Steelers dispute that U2 concert responsible for new Heinz Field turf
The Pittsburgh Steelers have long played on what’s viewed as a poor playing surface at Heinz Field. But entering 2017, the team will be playing on a completely new turf system. Just don’t say a destructive U2 concert is the reason for the change.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Sean Gentille wrote a piece on Friday about the big change being made at Heinz Field. He said that a U2 concert in June caused enough damage to necessitate a full change. From his article:
U2 gets the credit/blame for that one. The band’s June 7 concert — they played “The Joshua Tree” in its entirety, and it was fine — did enough damage to the field to necessitate a complete replacement. Typically, only the top layer of the surface would get swapped out.
Well Gentille appears to have gotten that detail wrong, at least according to the Steelers. Steelers Director of Communications Burt Lauten tweeted that the resurfacing was already planned prior to the U2 concert.
#HeinzField & #Steelers mgmt have done an excellent job w/ the surface in recent yrs; U2 was NOT to blame for resurfacing (already planned). https://t.co/xe6lFwF5GY
— Burt Lauten (@SteelersPRBurt) August 5, 2017
Whatever the case, the field is getting a turf change that is probably long overdue, and that should be a good thing for teams set to play there.
