History of Heinz Field

Heinz Field is the home field of the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League, a stadium which opened in 2001. The field is named after the H. J. Heinz Company, which will eventually pay the Steelers $57 million by 2021 for the naming rights to the stadium. Heinz Field cost $281 million to construct and has a seating capacity of 65,050 fans.

  1. Groundbreaking

    • The Steelers played all of their home games at Three Rivers Stadium from 1970 through 2000, but the team desired a new stadium by the end of the 1990s. The groundbreaking for Heinz Field was on June 19th, 1999, and the grass turf was installed in the finished stadium in May of 2001.

    First exhibition

    • The Steelers played their first game at Heinz Field on August 25th, 2001. It was an exhibition game against the Detroit Lions, which Pittsburgh won by the score of 20 to 7.

    Pitt Panthers

    • The University of Pittsburgh football team also uses Heinz Field as its home venue. The Panthers first played there on September 1st, 2001, shutting out East Tennessee State by a 31-0 count.

    September 11th

    • While the Steelers first official game at Heinz Field was supposed to occur on September 16th, 2001, versus the ,Cleveland Browns, the contest had to be postponed. The September 11th attacks caused the NFL to cancel all scheduled games that week, so the Steelers' official stadium opener was moved back to October 7th.

    First official game

    • The Steelers finally opened Heinz Field on October 7th with a 16-7 triumph over the Cincinnati Bengals. The first points recorded at the stadium were by Pittsburgh's place-kicker Kris Brown, who sent a 26 yard field goal through the uprights; Steeler quarterback Kordell Stewart registered the field's first touchdown later in the game.