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Bucs back down, but only on water, at PNC Park McClatchy says other food restrictions staying Tuesday, May 22, 2001 By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Under growing pressure from fans and elected officials, the Pirates are giving in -- a little -- on their restrictions on food and beverages that may be taken into PNC Park.
Owner Kevin McClatchy said yesterday he was changing the policy to allow fans to carry plastic bottles of water, up to 20 ounces, into the ballpark.
"I am doing this because I have heard from the fans," McClatchy said at a news conference at PNC Park. "The fans have made it clear.
"I'm not doing this for any elected officials, and I'm not doing this for the media. I'm doing this because the fans have spoken. I've heard them. They want to bring bottled water in."
McClatchy, who suggested the strong feelings about the issue may be related to the Pirates' showing on the field, faulted himself for "letting [the controversy] get to this point."
"This is amazing. We're talking about bottled water. I want to put this story to rest."
McClatchy made several other points yesterday:
McClatchy said the criticism over food and drink was unfair, because the policies at PNC Park are similar or identical to those throughout Major League Baseball.
City Councilman Dan Cohen, a critic of the Pirates beverage and food policy, called yesterday's change a positive step but said it didn't go far enough. He wants all nonalcoholic drinks, including plastic bottles of colas, sodas and juice, allowed in. He also wants metal cans permitted, disagreeing with the Pirates' claim that cans are a safety hazard.
Cohen said the Pirates have banned fans from bringing in plastic bottles of beverages for only one reason -- to earn greater revenue from drink sales.
McClatchy conceded the point. He said he needs the revenue from such food and drink sales to help him compete with other ballclubs.
Cohen and Stephen Leeper, executive director of the Sports & Exhibition Authority, met yesterday for about an hour with McClatchy and two team vice presidents, Steve Greenberg and Dennis DaPra.
Afterward, Cohen said the meeting "was not as cordial as I would have liked."
As to the Pirates adopting an acceptable beverage and food policy, Cohen said, "We're not there yet, but we're going to keep working on this."
He wants the Pirates, at minimum, to return to the policy used at Three Rivers Stadium, which permitted fans to carry in plastic bottles of all nonalcoholic beverages.
DaPra said that food and drink policy was set by SMG, the previous manager of Three Rivers, not by the Pirates. The Pirates were setting the rules at PNC Park.
In May 2000, Cohen said, the Sports & Exhibition Authority (on whose board he sits) told both the Pirates and Steelers it wanted the food and beverage policies at the new stadiums to be the same as they were at Three Rivers.
By banning plastic bottles at PNC Park, Cohen said, "the Pirates violated the spirit, if not the letter, of that resolution."
Cohen said taxpayers paid for most of PNC Park and the sports authority, a city-county agency, owns it.
However, the Pirates' lease doesn't allow the agency to simply order the team around. It gives the Pirates the right to operate the stadium.
Joining in the chorus of boos for the Pirates was Allegheny County Councilman Rich Fitzgerald, who will introduce a nonbinding resolution before council this afternoon on calling on the Pirates to let fans bring in plastic bottles up to a gallon in size -- as well as drinks in paper and Styrofoam cups.
Fitzgerald's policy will also call for allowing coolers as large as 18 inches by 18 inches by 18 inches -- or 12 times the size the Pirates now permit.
McClatchy said that regardless of what politicians demand, he's gone as far as he plans to go in changing the food and drink policy.
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Fans are still banned from bringing plastic bottles of other nonalcoholic beverages, such as soda, lemonade or fruit juices.