Steelers Rename Heinz Field To Acrisure Stadium
It’s the end of an era. The Steelers have announced they are renaming Heinz Field to Acrisure Stadium. After months of negotiating, the Steelers made a deal with Acrisure to be the new name of the stadium. Fans do not approve of this new name and have expressed their feelings about it on social media.
Monday, July 11, the Steelers announced Acrisure as the new name for their stadium. Acrisure is an insurance company based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The only ties that the insurance company has to Pittsburgh are that they bought the artificial intelligence company Tulco in Pittsburgh. The founder of Tulco, Thomas Tull, is a minority owner of the Steelers. However, the major payout has more to do with the name deal than the close affiliation. Acrisure has agreed to a 15-year deal and to pay $10 million to the Steelers each year.
Heinz spoke with the Steelers organization for months discussing a new deal. Ultimately, the Steelers made a new name deal with Acrisure because they were able to pay significantly more than Heinz. Kraft Heinz released a statement saying their name will no longer be displayed on the stadium, but the company will still be a sponsor for the team.
Steelers fans were shocked to hear their beloved field was gone. They went to Twitter to show their never ending support for Heinz Field. Some fans said they will still call it Heinz Field despite the name change. Other fans were reminiscing about the last playoff game at Heinz Field and Ben Roethlisberger being the last quarterback to play in Heinz Field. This is the end of an era for Steelers fans because the stadium will no longer have a name that is deeply rooted in the city’s history.
Pittsburgh is an integral part of the Kraft Heinz company. Its history starts and continues in Pittsburgh. The Founder of Heinz, H.J. Heinz was born in Pittsburgh. The company’s headquarters is also in Pittsburgh where the company was first launched. The field was originally named after Heinz when the company made a deal with the Steelers in 2001, before the stadium was built.