The Pittsburgh Steelers‘ stadium has been known as Heinz Field since its opening in 2001, but that’s about to change. The new name will be Acrisure Stadium. As Andrew Fillipponi of Pittsburgh radio station 93.7 The Fan relayed Sunday night and Monday, locally-based condiment maker Heinz (part of KraftHeinz since 2013) has opted not to extend their sponsorship deal, paving the way for Michigan-based insurance brokerage firm Acrisure to come in:
Breaking: Heinz Field is no more. The ketchup giant will not extend its naming rights deal for 2022. Sources say a new name for the stadium could be announced this week.
— Andrew Fillipponi (@ThePoniExpress) July 11, 2022
Breaking: The ketchup bottles are coming down. Heinz Field will be renamed Acrisure Stadium. After the Michigan-based insurance brokerage firm. An official announcement could come as soon as Tuesday.
— Andrew Fillipponi (@ThePoniExpress) July 11, 2022
This prompted lots of Twitter discussion, including references to the time Heinz Field was destroyed on-screen by Bane in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises:
Heinz Field is changing its name to Acrisure Stadium, after its new sponsor, a Michigan-based insurance company.
This is the worst thing to happen to Heinz Field since Bane. pic.twitter.com/ntaZclQoCZ
— Korked Bats (@korkedbats) July 11, 2022
It looks like this will include an exit for the famed ketchup bottles on the scoreboard (seen at top), which pour over the screen to fill up the “red zone” when the Steelers get there:
The discussion here also saw mentions of how few stadium names the Steelers have played at, and how many people seem set to keep calling it Heinz Field anyway:
Steelers have had seriously underrated stadium continuity. Places they've called home:
Forbes Field
Pitt Stadium
Three Rivers
Heinz FieldThat's it.
Obviously team is staying in the same location. But a new stadium name will be rare. And weird. #Steelers
— Alex Kozora (@Alex_Kozora) July 11, 2022
good luck getting pittsburgh to call that place anything but heinz field they called the concert venue star lake for twenty years until it finally circled back and is named that again
— The Smoking Musket (@smokingmusket) July 11, 2022
Always gonna be Heinz Field yinz #heinzfield pic.twitter.com/TWY4oCd7x0
— Trish Harrison 🐀 (@trish_harrison) July 11, 2022
No matter what it’s called, people are still going to call the home of the Steelers “Heinz Field” forever. https://t.co/BUDc65RBwW
— Mike J. Asti (@MikeAsti11) July 11, 2022
Imagine paying millions upon millions of dollars just for people to continue calling it Heinz Field anyway https://t.co/C16mS7Dx3i
— 𝐍𝐒𝟗 (@NorthShoreNine) July 11, 2022
This was a savvy play by Heinz. They knew they didn’t have to pay another dime for naming rights to have that stadium stay Heinz Field in the hearts of YinzNation.
— Penguins Jesus (@PenguinsJesus) July 11, 2022
We’ll see how the adoption of “Acrisure Stadium” goes (or doesn’t go) over time. The name change will certainly lead to plenty of shifts in official releases, press conferences, and media stories, but there are lots of arenas out there that get regularly referenced by their former name amongst fans despite an official corporate sponsorship change. A couple that come to mind include Toronto’s Rogers Centre, still known by its 1989-2005 name of SkyDome to many, and Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, still known by its 1999-2021 name of Staples Center to many. It remains to be seen if Heinz Field will join that group.
[Andrew Fillipponi on Twitter; top image from a Steelers.com video]
