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Heinz, Steelers spread the word on name for new stadium 'Are you hungry for some football?' Rooney quips Saturday, June 16, 2001 By Tom Barnes and Patricia Sabatini, Post-Gazette Staff Writers
The air was filled with puns -- most of them bad -- as H.J. Heinz Co. forked over $57 million to call the Steelers' new stadium Heinz Field for the next 20 years.
"Are you hungry for some football?" Steelers Vice President Art Rooney II asked an enthusiastic crowd at a news conference near the southern end of the new stadium, where the long-awaited naming rights announcement was made yesterday.
With Steelers quarterback Kordell Stewart looking on, Rooney quipped, "Kordell will be pouring on the points at Heinz Field."
"While you're pouring on the points, I hope fans everywhere are pouring on the Heinz ketchup," chimed in William Johnson, Heinz chairman and chief executive officer and the son of former Cincinnati Bengals coach Bill "Tiger" Johnson.
Johnson said he expected sports announcers to have fun making up Heinz food puns. He even added a few corny suggestions of his own, such as how fans should "relish" each game and how he expects the "red zone" -- the area inside the 20-yard line -- to be known as the "ketchup zone."
And so it went under the bright sunshine on the North Shore, as the two local giants celebrated their new union.
"This is a marriage made in Pittsburgh, one that brings together two winning organizations," said National Football League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who arranged for the Steelers to play their rivals, the Cleveland Browns, on Sept. 16 in the first regular-season game at Heinz Field.
Johnson called the deal "a touchdown for the Heinz Co.," adding that the potential marketing value for a global consumer products company like Heinz was huge.
"This buys us enormous marketing cachet in brand-name recognition in the most popular sport in the world in terms of viewership. We'll find our way into 110 million homes virtually every [football] Sunday."
Still, Heinz is sure to face criticism over shelling out millions at a time when it's been closing plants and laying off workers around the globe to cut costs.
Following two major restructurings in recent years, the company this spring laid off another 1,900 people worldwide, including about 55 in Pittsburgh.
Johnson defended the stadium deal, saying, "I think it's a good price for our shareholders."
He noted that the $2.85 million annual cost to Heinz represented less than 1 percent of the company's billion-dollar marketing budget and was equivalent to what advertisers pay for one 30-second spot during the Super Bowl.
"This is not a real burden on our marketing budget."
He said the company wasn't struggling and that the restructuring was intended to "get this company into fighting shape."
Henry John Heinz, a marketing and advertising pioneer who founded the company in 1869, "would have done this in a New York minute," Johnson said.
The name Heinz Field was picked by a handful of top executives at Heinz, including Johnson and Senior Vice President Ted Smyth.
Heinz Field won because it reflected the food company's agricultural roots and the fact that the stadium is using grass instead of the artificial turf of old Three Rivers Stadium, Smyth said. Heinz Field also "has a warm feeling to it," he said.
Other names that were in the running included Heinz Coliseum, Heinz Stadium and Heinz Bowl. The latter was thrown out because it was too closely associated with college bowl games, Smyth said.
It's believed Heinz got into formal negotiations fairly late in the game, stepping in only after PPG Industries Inc. dropped out.
PPG spokesman John Ruch confirmed the company had held preliminary naming rights talks earlier this year, but he said the glass, paint and chemicals giant decided it wasn't a good marketing value.
"We're committed to the community, but putting PPG's name on the stadium wasn't something that was consistent with our marketing objectives as a manufacturing company," Ruch said. "We don't have a big retail business."
Ruch wouldn't say when talks broke off or how much the company had been willing to pay.
The always-guarded Rooney refused to discuss PPG or any other potential bidders. He said a number of companies, most of them local but some national, had talked with the team about buying the naming rights.
He said he considered the price of $57 million to be just fine and said he wasn't envious of other NFL teams, like the expansion Houston Texans, the Denver Broncos and the Washington Redskins, all of which got considerably more for naming rights.
Rooney said he knew that many fans, for sentimental reasons, wanted the new football palace to be called "Art Rooney Stadium," after his grandfather, who founded the team in 1933.
Rooney II said he appreciated such sentiments, but noted that a street just east of the stadium will be named Art Rooney Avenue and that the statue of "The Chief" that used to stand outside Gate D at Three Rivers Stadium will soon be dedicated in a plaza near the main entrance at the southern end of Heinz Field.
Rooney also reminded people that his grandfather was a no-nonsense, bottom-line-oriented businessman.
"He was a pro football pioneer," Rooney said. "He understood the business better than anyone. Meeting the payroll on Monday was as exciting for him as winning on Sunday."
Heinz's Johnson said negotiations started out "a little higher," but that the two sides came to an agreement quickly. The Rooneys initially were hoping for a range of $90 million to $100 million over 20 years.
"It wasn't a difficult negotiation," Johnson said. "We happen to like the number 57, and after a while, the Steelers liked it, too."
The number "57" has long been associated with the Heinz Co., whose founder coined the enduring slogan "57 Varieties" more than 100 years ago.
Johnson said Heinz never considered incorporating the Rooney name into the stadium name, saying, "We wanted to make sure our shareholders got the full value for the marketing money we're spending."
The $57 million paid by Heinz will go a long way toward helping the Rooneys come up with their $123 million share of the cost of the $281 million stadium.
Another major boost for the Rooneys is the $40 million they've received through the sale of nearly 50,000 personal seat licenses -- a one-time payment for the right to buy season tickets.
The rest of the private funds will come from loans the family has taken, said Rooney. He is team general counsel and son of team President Dan Rooney, who couldn't make yesterday's ceremony because he's vacationing in Ireland.
For its $57 million, Heinz will get four large signs -- one on the back side of the scoreboard at the southern end of the field, facing the river; one on the outside at the northern end; and two others, at entrance gates at the northeastern and northwestern corners of the building.
The size and placement of those signs still need city Planning Commission and the Zoning Board of Adjustment approval.
Heinz also will get a package of smaller signs inside the stadium, including its logos on concession stands and the exclusive right to sell certain products, like ketchup and other condiments. Heinz also gets a luxury suite on the 50-yard line.
The first public event at Heinz Field will be a concert by the pop group N' Sync on Aug. 18. The field will be covered with plywood to protect the grass, Rooney said.
Preseason games are set for Aug. 25 and 30, and the home opener is Sept. 16.
University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark Nordenberg and Athletic Director Steve Pederson also attended yesterday's ceremony because Pitt will play its home games at Heinz Field. The Panthers' first game there is Sept. 1, against East Tennessee State University.
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