It took just 19 seconds for a colossal Pittsburgh sports landmark to collapse. Mary Ann and her husband were Steelers season ticket holders for 42 years until Paul, 61, passed away that year. The field was artificial turf. Roughly a decade later, outfielder Andy Van Slyke had a cigarette lighter thrown in his direction; upon picking it up, Van Slyke read an attached message that said, Use this to light a fire under you. His teammate, Bobby Bonillain the midst of an All-Star season in 1988was heavily booed at Three Rivers because his home batting average was 100 points lower than on the road. The Steelers won 17 Monday Night Football games at Three Rivers Stadium. Stargell was a man of such power, nothing at Three Rivers seemed to be outside of his reach. Though spacious Forbes Field was perfectly suited for Clementes brand of line-drive hitting, he found Three Rivers to be no problem. ", The Pittsburgh Steelers played their first game in Three Rivers Stadium on September 20, 1970a 197 loss to the Houston Oilers. Many of the sports fans who gathered along the Allegheny River that morning in 2001 had witnessed greatness in the stadium, and they now came to say farewell. But not everything was hauled away for disposal. [11] As part of the deal, the university leased Forbes back to the Pirates until a replacement could be built. [38][39] The field originally used "Gamesaver vacuum vehicles" to dry the surface, though they were later replaced by an underground drainage system. Three Rivers Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1970 to 2000. Three Rivers Stadium was demolished on February 11th, 2001 at 8 AM. [11] It originally seated 50,611 for baseball,[11] but several expansions over the years brought it to 58,729. Yes, Three Rivers Stadium was another one of those venues people now love to hate: A perfectly circular hunk of concrete largely adorned with slightly angled spectator ramps perfectly spaced between four large welcoming gates. The Pirates were not using the pending eviction to leave town; the university would, in fact, be patiently gracious in letting Forbes Field remain standing and active as long as the Pirates needed it. They played there in the following games: Three Rivers Stadium opened on July 16, 1970, but the Pirates lost 32 to the Cincinnati Reds in front of 48,846spectators. Now, Wagner stands guard in front of the home-plate entrance at PNC Park on the corner of General Robinson Street and Mazeroski Way. Due to lack of support, however, the arguments faded. [11][33][34], Three Rivers was the first multi-purpose stadium and the first in either the NFL or MLB to feature 3M's Tartan Turf (then a competitor to the dominant AstroTurf), which was installed for opening day. Like all the other stadiums of its ilk and time, Three Rivers became an unattractive yet necessary link from ancient times to the modern age. It was the second ballpark to be located across the river from downtown Pittsburgh as the Pirates had played at Exposition Park from 1890 to 1909. The Pirates move to Three Rivers Stadium failed to domesticate the base. Five years after local authorities said yes to a new stadium, there wasnt even a scope of work; the Fort Duquesne Bridge, conceptualized specifically to carry auto traffic from downtown Pittsburgh toward the stadium, was 90% completewith the last 10% on hold until there was actual progress on the facility. It was to call for a 70,000-seat stadium with hotels, marina, and a 100-lane bowling alley. He was forced to go back to the drawing board when construction bids to realize his design were $10 million over budget. [14] Pittsburgh hosted its third All-Star Game in 1974. Heartbreak segued to an even more depressing reality. Pittsburgh Pirates Team History A decade-by-decade history of the Pirates, the ballparks theyve played in, and the four people who are on the franchises Mount Rushmore. That late surge fueled a 1979 season in which a lively unit, led by clubhouse father figure Stargell, won nearly 100 games, swept the Cincinnati Reds in the National League Championship Series and, in a virtual repeat of their 1971 world title, again faced the Oriolesand again came back from two games down, winning the final three contests for their second (and last) World Series conquest in the Three Rivers era. (The story is disputed, but its a good one.). They were located behind home plate. [15] In April 1969, construction was behind schedule and the target opening of April 1970 was deemed unlikely to be met. The Steelers called Three Rivers Stadium home when they won four of their six Super Bowls. The Sports & Exhibition Authority said proceeds from the auction, minus costs and the auctioneers' cut, will be used to pay the $5.2 million demolition cost of Three Rivers Stadium, and to. Stargell came alive with a career-high 48 homers (his previous high at Forbes was a relatively mere 33), but he wasnt alone on the star chart. Phil Hundley, a Deeter Ritchey Sipple architect who was not intricately involved in the