Steelers' David Morehouse, Pennsylvania Governor, And Other Pieces In Place For Massive Upgrades To Acrisure Stadium

Earlier this month, the Pittsburgh Steelers promoted David Morehouse by awarding him the title of Executive Vice President for Strategy. With this new expanded role, Morehouse will directly oversee the strategic path of Acrisure Stadium. After 16 seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins and being an integral part to the team’s most recent arena deal, Morehouse is bringing a similar mindset to football. 

That initiative may be easier said than done, though. Clues no one is talking about suggest a massive deal is in the works for the Steelers' stadium. Morehouse's promotion leads to that notion. To begin, let’s think back to how the offseason began for the Steelers and the NFL heading into the 2023 season.

The Steelers Received Horrible Grades For Acrisure Stadium Amenities

Earlier this year, the NFL Players’ Association (NFLPA) conducted their first ever survey for players to evaluate the different clubs in different aspects. With a valid increase of attention towards facility and field conditions, as well as strength and well-being support, NFL free agents now need to consider other factors of possible destinations outside of, 'where am I going to win a Super Bowl?'. NFLPA president, JC Tretter shed some light on the objective of this survey and subsequent report card at the NFL Combine in February of this year.

“Basically, one of the things we wanted to be able to present to players was, what are the decisions your team is making when given the option to do something for you,” Tretter said.  “I don’t want this to be mudslinging,” he continued. “There were a lot of examples of teams doing great things for their players.”

The Steelers received horrendous scores in a pair of areas falling into Morehouse’s new, expanded role. From the fans’ point of view, the stadium arguably needs significant upgrades in a multitude of areas. From the players’ point of view, it seems there has to be similar upgrades to areas of the stadium they see when they come into work. Here is the breakdown of those areas.

Treatment of Families: D-

You may be shocked to see such a low score in an area where we’ve seen the organization establish such a positive reputation. This score was a combination of a couple of variables. First was the pregame and game-time amenities. The Steelers are one of 11 clubs who don’t offer childcare services for families during games. In addition, they are one of 14 clubs who don’t offer a formal family room at the stadium for players’ families on gameday.  

Those two components landed the Steelers at 23rd in the league in that regard. Further, when considering the postgame activities, the Steelers lack in providing a gathering space after games. So much so, players ranked them 31st in the league in that area.

Locker Room: D+

Similar to the reputation of the Steelers, the locker room appears to be old-fashioned, blue-collar and not necessarily as ‘state-of-the-art’ like we tend to see in newer stadiums. In relation to the division, the Baltimore Ravens have the best locker room, while the Cincinnati Bengals have the worst, leaving the Steelers and Cleveland Browns tied. 

The largest catalyst to this grade was the fact that 80 percent of players don't feel as though they have enough space in the locker room. During the season, fans have limited views of the locker room with 53 players standing at their lockers.   However, fans are able to take tours of the locker room at Acrisure Stadium and evaluate for themselves.

Steelers’ Team President Art Rooney II saw those scores and had to be embarrassed. So much so, this may have led to the promotion of Morehouse after hiring him in August of 2022. He was able to guide the Penguins through their own arena upgrades and was able to create a completely fresh look for fans and players. For the sake of the Steelers, the need for upgrades to the stadium are glaring. In 2001, the Steelers upgraded from Three Rivers Stadium that cost $55 million in 1970 to a shiny new Heinz Field that cost $281 million.  

Fast-forwarding to present day, the Steelers’ stadium is one of the ten-least expensive venues in the NFL. Looking at other stadiums across the league that were built around the same time, we’ve seen massive upgrades slated to happen in the near future. The Tennessee Titans’ Nissan Stadium was built in 1999 and is poised for a $2.1 billion replacement. The Browns’ stadium was also built in 1999 and received a name change and a $1 billion upgrade package.

The writing is on the wall for Rooney and Morehouse; Acrisure Stadium needs help. Among the other non-football related events the venue hosts, with the increasing popularity of hosting the annual draft in different cities, the Steelers and city of Pittsburgh could look at submitting their bid for the event. 

The NFLPA’s report card reveal may have helped accelerate that notion within the Steelers’ organization and we’ve already began to see changes happen around the stadium. Included in those was a $1.4 million renovation project for the bathroom facilities, but clearly more needs to be done. With the promotion of Morehouse, it looks like the gears are in motion for another historic upgrade package for the North Shore.

Where It Gets Interesting For The Steelers, Morehouse And Another Key Contributor

Morehouse holds a plethora of relationships across the United States’ government. Those relationships helped him with the Penguins’ upgraded arena. He’s played key parts in the presidential campaigns for Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and John Kerry and has state government relationships stemming from those. Included in that is one with current Pennsylvania Governor, Josh Shapiro. According to public records, Morehouse contributed over $20,000 to Shapiro’s recent campaign this past election.

With the two having a seemingly tight relationship, Shapiro hosted a press conference earlier this month declaring a $81 million investment towards the development of a new manufacturing site for Re:Build Manufacturing, which is an advanced manufacturing firm based in Boston. They specialize in engineering and technology development, robotics and other advanced technological fields. That press conference was held at none-other than Acrisure Stadium.

Serving on the board of Re:Build Manufacturing is Steelers’ part-owner, Thomas Tull. Tull was credited by Acrisure Co-Founder, CEO and Chairman Greg Williams in playing a critical part in the renaming rights of Heinz Field to Acrisure Stadium. With Tull playing such a key role in that major development in 2022, it appears as though a similar deal may be in the works involving the stadium, Morehouse, Tull and Re:Build Manufacturing.

While this may still be in the infancy stages of its development, the pieces are in place for a massive renovation project for Acrisure Stadium. It will obviously take a team effort, but the promotion of Morehouse may have been the last move to set up a bigger one in the near future. 

With Morehouse’s relationship with Shapiro and Shapiro introducing a new advanced manufacturing firm to western Pennsylvania, only for Tull to serve on the board of that company, the clues add up to one big thing; we can expect a gargantuan project in the future for Acrisure Stadium. Only time will tell in determining what will be introduced to the North Shore as a part of those developments.

Are you expecting a large renovation coming soon to the stadium? What changes would you like to see to the facility? Let us know in the comments below!

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