A "long-delayed plan" to add 3,000 seats to the south end zone of Heinz Field is "back on track after the Steelers agreed to fund the entire project, ending more than a year of litigation with the stadium owner," according to Mark Belko of the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE. The Steelers under a deal announced yesterday "plan to cover the cost" of the $34.5M seat expansion and the "installation of a second scoreboard" at a cost of $3.3M through ticket revenues and the sale of PSLs. Those revenues will support an annual $2.1M lease payment "to be made by the team to the Pittsburgh-Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority, the Heinz Field owner, to pay off a bond issue the SEA will float to help finance the improvements." Those payments will "start next year and last until the Steelers' lease expires" in '31. No taxpayer money "will be used to pay for the new seats or the second scoreboard," and the team also has "agreed to cover any cost overruns." It will add $1 to an "existing ticket surcharge paid by fans" starting in '15 to "pay for future capital improvements at the 65,500-seat stadium." Under the agreement with the SEA, if the Allegheny Regional Asset District does "not authorize allocations for the multifacility fund, the Steelers have the option of dropping the $1 ticket surcharge." The deal also calls for the Steelers "to be reimbursed" $2M of the $5M they spent to "make repairs to the Heinz Field control room." The team in reaching the agreement "abandoned a demand that the SEA pay two-thirds of the cost for the expansion based on a section of the Heinz Field lease involving designated expansions of no more than 10,000 seats" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 5/20).
DEAL DETAILS: ESPN.com's Scott Brown noted talks between the Steelers and the SEA "had been contentious" (ESPN.com, 5/19). In Pittsburgh, Tom Fontaine notes ticket prices are "going up this season with variable pricing depending on the opponent expected to boost season ticket prices" by 2.5-4.5% (PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 5/20).