Three Rivers Stadium project but was around in 2020 to talk about it, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: It had retail. If 25,000 people go (to Three Rivers) for a game, said one-time Pirate Phil Garner to The Sporting News, most of them will still be there two hours after the game.. I-79 restrictions begin Wednesday night in Allegheny County, Inbound Armstrong Tunnel closed as yearlong rehab project begins, Feds want Tree of Life suspect psychiatric examination, $320K makeover planned for Greenfield's Four Mile Run Playground, Models strut the runway with their canines for the Bark and Swagger Dog Fashion Show, Historic Hempfield cemetery seeks volunteers, donors to help care for grounds, 2nd annual 'Restaurant Ramble' features 10 downtown New Kensington eateries, Tom Sizemore, Saving Private Ryan actor, dies after brain aneurysm, TV Talk: Mel Brooks History of the World, Part II belatedly arrives on Hulu, Western Pennsylvania's trusted news source. Price: From $79.99 to $99.99. As bad as sports fans were at Three Rivers, those attending concerts were even worse. No team ever scored 20 or more runs in a game at Three Rivers Stadium. Price: From $89.99 to $129.99. The Panthers played their full home schedule there for the 2000 season, going 74. Another 3,000-4,000 viewing from atop Mount Washington and an uncounted number of people viewed the demolition from various high points across the city. No perfect game was ever thrown at Three Rivers, but in 1981 the Pirates Jim Bibby retired 27 Atlanta batters in a row after allowing a leadoff single in the first inning. Three Rivers Stadium. Jack Tatum hit the intended receiver, 'Frenchy' Fuqua, and knocked the ball back to Harris, who caught it and ran into the end zone. It was just going to be packed on the North Side., But nothing came of it. It hosted the World Series in 1971 and 1979 and the All-Star Game in 1974 and 1994. Almost as surprisingly, the fans returneddrawing over two million in both 1990 and 1991, the only two times they would reach the figure at Three Rivers. The concourse areas were dark and dingy. Oh, and yeslocal football team wants to join along. Its not that the Pirates had a choice in Forbes Fields fateat least not after 1958, when they sold the ballpark to the adjacent University of Pittsburgh, which wanted to raze the structure for campus expansion. Things to Do in Three Rivers, California: See Tripadvisor's 15,126 traveler reviews and photos of Three Rivers tourist attractions. So the idea was to open it up and see the city.. They were considered by many to be ugly and obsolete, as well as not financially viable. His Hall-of-Fame teammate Steve Carlton had the most wins as a visitor, with 15. This fantastic plate of Three Rivers stadium is a great piece of baseball history. At the groundbreaking for Three Rivers Stadium, April 1968, Steelers owner Art Rooney kicks a football, while Dan Rooney holds. The stadiums only physical feature that remains where it once stood is an obelisk-style beacon for Gate D, which could be found in a grassy area outside the south end zone of Acrisure Stadium. The initial chatter toward a modern stadium actually predated the universitys purchase of Forbes by a decade. The former home of the Pirates . Before each one of his appearances, the show plays a clip of Greg Brown and Steve Blass (complete with a train whistle) calling Wehner's home run that ended up being the very last in Three Rivers Stadium history. And while the Bridge to Nowhere did get complete and got somewhere, some of the other promised access roads around the stadium never materialized. They slapped tarps in the upper reaches of the top deck to reduce capacity by 10,000; placed ads on the outfield walls; opened a caf behind the left-field fence, which had slats cut out so patrons could view the game; replaced the original red-and-gold seats with new ones painted in blue; and opened a full-scale restaurant, featuring two bars serving microbrews, near the southeast entrance with glass windows looking out towards downtown Pittsburgh. Donned with multiple, vivid uniform combinations of black, gold and pinstripes, the Pirates intensified their exciting brand of ball, particularly excelling at Three Rivers; during a last-gasp effort to steal the 1978 NL East title from the Philadelphia Phillies, they won a major league-record 24 straight games at home. Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds - Sightseeing on the Circle Line June 13, 2021; Sanford Field, Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium, and Sanford Museum May 17, 2020; Fleming Stadium and the North Carolina Baseball Museum April 11, 2020; The West Coast Wrigley Field April 5, 2020; Space Coast Stadium's New Frontier March 17, 2019 The Pirates may have been overtaken by the Steelers as Pittsburghs most adored, but they still had Mojo; an aging but still dangerous Willie Stargell was joined by a colorful cast of characters that included burly MVP-level slugger Dave Parker, the tirelessly skinny and bespectacled reliever Kent Tekulve, and 67 starting pitcher John Candelaria, who threw the Bucs first no-hitter at Three Rivers in 1976. boundtree continuing education; can you be charged under ucmj after discharge. Losing the view of downtown was a bitter bill for Ritchey to swallow; he would ultimately call Three Rivers Stadium his biggest disappointment as an architect. [11] The sight lines were more favorable to football; almost 70% of the seats in the baseball configuration were in fair territory. Former Pirates manager Chuck tanner acknowledges the crowd before the final game at Three Rivers Stadium. [32] In 1993, the Pirates placed tarps on most of the upper deck to create a better baseball atmosphere, reducing capacity to 47,687. The Steelers would move to Heinz Field after it was closed.[73]. A two-story, concrete marker for Gate D is the only portion of Three Rivers Stadium still standing. [66] In 1979, the Pirates again won a World Championship, yet again defeating the Baltimore Orioles in a seven-game World Series. Attendance, abetted by a full-blown depression in Pittsburgh with 23% unemployment at one point, dipped well below a million; in 1983, the Pirates drew their smallest-ever crowd at Three Rivers when a gathering of 1,970 showed up. [63] The first hit in the stadium was by Pittsburgh's Richie Hebner, in the bottom of the first inning. names for church food ministry three rivers stadium home plate location. [57], On September 30, 2012, members of the Society for American Baseball Research marked and painted the home plate and first base of the former stadium on the 40th Anniversary of Roberto Clemente's 3,000th hit.[58]. Three Rivers Stadium hosted the first MLB postseason game ever played on artificial turf (1970), the first World Series night game (1971), and the first League Championship Series night contest (1972). Delays and some disputation peppered the building phase of Three Rivers Stadium. When Heinz Field opened, Coca-Cola also assumed the beverage contract for that stadium (the Pirates signed a deal with Pepsi for PNC Park before signing with Coke again in 2014), and also became the primary sponsor for the Steelers' team Hall of Fame, the Coca-Cola Great Hall. [71] A Steelers symbol recognized worldwide, The Terrible Towel debuted on December 27, 1975, at Three Rivers Stadium. Thousands of souvenirs had already made their way into the hands of fans. what was bolivar's ultimate goal? The following year, the stadium was the site of the Immaculate Reception. Three Rivers Stadium Fun Facts: Opened in 1971 with a seating capacity of 59,000 for football. frozen kasha varnishkes. The Ballparks: Forbes Field Removed from downtown Pittsburghs choking smoke and untamed rivers, elegant Forbes Field was built in a vernal, cultural paradise on the outskirts of town, where three was the magic numberfrom three Pirates world titles to Babe Ruths last three homers to the last tripleheader to all those triples. This was a premier spot for other big name concerts as well. You could sit in the stands and see Flagstaff Hill and Schenley Park. An 8-by-12-foot area of the 406 marker section of the Forbes Field brick wall, 12 Romanesque window frames, and the Babe Ruth plaque showing where his 714th home run landed were in the Allegheny Club at Three Rivers. Sister Sledge, the We Are Family authors from the Bucs fabled 1979 campaign, reunited to sing the National Anthem. [13] Plans of the "Stadium over the Monongahela" were eventually not pursued. Roberto Clemente statue outside Three Rivers Stadium is shown on October 16, 1994 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The model of the stadium, revealed at the end of 1964, was eye candy on a prime level; a 54,000-seat venue with an overhang that protected 70% of the fans, thinning out and angling downward toward the river; private suites; and two restaurants, one open year-round. Baseballs acceleration of free agency dollars exposed the widening gulf between big and small markets, and the Pirates clearly represented the latter. [11], In 1958, the Pirates sold Forbes to the University of Pittsburgh for $2 million ($18.8 million today). Pittsburgh beats Oakland 13-7 in an AFC Divisional playoff game on Franco Harris' Immaculate Reception. The Steelers sold out every home game from 1972 through the closing of the stadium, a streak which continues through 2008. It is in North Shore. A 1973 Led Zeppelin concert nearly turned into a riot; a year later, Eric Clapton was nailed in the face by a (perhaps) errant frisbee. The view from the top of Three Rivers Stadium during the first game played on July 16, 1970. After reaching such heavenly highs in Three Rivers Stadiums first decade, the Pirates almost had nowhere to go but down in the 1980s. After its closing, Three Rivers Stadium was imploded in 2001, and the Pittsburgh Pirates and Pittsburgh Steelers moved into newly built dedicated stadiums: PNC Park and Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium), respectively. One