The Stadium Authority of the City of Pittsburgh was formed by the City of Pittsburgh on March 9, 1964 pursuant to the provisions of the Public Auditorium Authorities Law of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania approved July 29, 1953, P.L. 1034, as amended (recodified as the Sports and Exhibition Authority Act 16 P.S. Section 5502-A et seq.).

The Stadium Authority was responsible for the construction of Three Rivers Stadium and related parking facilities, which began on April 25, 1968. The stadium, which seated 47,972 for baseball and 59,000 for football, opened on July 16, 1970. Three Rivers was demolished in February 2001 to make room for Acrisure Stadium, the new home of the Pittsburgh Steelers and University of Pittsburgh Panthers.

Board Members & Staff

Five members serve on the Stadium Authority's Board of Directors, appointed by the Mayor of Pittsburgh.

The Sports & Exhibition Authority of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County (SEA) and the Stadium Authority (SA) operate in cooperation with each other. Both have the same Executive Director and use the same staff.

Assets and Development Projects

The Stadium Authority currently owns West General Robinson Street Garage (WGRS Garage), Gold 1 Garage as well as the surface lots between PNC Park and Acrisure Stadium, a portion of which is known as the Option Area (see below). The Stadium Authority also leases land from PennDOT north of PNC Park to operate as surface parking (the "7" Lots).

On May 1, 1966, the Stadium Authority, Pittsburgh Associates, Pittsburgh Steelers Sports, Inc., and Parking Authority entered into a lease with ALCO with respect to surface parking in the North Shore related to development of Three Rivers Stadium. That lease was replaced by a new Lease Agreement dated November 30, 1999 among the Stadium Authority, the SEA, and ALCO. The new lease provided for amendments to the lease terms that permitted the following improvements and operations:

• Demolish Three Rivers Stadium
• Construct Acrisure Stadium and PNC Park
• Shift North Shore Drive northward to create a meaningful riverfront park
• Operate the 7 Lots north of PNC Park, and lots north of Acrisure Stadium owned by the SEA
• Create a new street grid including Tony Dorsett Drive, the widening Mazeroski Way, and Chuck Noll Way

Option Area

The Stadium Authority, the SEA, the Pirates, and the Steelers entered into a mutual agreement (the Option Agreement) with respect to future North Shore development. The Option Agreement provides development rights to the Pirates and Steelers on the land between PNC Park and Heinz Field (the Option Area).

In order to incentivize the teams to develop the Option Area's surface parking (and to not repeat the lack of development around Three Rivers Stadium), the teams are given limited parking revenue. That limited parking revenue is placed in a development fund, and a portion of the fund is released to the teams only when the teams develop a parcel(s). The teams hired Continental Real Estate Companies as the master developer of the Option Area. The Option Area consists of twelve parcels, further to the North Shore Master Plan. The Stadium Authority oversees this development according to the terms of the Option Agreement.

To date, the following developments have been completed pursuant to the Option Agreement: the Peoples Gas Building (formerly Equitable Building) (2005), the Peoples Center (formerly Del Monte Buildings) (2 parcels) (2006), the Hyatt Place Hotel (2010) and North Shore Place I and North Shore Place II (2015-16). In addition, pursuant to separate agreement with the Steelers, Stage AE (Phase I) (2010) was also developed in the area, with an adjacent multi-use plaza (Phase II) incorporating historical Manchester Bridge pier sculptures (opened July 7, 2016), and SAP Building (2019).

Related Development

In March 2012, the Port Authority of Allegheny County completed its 1.2 mile light rail transit (LRT) extension to the North Shore, the North Shore Connector. The Stadium Authority and Port Authority worked in cooperation to facilitate the construction of the LRT. The LRT is free to ride from the North Shore to all downtown locations.

Financial Statements

To view the latest financial statements of the Stadium Authority, please click here.