Art Rooney II is a man of his word. Earlier in the offseason, he said the famous Heinz Ketchup Bottles would return to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ stadium and be visible to fans. Today, they’re back.
As captured and tweeted out by WPXI’s Lauren Talotta, one of the big ketchup bottles that hung above the scoreboard and “poured” when the team entered the red zone was brought back to Acrisure Stadium early Tuesday morning. Here’s a photo of the bottle sitting outside the stadium.
And here’s a video Talotta shared of the bottle being hoisted to its current resting place, right inside of Gate C.
In an interview with WPXI’s Jenna Harner on February 1st, Rooney confirmed the bottles would make their return.
“At least one of the ketchup bottles is going to reappear here right at the new Heinz Gate,” Rooney said at the time.
The bottles were removed last year when Heinz Field was renamed to Acrisure Stadium, a change that didn’t sit well with most Steelers fans and didn’t feel nearly as “Pittsburgh-like.” But Heinz reached a smaller deal with the Steelers to retain some portion of naming rights, now having Heinz Gate instead of their name on the entire stadium.
Throughout the 2022 season, there were digital ketchup bottles that appeared on top of the scoreboard. Though the real deal bottles won’t return there, fans can now see at least one of them as they make their way inside the stadium. Which is just about the most Pittsburgh thing ever.
To his credit, Acrisure CEO Greg Williams recently embraced the ketchup bottle idea, though he subtly made sure his branding wouldn’t be forgotten about either. Given the heavy cost for those rights, it’s hard to blame him.
“Any mention of the ketchup bottles with the Acrisure name attached, good or bad, was good with me,” Williams said late last month. “If it is a good thing for the Steelers, it is good for us”.
Williams recently said fans have warmed up to the Acrisure name and the company’s brand recognition has been boosted over the last year. Fans may still bristle at the change but at least there will be a familiar face, er, a bottle, for Steelers Nation to look at.