silver lining to perhaps emerge from the Pirates lack of fans during the 1980s is that there were fewer of them to abuse the players. Another question is the precise location of the monument to Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss . When 70,000 peoplemany without ticketsattempted to force their way into a 1976 concert featuring ZZ Top and Aerosmith, leading to an injury count of at least 250, public officials debated whether to end rock music acts at Three Rivers. Ground was broken in April 1968 and an oft behind-schedule construction plan lasted for 29months. A card-carrying member of the Cookie Cutter Society, Three Rivers Stadium was the cookie that needed a bite taken out of it to reveal downtown Pittsburgh for those inside. Three Rivers Stadium had a beverage contract with Coca-Cola throughout its history. Dave Nightengale wrote of the stadium having all the life of a funeral parlor. Fans embraced the Steelers in a way never felt by the Pirates; blue-collar fans somehow scraped up enough cash to fill the joint over and over againfrom 1972 on, the Steelers sold out every game at Three Riversand formed rabid fan groups celebrating players from Franco Harris to placekicker Roy Gerela. The exodus buried the Bucs into eternal losing mode, while the situation made Three Rivers Stadium outdated and an obstacle to the future just as a new generation of popular, revenue-generated retro ballparks quickly began to rise in the horizon. But topping all of the above has to be, by all accounts, the most bizarre incident in the history of Three Rivers Stadium. [22] The stadium was named in February 1969 for its location at the confluence of the Allegheny River and Monongahela River, which forms the Ohio River. [14] A design was presented in 1958 which featured an open centerfield designthrough which fans could view Pittsburgh's "Golden Triangle". That decision was in turn reversed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which agreed with her argument about the Baseball Rule and also noted that the opening to the concourse through which the foul had passed was a purely architectural choice that was not necessary to the game of baseball. Its enclosed nature was a necessity of compromise, a confluence of sports teams near a confluence of rivers, yielding a confluence of championship glory before tough times set inmost certainly for a Pirates team that found progress in the modern age a steep slope to climb. You can see the top of Fort Pittsburgh Bridge (I-279) at the bottom. There was much initial praise for Three Rivers as a civic stadium meant to pull the Pirates and Steelers out of far more rustic times, but the compromised tedium many would ultimately slam it and other so-called cookie-cutter stadiums for was still hardly lost on some even as it doors opened for the first time. In the summer of 1998, Three Rivers Stadium receive its death sentence with the approval of PNC Park and Heinz Field, side-by-side facilities built exclusively for the Pirates and Steelers, respectively. The Steelers warmed up from scratch in their first two years at Three Rivers, with a young, taciturn head coach (Chuck Noll) who made bland wallpaper exciting, and a hotshot Louisiana-born quarterback (Terry Bradshaw) learning the ropes at the pro level. Home, the place of origin or a destination point, is where the heart is. It had hotels. But a return to the championship podium, reviving memories of Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell, remained elusive; they lost the 1990 NLCS to the Reds in six games, led the 1991 NLCS against Atlanta three games to two before being shut out twice at Three Rivers to bow out, then lost again to the Braves in 1992 when, with a 2-0 lead going into the bottom of the ninth in Game Seven, they gave up three runs to suffer a third straight pennant defeat. It's been 20 years since the home of the Pirates and Steelers was imploded before the new stadiums were opened. Home plate is rocketed from Three Rivers Stadium to PNC Park after the final game. Providing the infrastructural design was Michael Baker International, a fast-growing firm which had a hand in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, the Seattle Space Needle, and Pittsburgh International Airport, among many other projects around the planet. Dock Ellis and Manny Sanguillen, the battery for the first game back in 1970, threw and caught the ceremonial first pitch. . Even if they end up building a hockey rink there, they should put some kind of a monument to that area where the Immaculate Reception took place. George Strait's Country Music Festival 1999. Its spaciousness was evident from the outside; tall windows stretched upward and across, allowing patrons on cascading levels of table seating and barstools to enjoy the game while eating and/or imbibing. Copyright20062023,Somerightsreserved. Three Rivers Stadium also hosted the Pittsburgh Maulers of the United States Football League and the University of Pittsburgh Panthers football team for a single season each.