Pitt has one of the more unique situations in the country when it comes to football facilities but changes could be on the horizon in the Steel City.
For those who don’t know the layout of the land, Pitt’s football team shares facilities with the Pittsburgh Steelers -- formally known as the UPMC Sports Performance Complex -- and also play their home games at Heinz Field. While it’s unique that you are in the same place as an NFL team, that does provide some issues considering the football facility is across the Monongahela River from campus and the stadium is several miles away from where the bulk of the student population is during the week.
It sounds as though the university could be up for changing the dynamic though as they look to complete a huge new ‘Victory Heights’ project that will transform campus -- including the potential for having a football stadium itself.
“We just embarked on a pretty extensive university master-planning process. Athletics was a big part of that,” Lyke told TribLive.com. “It (a stadium) is something we will always evaluate. You never know what can happen. With the right finances, there are a lot of things that can happen.”
We’ve seen several schools around the country make the transition from off-campus to on-campus stadiums over the years with great success and one probably can’t rule it out happening for the Panthers either. The team used to play at Pitt Stadium on campus before it was demolished in 1999 to make way for the Petersen Events Center that is now home to the Pitt basketball teams.
Lyke’s comments certainly suggest that the school would love to make something happen on campus, provided somebody write a large check for the project as always.