Inside The Panthers

In Defense of "Heinz" Name For Pitt Football, Steelers' Home

In renaming the home of the Pitt Panthers, fans receive an unwelcome reminder about the power of massive wealth.

Stephen Thompson

In Defense of "Heinz" Name For Pitt Football, Steelers' Home
In Defense of "Heinz" Name For Pitt Football, Steelers' Home /
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PITTSBURGH -- Heinz Field's days are numbered. Not the physical structure - that will remain the same, at least for now - but the name itself is on the way out, according to a Sunday night report from 93.7 The Fan's Andrew Filipponi. He added on Monday morning that the naming rights to the Pitt Panthers and Pittsburgh Steelers' had already been sold to the Michigan-based insurance giant, Acrisure. 

Heinz electing not to renew it's naming rights deal is, in practical terms, a trivial event. It won't hurt any fan's gameday experience - if anything the added revenue could fund stadium upgrades - or change what happens on the field. But Pitt and Steelers fans have still expressed widespread displeasure with the impending change. 

Listen to Inside the Panthers' Stephen Thompson talk about why the expansion of sterile, corporate influences in sports is bad and worth mourning, even if it won't change much materially about the experience at Pittsburgh's football stadium. 

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Stephen Thompson
STEPHEN THOMPSON

Stephen Thompson graduated with a bachelor's degree in communications and political science from Pitt in April 2022 after spending four years as a sports writer and editor at The Pitt News, the University of Pittsburgh's independent, student-run newspaper.  He primarily worked the Pitt men's basketball beat, and filled in on coverage of football, volleyball, softball, gymnastics and lacrosse, in addition to other sports as needed. His work at The Pitt News has won awards from the Pennsylvania News Media Association and Associated College Press.  During the spring and summer of 2021, Stephen interned for Pittsburgh Sports Now, covering baseball in western Pennsylvania. Hailing from Washington D.C., family ties have cultivated a love of Boston's professional teams and Pitt athletics, and a fascination with sports in general.  You can reach Stephen by email at stephenethompson00@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter. Read his latest work:

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