It might lag far behind a number of the newer, more expensive and modern stadiums across the NFL landscape, but there remains something special about Acrisure Stadium.
Able to hold more than 68,000 for a Pittsburgh Steelers home game on the North Shore of the Ohio River, the stadium formerly known as Heinz Field still holds its place among the best venues in the NFL — without all the glitz and glamour.
In a piece from The Athletic Monday morning ranking all 30 NFL stadiums from best to worst, Acrisure Stadium landed inside the top 10, coming in at No. 10 overall. That put the 22-year old stadium ahead of places like Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium, San Francisco’s Levi’s Stadium, Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium and even Ford Field in Detroit.
In fact, Acrisure Stadium was the highest-ranked stadium in the AFC North. Baltimore was obviously one spot behind Pittsburgh, but Cleveland’s Cleveland Browns Stadium ranked No. 19 while Cincinnati’s Paycor Stadium ranked No. 27.
“This outdoor stadium, formerly known as Heinz Field, has been the Steelers’ home since 2001. It has a great location, downtown on the Ohio River. It also ranked 10th in our previous survey,” The Athletic’s Jon Machota writes regarding the home of the Steelers.
Despite a name change and some amenity upgrades like bathroom changes and other unannounced financial investments within the stadium, there is no change in the rankings — up or down — from The Athletic for Acrisure Stadium.
Though it’s an older stadium, the Steelers love playing within the comforts of home and in front of diehard fans.
Since 2017, the Steelers have gone 33-15-1 at home during the regular season, a .684 winning percentage, so fans have been treated to a lot of success when they do step inside the stadium. Acrisure Stadium is the 15th-oldest stadium in the NFL. At 22 years old, how much longer will the Steelers play inside Acrisure Stadium though?
The Steelers’ lease at the North Shore location runs until 2030. Right now, there is no urgency for the team to renew its lease as 2030 is still a long way off, theoretically. But the odds seem good that the Steelers will renew the lease years down the road. When exactly that could happen is unclear but most likely in a few years before the lease expires, so maybe around 2026 or 2027.
Should the lease with the Steelers and the city not be renewed by that time, it would give the franchise plenty of time to begin building and completing a new stadium somewhere in the area, should the need arise.
For now though, the comforts of the home field on the North Shore work for the team and the fans, and is held in high regard across the league, as evidenced by the top 10 ranking from The Athletic.
