It’s about to become a little more comfortable to sit in Acrisure Stadium for Pittsburgh Steelers home games. Per the Pittsburgh-Tribune Review’s Julia Burdelski, 22,000 seats inside Acrisure will be upgraded over the next two years. That project will begin this year to replace broken and rusted seats original to the stadium.
From the Trib, which cited Sports & Exhibition Authority project executive Doug Straley.
“Currently, seats at Acrisure are coming loose, detaching from the concrete and rusting. Some seats for those with disabilities are broken, Straley said, and other seats don’t open and close properly.”
Over the next four years, 58,000 seats inside the stadium will be replaced. Currently, Acrisure’s capacity sits at 68,400.
The stadium opened in 2001 and was famously known as Heinz Field, complete with two giant end-zone ketchup bottles. The stadium was renamed Acrisure for the 2023 season.
Comparatively, the Steelers’ stadium is on the older side. Since 2001, 14 new NFL stadiums have been built. But it doesn’t appear Pittsburgh is in any hurry to find a new stadium to call home. With the stadium’s lease up in 2030, renovation projects like this signal the franchise’s desire to upgrade the current facility instead of building a new one. Within the next few years, team president Art Rooney II will have to determine the future of the stadium. In 2022, he indicated a desire to renew the stadium’s lease.
Pittsburgh is making several upgrades in and around the stadium ahead of hosting the 2026 NFL Draft next April. It will mark only the second time the city has hosted a draft and the first in the modern era where the event is second only to the Super Bowl. Upwards of 1 million people are expected to attend with the draft stage expected to sit just outside Acrisure Stadium.
The Trib notes seats removed from the stadium can be sold though they are in poor condition.
The Steelers will play only their second “true” home game this Sunday against the Cleveland Browns. Pittsburgh lost its home opener to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 2 and was the “home” team for its Week 4 game in Dublin, Ireland.
