Rather than discuss the football coaching opening at Pitt, I would rather discuss another topic that fans talk about on an occasion. If it has not been once, it has been at least one hundred times that I have been asked the same question: "Who is getting the Pitt football job." If I knew, I would tell everyone, but filling the Head Coach position may take some time. But there is another area that always crosses the minds of many football fans in this region. Will the U. of Pittsburgh have their own on campus football stadium? The first answer that everyone proposes is where can Pitt build the facility. Panther Hollow, down on Second Avenue, somewhere on the top of cardiac hill near the Fitzgerald Field House. Who knows, but whatever happens, it will encompass a lot of land that may not be available and if available, it may come at a major expense. Heinz Field is a nice venue for the Pitt Panthers but there is nothing like an on campus facility. Maybe a 40,000 seat stadium with room for expansion like the U. of Louisville has. Remember Pitt Stadium. It was a neat place to watch a football game. Parking was a problem in Oakland especially if the game was a sell-out. It was fun after the game to meander down to Forbes or Fifth Avenues to find a restaurant or an Oakland watering hole. Pitt Stadium brings back a lots of memories. Wishful thinking for a new Pitt Stadium somewhere in Oakland but it will probably never happen.
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Panther Hollow is ideal, close enough to central Oakland but also close to a to-be-built stadium only exit (See Dolphins Stadium) on I-376 the parkway east, besides back in the 60s the city was actually planning a North-South expressway to feed into I-376 all the traffic from the Craig Street area for easy quick access to Oakland, the hollow also was to have multi-level (ground level to the sides of the valley) offices on top of the expressway, a modified version of this can still be done with a stadium to boot!
ReplyDeleteNo question that an on campus stadium would be a great thing. 50,000 would be a reasonable capacity and doable if the seating was bleacher like with a back similar to the upper end zone seats at Heinz Field.
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ReplyDeletegood comment. I remember the expressway for easy access to I 376. Nothing like your own on campus facility
ReplyDeleteHeinz Field is certainly first class, no question, but there is just no College "atmosphere" there. They have to bus in all the students to the games also. One can only dream of an on campus stadium in Pittsburgh such as the recently built stadium for the University of Minnesota.
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