with their NFL team when the last round of stadiums went up. Temple & Minnesota for example. The idea of an "off campus" stadium is less of an issue in a big city environment than in the rural schools.

I don't think it was a money issue as much as a space issue. Oakland raw land is non existent, and Pitt is having trouble fitting their baseball and olympic sports programs anywhere close to campus. I can't imagine where they'd rebuild Pitt Stadium (not that I'd be sad if they did. Having gone to a "rural" school with a on campus football stadium that holds 5 times the student population, I can tell you Pitt students are missing out on an awesome atmosphere.

As far as the turf goes, I agree with mjcat. If we had not had record rains, it would not have been an issue. Putting new sod over top of an existing field was the NFL's idea and it didn't allow for any drainage. If the rain hadn't come everyone would be gushing about the field since it would have been brand new.

[TheGerbil]

I always did wonder why the city and Pitt couldn't partner up on an arena. Well, at least the Pete makes a nice concert venue for mid-to-large size shows.

As for the football stadium, I seem to remember Pitt saying they wanted to build a bigger one and the site of the old one wouldn't work for that. But I don't know, I might be imaging that. I think there was also something about them wanting the arena on campus for some reason.

[Evergrey]

Two 50,000+ seat football stadiums in the city of Pittsburgh would be the height of absurdity. There is no point in having all these empty monoliths of athletic exploits sitting around the city. Pitt gets to share top-notch facilities with the Steelers. Heinz Field is a short bus ride away for Pitt students. If the Pitt Panthers wouldn't have fired their successful coach in favor of an NFL retread... the Panthers would be competitive today... people would want to go to the games... and the stadium atmosphere would be electric... though perhaps not as electric as a Clemson Tigers game. This is a "pro town" after all... not some small town stuck in the middle of cow pastures (Penn State).

[facilities man]

Two stadiums would be wasteful, but the one that was built should have been near the university. Steeler fans would travel to Oakland for a game. Pitt students are obviously not traveling downtown to see their team play. Parking in Oakland would have been a major problem, but this arrangement is killing a football program that was already getting weak.

[Evergrey]

The nadir of Pitt's football program was 15 years ago. Pitt football's brief return to respectability coincided with its move to Heinz Field under the leadership of coach Walt Harris and AD Pederson. While the on-field results have been pathetic, recent recruiting classes have been ranked amongst the best in the nation. Heinz Field has nothing to do with Wannstedt's underacheiving football team. Students didn't show up for the 3-8 teams in Pitt Stadium 15 years ago... and they're not gonna show up for Wannstedt's losing teams in Heinz Field either. If Pitt would've continued on the trajectory of the Walt Harris era... where contending for a BCS bowl berth was a reality... Pitt students would figure out how to overcome the hardship of traveling 2 miles to Heinz Field for a game.

[facilities man]

Where's the alumni? Even if the whole Pitt student body showed up that's less than 30,000. An on campus stadium draws the alumni back to games to remember the good old days, even when the team isn't good. If they're going to Heinz Field they expect to see a winner and when they aren't winning no one shows up.

[NewBurgh]

The PG had a good editorial about how Pitt should actually just replace the Hillman Library. I have to agree... that brutalist abomination is outmoded, aesthetically hideous and inadequate for a "world class university". Certainly Pitt has the financial resources to do such a thing. They could also dismantle Posvar Hall... like yesterday...

[Evergrey]

Post-Gazette sports columnist writes about the return of AD Pederson to Pitt.. and his many brilliant moves to improve Pitt's athletic programs in his previous tenure... such as dismantling Pitt Stadium and moving the football program to Heinz Field.

"the demolition of ramshackle Pitt Stadium and the moving of the football program off campus, was a stroke of genius.

Pederson was asked if he had any regrets about moving the football games to Heinz Field. As might be expected, not a one.

"I love Heinz Field," he said. "It gives us a tremendous recruiting advantage. I don't know if you could have a better place. The issue is not in getting more interest [from fans], it's in improving the program."

People out of touch with the current generation view the off-campus location of Heinz Field as a negative. They don't understand the younger generation prefers it.

...

Too many remember Pitt Stadium for what it wasn't. Pederson recalled his first game there, the season finale in 1996. "There weren't more than 5,000 to 7,000 people in the stands.""

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07335/838382-194.stm

[TheGerbil]

The Towers are indeed an eyesore, and the rooms are terribly small and oddly shaped. Pie slices, students call them. I have never heard any talk of demolishing them though. I'm not sure where Pitt would house all those students while they built the new dorms.