Tags: pittsburgh steelers | heinz field | acrisure renaming

Steelers Fans Steamed Over Heinz Field Name Change

Steelers Fans Steamed Over Heinz Field Name Change
The Heinz Field jumbotron displays a message thanking quarterback Ben Roethlisberger #7 of the Pittsburgh Steelers after his potential final game at Heinz Field where the Steelers defeated the Cleveland Browns 26-14 on Jan. 3, 2022 in Pittsburgh. (Joe Sargent/Getty Images)

By    |   Wednesday, 20 July 2022 01:29 PM EDT

For more than 20 years, Heinz has paid $57 million for naming rights to the home stadium of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Welcome to Acrisure Field.

Acrisure LLC, a financial technology company based in Grand Rapids, Mich., far outbid Heinz for naming rights to the stadium, which has got Steeler fans riled up.

H.J. Heinz first sold ketchup out of a wheelbarrow in Steel City in 1855. Although Heinz stopped manufacturing ketchup in Pittsburgh around the turn of the 21st century and reduced its corporate offices there after merging with Kraft Foods in 2015, Pittsburghers still strongly relate to the brand name.

Certainly, its Steeler fans, do. Two giant ketchup bottles sit astride the stadium’s scoreboard and tip over to “spill” ketchup every time the Steelers score (see image).

Steeler fans also don’t get why a Grand Rapids fintech company would take any interest in its stadium—and they've got no clue now to pronounce Acrisure.

“Pittsburghers bleed black and gold, but they also bleed Heinz ketchup,” Andy Masich, president of the Heinz History Center, tells the Wall Street Journal. “It’s part of our DNA here in Pittsburgh.”

Acrisure CEO Greg Williams told reporters at a recent press conference he’s been a Pittsburgh Steelers fan since the 1970s.

Just 1,100 of Acrisure's 14,000 employees live in Pennsylvania.

Actor Curt Wootton of the online series “Pittsburgh Dad,” summed up fans’ disgust with the new name thus: “Acri-what? Acrisure? Well, that just rolls right the hell off the tongue, don’t it?”

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StreetTalk
For more than 20 years, Heinz has paid $57 million for naming rights to the home stadium of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Welcome to Acrisure Field.
pittsburgh steelers, heinz field, acrisure renaming
250
2022-29-20
Wednesday, 20 July 2022 01:29 PM
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