Steelers Throwback Thursday: The Opening of Heinz Field
Steel City Underground presents “Steelers Throwback Thursday” featuring plays, stories, and recaps from recent and past seasons which you may have forgotten about! Now we’re “bringing them back!”
Heinz Field is nearing its 20th anniversary as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ and Pittsburgh Panthers’ home football stadium. 19 years ago, on August 25th, 2001, the first football game was played at Heinz Field.
Ground broke for Heinz Field on June 18, 1999, where the ceremony was co-hosted by both the Steelers and the University of Pittsburgh. It was not until 2001 that the H. J. Heinz Company purchased the naming rights to the stadium a couple of months before the grand opening. It was agreed that Heinz would pay the Steelers a total of $57 million through 2021, where the ’57’ is a reference to “Heinz 57”.
The first football game was played on August 25, 2001, but that was not the first event to be held in the new stadium. ‘N Sync hosted a concert on August 18, 2001, before the Steelers had their first preseason game in their new stadium. Coincidentally, that was also the last band to play at the Steelers’ previous location, Three Rivers Stadium.
The Steelers hosted the Detroit Lions on August 25, 2001, as the first unofficial game at Heinz Field. They won with a score of 20-7 and had 57,829 spectators, about 6,500 fans short of full capacity.
The first official football game played in the stadium was between the Pittsburgh Panthers and East Tennessee State on September 1. The Panthers also won their first game in their new stadium by a score of 31-0.
The Steelers were scheduled to have their first official game on September 16 against the Cleveland Browns, but the game was postponed due to the September 11 attacks. All NFL games were postponed, and the premiere of Heinz Field for the Steelers was moved to October 7 against the Cincinnati Bengals. Pittsburgh was dominating in their opening game at Heinz Field, as the Steelers won their first official football game against the Bengals, 16-7. Steelers kicker Kris Brown scored the first NFL points in the stadium while Kordell Stewart had the first touchdown with an eight-yard run into the endzone.
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With Kraft Heinz Company (renamed after Heinz acquired Kraft Foods Group) paying the Steelers through 2021, it was announced in 2019 that it is unlikely they will renew their naming rights contract for Heinz Field with the Steelers.
