Pitt should not have an on-campus stadium.
I know this statement will draw immediate ire, but the program is ultimately better off from both a logistical and fan perspective with the current setup of a nearby off-campus stadium.
One of the main talking points brought up when people discuss the possibility of an on-campus stadium for the football program is the possibility of increased student attendance.
While some people may be currently dissuaded from attending the game by the trek down to Acrisure Stadium, student attendance has flourished in recent years. The overflow seating for students has been utilized for every home game thus far during the 2025 season, and much of the 2025 season proves that students will show up at the game regardless.
The real issue lies with the apathy of the alumni base, who fail to make up for strong student attendance with meager crowds. This is likely due to a variety of reasons, but Pitt lacks the alumni base that some premier football programs have.
A smaller stadium than the NFL size, with a capacity of 70,000, could aid the perception of attendance issues, but shrinking the stadium capacity is unlikely to happen, whether on campus or off.
The actual distance to the stadium is not too different from the commutes from off-campus housing at schools with on-campus stadiums. Compared to schools like UCLA and Miami, with 40-minute average commutes, the average commute from Oakland to Acrisure Stadium is around 15 minutes, according to Google Maps.
The shared agreement with the Steelers has served as a recruiting boon, allowing for recruits to play in the same facilities as some of their childhood heroes.
There are plenty of reasons why an on-campus stadium would not work.
You may default to thinking about Pitt Stadium — which stood where the Petersen Events Center currently resides — as proof that an on-campus venue could work for the program.
In reality, that setup would not work for a multitude of reasons.
A lack of parking in Oakland would make an on-campus stadium nearly untenable because anyone not within walking distance would have nowhere to park. On the off chance that the University would build parking lots for the stadium, they would most likely have to demolish houses. The University cannot currently house its first-year students adequately, so it is very unlikely that it would demolish any housing.
With Pitt struggling to get an already apathetic alumni base to one of the most accessible parts of the city in the North Shore, putting the stadium in one of the most congested and parking-scarce neighborhoods of the city would doom the project from the beginning. If Oakland cannot handle parking and traffic for a sold-out volleyball and basketball game simultaneously — which would max out at around 22,000 people — then there is no reason to believe putting a stadium with anything near comparable programs’ capacities would work.
The team also suffered from attendance issues in the late years of the Pitt Stadium. While team performance was certainly a reason for the attendance issues, the lack of parking and accessibility made it not worth the time of many fans.
There is also no space in Oakland to put the stadium. Stadiums occupy a massive amount of space, and there is no room anywhere on campus for a high school-sized football stadium, let alone an FBS college-sized one. Many have floated Schenley Park, but the city is very unlikely to opt to drop a significant chunk of the city’s second-largest park for a stadium.
In the end, the bad completely outweighs the good when it comes to the idea of moving Pitt football on campus. Whether sharing with the Steelers is the most ideal is a different story, but a stadium disconnected from campus is here to stay.
The post Pitt would be worse off with an on-campus stadium appeared first on The Pitt News.