Sunday Stadium Review - Steelers

Pittsburgh Steelers 

Name of Stadium: Heinz Field

Capacity: 65,050

Game Attended: regular season game versus Bengals in December 2010 with Christopher and then about couple months later for AFC Championship versus the Jets and then a couple years later for PPK

Worked a game at this stadium? Yes, for 2010 AFC Championship and PPK in December 2012.



Entrance to the stadium...do you see anything but black and yellow?? 

Anyone that knows me very well, knows that my Steelers experiences have come at great pain to my Bengals fan self.  Nothing against the Steelers fans, but please just need realize that there are in fact 31 additional teams in the NFL...and a good number of them are actually pretty good...maybe even better than the Steelers.  Shocking, I know!  Now that I have gotten that off my chest, let me tell you a little about my experiences at Heinz Field for Steeler games.

I have been to Heinz Field a good number of times now.  Three for Steelers games and three for Pitt games.  The stadium is very similar for Pitt games, but of course the stands are not quite as full or the crowd quite as intense.  For this review, I'll focus on my attendance during Steeler functions.

I really like the design of the stadium.  It actually reminds me a lot of the Bengals stadium.  It basically sits on a river.  One end is pretty open and the other end hosts the huge video board with moving ketchup bottles.  When the team gets into the red zone (inside their opponents 20 yard line) the ketchup bottles tilt upward which in effect turns the video board red.  It is actually pretty cool.  I didn't get a shot of the screen filling up, but I did take one of the bottles in both positions.

The more open endzone.

Love the layout here.  This is one corner of the endzone with the video board.

Level...

And now they are tilted...

The first time I attended Heinz Field was purely as a spectator.  They kindly repaid me by crushing my Bengals in a sleet storm, but pre-game Chris and I had some fun.  I was actually about thisclose to having Chris meet my buddy, Chad Johnson, but unfortunatley, TO proved to be too much of a distraction for Chad's attention.  Unlike many other stadiums, during pre-game those on the field are forced to stay on the half where the Steelers warm up.  This hurt our chances a little as well.  We did get some fun pictures though.

Me and Chris sporting orange and black (and Jets green)!!  Who Dey!

Thumbs down for the black and yellow!

Just a few short weeks later, lucky me was able to return to Heinz Field for AFC Championship.  The weather cooperated a little more for that game.  My brother also came up from Kentucky for it.  I was able to sneak away for a pre-game picture with him.  Definitely a high intensity game.

My last experience in Pittsburgh was my favorite.  For two reasons - 1) the weather (especially for December) was remarkable nice and 2) they lost.  I was there again for work this time.  I was able to get a pretty good picture of the intense crowd waving their terrible towels as I left the stadium. 

Terrible towel craziness

The one thing I can say with absolute certainty is that Steeler Nation is LOUD and PROUD!!  They make no bones about waving their towels and letting you know who they think is boss.  The stadium is a great venue that is set up in a very inticing manner.  And of course, the scoreboard is one of the most unique in the league!
 
Andrea :)