Steelers want to create ‘sign’ in Heinz Field seating bowl
City zoning official contends it’s too big
Lots of businesses like to see their name in lights. But in seats?
The Pittsburgh Steelers are hoping so. The team is advancing a plan to spell out Heinz Field or some other name in the lower bowl of the North Shore stadium.
But the team first will have to win the approval of the Pittsburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment after the city’s zoning administrator sacked the plan, saying the proposal amounted to a type of sign prohibited under the law because of its size.
In perhaps the biggest showdown this side of New England, the Steelers, through affiliate PSSI Stadium LLC, will go before the zoning board next week to make their case.
As part of its game plan, the team is arguing that any name it adds to the bowl constitutes an “interior sign” exempt from requirements regarding location and size.
Under the code, signs “on the inside of the buildings or other structures, designed not to be seen from the exterior of such buildings or structures shall be permitted in any district with unlimited size and interior location.”
The Steelers believe the sign falls under that category “because it’s inside Heinz Field,” said Shawn Gallagher, the team’s attorney.
“On May 23, representatives from Heinz Field will attend a zoning board hearing to appeal a determination by the city’s zoning administrator that signage in the interior of the stadium is subject to the zoning code’s regulations for exterior signage,” the team said in a statement.
“We appreciate the opportunity and look forward to meeting with the zoning board to present our plans.”
Nick Sero, corporate communications manager for the Steelers and Heinz Field, said there are “no set plans for what the exact design or wording” of the sign would be.
The rendering that the team provided to the zoning board shows a generic “ABCDE Field” spelled out in the lower bowl at the north end of the stadium.
“To my knowledge, nothing has been confirmed on what we would put there. This is a preliminary step to appeal the decision and create a ‘sign’ in the seats,” Mr. Sero said.
But with sports teams these days plastering advertising on everything from scoreboards to entrances, it’s entirely possible the Steelers’ latest play could amount to another way to generate revenue.
In fact, the decision to try to embed a sign in the seating comes as the Steelers’ agreement with the H.J. Heinz Co. for the naming rights to the stadium is nearing the end of its 20-year term.
Heinz paid $57 million for those rights in 2001, just months before the venue, owned by the Pittsburgh-Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority, made its public debut.
The company merged with Kraft Foods in 2015 to become Kraft Heinz but maintains a headquarters here as well as in Chicago.
This isn’t the first time the Steelers have gone before the zoning board to get approval for signage at the stadium.
In 2001, the board allowed the words “Heinz Field” to be used on lighted exterior signs on the back of the scoreboard near Gate A, as well as at Gates Band Cat the northern end and outside of the north end of the stadium.
Allegheny West residents had challenged the signs, claiming they amounted to impermissible advertising. However, the board ruled that they were building identification signs, which are allowed under the code.
At the same time, the board denied a request by the team to add Coca-Cola lettering to the Great Hall signs at the stadium as part of a naming rights deal with the soft drink company.
The Steelers later got the right to do so after the city changed the rules regarding such signs.