King Art II Goes to Court

It was reported in the business section of the Post-Gazette this morning that the Steelers are going to court to sue someone (the Sports and Exhibition Authority? the City? Eric Holder?  who really cares?) over precisely who should be paying for the addition of the 3,000 seats that are to be added to the now somewhat inadequate 12 year old Heinz Field.  One thing for sure, Art II wants to make certain that the lion's share of the cost of these seats will be born by anyone BUT the Steelers, who will most directly benefit from the addition of the seats.  Oh, and rest assured of one other thing, that portion of the cost that the Steelers will say that they are paying will really be paid for by the ticket buyers in the form of higher ticket prices and parking fees.

The part of this story that is also dispiriting is the implication that Heinz Field, which is, as noted above, only twelve years old, is now somehow unable to properly support the Steelers with statements along the lines of it being 25th out of 32 NFL stadiums in revenue generation.  Should this lawsuit drag on and Art II doesn't get what he wants, I can't wait for the trial balloon to be floated of a new stadium in Washington or Westmoreland County that would provide a home for the Steelers that would enable them to compete forever with the Big Boys in New York and Dallas and blah blah blah.  You know, kind of like Mario Lemieux did with Kansas City a few years ago.  And like Lemieux, someone will blink and Art II will get what he wants.

Art Rooney Sr. might never have done something like this, and maybe Dan Rooney would hesitate, but Art II ain't his grandfather.  He is a cold-blooded, bean counting businessman, so don't be surprised if this happens.

You read it here first.

Do You Feel Sorry for Either Party Here?

Interesting story in the Post-Gazette this morning about the Steelers' planned addition of 3,000 seats to Heinz Field for the 2013 season.  

My own feeling on this is that adding these seats will take away the one design feature of Heinz Field that makes it unique - the open ended south end of the Stadium that gives one a view of the riverfront and the city.  The Steelers say that that will not be lost in the redesign. We'll see.

Anyway, it seems that the Sports and Exhibition Authority (SEA) has not given the final rubber stamp on this that would enable construction to begin and be completed by the opening of the 2013 season.  The SEA is saying financing has not been finalized.  One financing feature being proposed is a $2 or $3 surcharge for parking at the Heinz Field lots.  Parking czar Merrill Stabile says that this is "unfair" to the public.  Oh, by the way, Stabile also mentioned that he is considering an increase in the parking price for Steelers game anyway.  Last time I heard, it already cost $35 to park for a Steelers game.

The Steelers have also proposed that they, the team, will finance the construction.  How are they going to do this?  You guessed it - seat licenses and an additional surcharge on all tickets.  In other words, the ticket buyers, not the Steelers, are paying for this.  The Steelers will also tell you that they want to add these seats for "the fans", especially those people who have been on the waiting list for so long.  The fact that these seats will bring in another $2.4 million a year (and that includes the two practice games that they force on you) has little to do with it as far as the altruistic Art Rooney II is concerned.

So who do you sympathize with the most here?  Art II or Merrill Stabile?  I'm just gald that they both have the public's interest at heart here.