Heinz Field

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Template:Infobox Stadium Heinz Field is a football stadium located just across the Ohio River from downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the home stadium facility of the Pittsburgh Steelers NFL franchise and the University of Pittsburgh Panthers college football team. The stadium sits on approximately 12.4 acres (50,000 m²) of land and has a capacity of 65,050. It was built with a mixture of private and public funds to replace Three Rivers Stadium. Three Rivers was also the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team; they moved into PNC Park when Three Rivers was demolished. One purpose of building the new facilities was to provide each team with a dedicated building rather than a single shared-use stadium. Heinz Field and PNC Park were built opposite each other across the Three Rivers site, which is now a parking lot serving both stadiums.

Heinz Field is primarily a football facility, though it has also hosted soccer games and concerts—in fact the first event at the venue was a concert by pop band N Sync shortly after the stadium opened in August 2001. The Steelers debuted there during the 2001-2002 NFL season. The stadium is a bowl design with an open end facing south. The open end allows views of the Pittsburgh skyline across the Ohio River.

Image:Heinz field scoreboard and river.jpg

The stadium's naming rights were acquired by the H. J. Heinz Company, and thus it is affectionately called "The Big Ketchup Bottle" by ESPN announcer Chris Berman and "The Mustard Palace" (a nod to its yellow seats) by many Pittsburgh-area sportscasters.Template:Fact The main scoreboard at the south end of the stadium is flanked by neon red Heinz ketchup bottles, which rotate and appear to pour out ketchup when the Steelers enter the red zone during games.

Unlike Three Rivers, the playing surface at Heinz Field is natural grass. The field features underground heating to help the grass survive Pittsburgh's winter climate.

Heinz Field has hosted the AFC Championship Game twice, on January 27, 2002 and January 23, 2005, with the Steelers losing to the New England Patriots in each game.

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