The Pittsburgh Steelers recently renamed Heinz Field after their two-decade agreement ended, but fans aren’t happy with the new stadium name.
I knew that there was a solid chance that the Pittsburgh Steelers weren’t going to re-up their partnership with Kraft-Heinz Company for the naming rights. What I didn’t know is that I would actually feel upset about what the stadium will now be called.
Since 2001, Heinz has held the naming rights to the Steelers stadium and ‘Heinz Field’ just felt right. In 2021, their 20-year agreement had run out. Both parties made a one-year agreement through February of 2022, but the clock has finally ticked its last on Heinz and their partnership with the Steelers.
On Sunday night, Andrew Filipponi of 93.7 The Fan broke the news that Heinz Field would be no more and that a new name for the Steelers stadium could be coming soon.
The decision happened almost immediately. On Monday morning, Filliponi announced that the Pittsburgh Steelers had found a new naming partner. The place formerly known as Heinz Field will now be called Acrisure Stadium for the foreseeable future.
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
The Rooney’s have to be pleased as this new agreement is going to bring in much more than the annual $2.85 million that they earned in their deal with Heinz. While we don’t have the figures yet, companies like SoFi are paying as much as $20 million to hold the naming rights to the Chargers and Rams stadium and to plaster their logo all over the facility, per Pro Football Talk.
While this name change is going to put more money in the owner’s pocket, fans are not pleased. Here are some Twitter reactions by fans and the Pittsburgh media:
Heinz is Pittsburgh. Acrisure is what? I'm steamed.
— Adam Crowley (@_adamcrowley) July 11, 2022
Acrisure Stadium is incredibly boring. #Steelers #NFL
— Blitzburgh (@Blitz_Burgh) July 11, 2022
There is an ongoing exercise at work trying to pronounce "Acrisure."
— Matt Koll (@MKoll15) July 11, 2022
This is gonna be fun.
I will still call it Heinz Field. I hope you’ll join me in doing so.
— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_PGH) July 11, 2022
How do you go from Heinz Field to Acrisure Stadium? I don’t think there’s one person out there who’s going to say Acrisure Stadium
— Jordanna Clark (@jordymae012) July 11, 2022
Yinz wanna tailgate dahn the Ack fer da Stillers game??
— Chris Mack (@THEChrisMack) July 11, 2022
Screw that.#HeinzForever
As long as they keep the end zone Heinz bottles. Nothing is better than pretending to dump a bunch of ketchup on the field
— Mark Powell (@mp2_pgh) July 11, 2022
It’s clear that people aren’t taking too kindly to this change. Obviously, this is a superficial adjustment that shouldn’t affect the team in any way. However, the nostalgia behind it is making it hard for us to let go.
Eventually, I’d like to think that we will get acclimated to the name change. Fans grew to love Heinz Field after Three River Stadium, so it’s possible. But agree with the fans who think that ‘Acrisure Stadium’ is boring. It just has no flow to it whatsoever.
A few years from now, we will probably look back and laugh about the time we made a big deal over the Pittsburgh Steelers finding a new partner to name their stadium, but for now, I didn’t think that I would be this irritated by the change from Heinz Field to Acrisure Stadium.