Steelers Stadium Gets Desperately-Needed Upgrade

After the playing surface at Acrisure Stadium received the worst grade of any in the league "by a wide margin" in the most recent round of NFLPA report cards, per ESPN's Kalyn Kahler, the hope is that the new field will put those issues in the past.

Rooney's Prior Comments on Playing Surface

During the NFL Owners Meetings in late March, Art Rooney discussed the decision to switch over to Tahoma 31 Bermudagrass and went into detail on the entire process, which has now been completed.

"The fields actually will be planted at a sod farm," Rooney said, per Steelers.com. "So, we won't get the new field until sometime in August. But as we've talked about, it'll be a new surface, a new kind of grass mixture. And look forward to seeing how it works.

"We chose to make the change. It wasn't mandated by the league. It's been in use in some other stadiums around the country and seems to be having success, so we decided to make the change."

Recent Changes to Seating at Acrisure Stadium

Last October, the Sports and Exhibition Authority in Pittsburgh agreed to pay over $6 million for the first stage of seat replacements at Acrisure Stadium.

In the end, that contribution will have covered over 22,000 seats. By 2029, however, over 58,000 seats are set to be replaced as part of a $17 million initiative.

Furthermore, as Rooney also pointed out at the owners meetings, new black seats have been implemented at Acrisure Stadium to help break up the "sea of gold".

“As we were making changes to the seating, the sea of gold sometimes gets overwhelming,” Rooney said. “So, we did add a little black and gold in there this time around.”

With added focus on Acrisure Stadium as a result of Pittsburgh hosting the 2026 NFL Draft, making the necessary changes to improve and also modernize the fan experience at the venue was at the top of the bucket list.

The lease at the stadium will expire after the 2030 season, meaning the Steelers will soon have to make a decision on their future in that regard.