[7][8]. Madrid no se detiene en una maana plena de normalidad, aunque con menos gente en las calles y ms policas que cortan por momentos algunas calles . Approximate Location of Three Rivers Stadium Left Field Corner Looking Toward Home Plate. 7/14/1973. Mary Ann Wellener, with the help of her son Paul, places a pair of seats from Three Rivers Stadium on the grave of her husband Paul Wellener III, in Mount Lebanon Cemetery where they hope to have them permanently mounted, Jan. 6, 2001. Flickr photos, groups, and tags related to the "threeriversstadium" Flickr tag. At the time, the stadium still had a debt of just less than . The team proudly released a chart of the loudest decibel level counts during each of Parkers at-bats in his first game back at Three Rivers as a member of the Reds. Both the Pirates and Steelers won it all that year, capping a sensational first decade at Three Rivers Stadium in which both teams combined for six championship titles (Sports Illustrated). Sets of 2-3 Seat Feet- Oak Wood Floor Mounting Brackets - for Three Rivers Double Leg Style Seats. Built as a replacement for Forbes Field, which opened in 1909, the US$55million ($406.4 million today) multi-purpose facility was designed to maximize efficiency. However, an archive of the original site still exists, albeit at a different domain name. Forbes Field wasnt getting any younger, the Pirates patience was thinning, and the university was standing by with the wrecking ball, fingers tapping on the lever. Sunday 00:00 - 00:00. Jul 18, 1998. Realtime driving directions to Three Rivers Stadium Home Plate Location, Pittsburgh, based on live traffic updates and road conditions - from Waze fellow drivers. Terry Bradshaw was a frequent target of boosbut his successors at the quarterback spot fared far worse. This historical marker was erected in 2006 by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Three Rivers Stadium and sports on the Northside of Pittsburgh In the case of the Pirates, those good timesand high times, nudge-nudgecame crashing down upon them in a thoroughly depressing, scandal-ridden second decade to follow. [72] In the 1995 AFC Championship game, the Steelers' Randy Fuller deflected a Hail Mary pass intended for Indianapolis Colts receiver Aaron Bailey as time expired, to send the franchise to their fifth Super Bowl. . Open now. Pittsburgh, PA, US. It was very nice. The implosion of Three Rivers Stadium with the Fort Duquesne Bridge over the Allegheny River. It was the site of Roberto Clemente's 3,000th hit, September 30, 1972, and Franco Harris's legendary "Immaculate Reception," December 23, 1972. Locals mocked it as the Bridge to Nowhere.. Even the pleasing evergreen views beyond the fences from inside Forbes Field were rapidly being overcome by industry and other inevitable forms of development. The stadium opened in 1970 and was home to the Pittsburgh Steelers football team and the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team. [29], Three Rivers Stadium was similar in design to other stadiums built in the 1960s and 1970s, such as RFK Stadium in Washington, Shea Stadium in New York, Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, the Houston Astrodome, Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, and Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis, which were designed as multi-purpose facilities to maximize efficiency. The Parrot was an instant hit and remains a popular asset to this day at PNC Park. It took 10 years to wipe it off the books. It was during the Steelers' stay in Three Rivers that the now famous "Mean Joe" Greene Coke commercial aired, leading to a longstanding relationship between the two. TribLIVE's Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox. The expansive parking lot, both Pirates and Steelers team offices, the Allegheny Club (VIP Club) and the press boxes and facilities were not opened until weeks later due to extended labor union work stoppages. [63] The Pirates lifted their television blackout policy for home games so that local fans could see the inaugural game. Contents Three rivers stadium implosion february 11 2001 at 8 00 am Franco Harris rushed for 27 100-yard games at Three Rivers Stadium. All good things come to an end. Nothing happens in Pittsburgh without fireworks. The rancor became so R-rated that, by 1985, the Pirates set up a G-rated family section at Three Rivers that forbade profanity and alcohol. In 1972, the Steelers made the postseasonwhich itself was big newsbut the franchises coming-of-age moment occurred in their first playoff game with, arguably, the most memorable play in NFL history. Sets of 2-3 Steel Seat Feet for Three Rivers Stadium Floor MOUNTING Seats from the former home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Have a comment, question or request? Even after its implosion, Three Rivers Stadium continued to live on in the bills of taxpayers, who still had to help pay off $40 million of debt on the facility. For