Steelers President Art Rooney II 'Optimistic' Heinz Field Will Host Full Capacity Of Fans In Fall
By: KDKA-TV News Staff
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Steelers President Art Rooney II answered questions from fans on Thursday.
Rooney said he is "optimistic" that the Steelers will host a full capacity of fan at Heinz Field next season. In 2020, a limited number of fans were allowed due to coronavirus mitigation efforts.
Rooney hopes that will change in 2021.
"I am kind of optimistic about it," said Rooney, according to Steelers.com. "It's still early, it's only March, so we'll see how things go. I am optimistic we will have fans. Frankly I am optimistic we will have a full stadium by this fall. Hopefully everybody is out there getting the vaccine and is going to be able to get in crowds and things like that again. Hopefully we are going to be back to pretty close to normal by the fall. Let's all say our prayers and keep our fingers crossed. But I am optimistic about it at this point."
The Steelers president also talked about training camp coming up in the summer. He said the plan is for the team to return to Saint Vincent College in Latrobe. The Steelers began training at the college in 1967.
"We are hoping things get back to normal this fall. Obviously training camp happens a little earlier than that. It's something we are planning for now, but we will see how things go. We need this virus to turn the corner. We still want to make sure that fans are safe when they come to Saint Vincent. We may have to look at if we have to limit the number of fans. We'll be looking at all of those issues. Right now our goal and our plan is to have training camp at Saint Vincent this summer," Rooney said.
Rooney also said a 17-game schedule would "work out well" and there could be a reduced number of preseason games.
"Obviously, this year will be the first year for it, so we'll get a chance to see how it goes. I think we will reduce the preseason by one game. It will be a similar kind of schedule in terms of the calendar, but we will just turn one of the preseason games into a regular season a game, which I think all of us would appreciate. I feel good about it, I hope it works, and I look forward to seeing how it does in 2021," Rooney said.