the Pirates, time seemed to stand still on any progress toward an actual stadium. The only Pirate who wore a jersey for the very first game and this, the very last, was bench coach Richie Hebner, who started at third base in Three Rivers inaugural game, attracted ladies with his good looks and boos from everyone else for his subpar defense, and later criticized the stadium by stating, My fathers cemetery has more life in it than this ballpark. A crowd of 55,351, the largest ever to see a baseball game at Three Rivers, watched as the Bucs blew a late lead and bowed to the Chicago Cubs, 10-9. July 16, 2020 8:00 am ET. [40], Due to Three Rivers Stadium's multi-purpose design, bands including Alice Cooper, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, and The Who hosted concerts at the venue. The longest unofficial home run in Three Rivers Stadium was a 519-foot drive unleashed well into the upper deck by the Chicago White Sox Frank Thomas during the 1994 Home Run Derby. Official fundraiser page for Pittsburgh Baseball HISTORY TRAIL, THREE RIVERS STADIUM HOME PLATE and Informational Marker As the development of the land. Three Rivers Stadiums original scoreboard extends out above the outfield wall. The first World Series night game was played at the stadium on Oct. 13, 1971. [67] On September 30, 1972, Pirates' right-fielder Roberto Clemente got his 3,000th hit at Three Rivers Stadium, three months before his death. Buying was a consortium of private and public sources, meant as a stopgap to keep the team in Pittsburgh and buy time to find a longer-term owner who had yet to come along. Downtown Pittsburgh peaks over the top of the other side. PNC Park is a baseball park located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It also featured a Pirates Hall of Fame which, at one stage, included wax figures of Honus Wagner, Pie Traynor and Roberto Clemente wearing the uniforms of their times. But modern times also made for a strong presence. Driving directions. Built as a replacement to Forbes Field, which opened in 1909, the US$55 million multi-purpose facility was designed . Worse, there was wrangling between the city of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, the latter beginning to balk on its financial contribution toward the stadium unless the Pirates and Steelers pitched in more. Three Rivers Stadium, home to the Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers from 1970 to 2000. The Allegheny Club doubled as an ode to the past; it included a segment of Forbes Field famed brick wall, and a plaque honoring Babe Ruths final home run (hit at Forbes in 1935). Three Rivers Stadium implosion as seen from Point State Park. A 16-year-old boy won a raffle to push the button that began the detonation. [16] The stadium was located in a portion of downtown difficult to access;[11] political debate continued over the North Side Sports Stadium and the project was often behind schedule and over-budget. [36] The bullpens were moved to multiple locations throughout the stadium's history; however, their first position was also their final onebeyond the right-field fence. You or your group will be treated to an all-inclusive premium buffet while enjoying the game from one of the best vantage points in the ballpark. Arch. But the Steelers, benefitting from a generous NFL revenue sharing system badly lacking in MLB, played only 10 home games a year, not 81and so the stadium sat drowning in nearly $50 million in debt, while the Pirates were losing up to $10 million a year, borrowing more millions just to stay afloat and knocking heads with the stadium authority to sweeten the Three Rivers lease as they had been doing for years. While the Pirates represented baseball tradition, the Steelers represented PittsburghTough, hard-nosed, grim-featured, not so fancy, wrote The Sporting News Furman Bisher. This eventually culminated in the Regional Renaissance Initiative, an 11-county 1997 voter referendum to raise the sales tax in Pittsburgh's Allegheny County and ten adjacent counties 0.5% for seven years to fund separate new stadiums for the Pirates and Steelers, as well as an expansion of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and various other local development projects. On July 6, 1980, the Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs 54 in 20inningsthe most innings ever played at the stadium. three rivers stadium home plate location three rivers stadium home plate location. That brought instant sentimentality of a kind upon a facility derided for so long by fans, but now embraced as a much-needed link from the iconic days of Forbes Field to the future days that lay ahead at the new venues. Forty years earlier, Art Rooney had paid $2,500 he had floating around from winnings at the racetrack to purchase an expansion National Football League team in Pittsburgh. Joe B. Fleisner (left) and Jared Castine stack seats removed from the stands at Three Rivers Stadium on Jan. 3, 2000, in preparation for the auction of the contents.