Hey everyone. French here. I am going to be in Pittsburgh for my day job on Thursday-Friday so I have purchased a ticket for the game on Thursday. I will be in section 122, row L.
Here is my challenge. For work, I am staying in the neighborhood of St. Clair, about nine miles south of the stadium. I have to pick up two of my volunteers at Pittsburgh's airport at 5:30PM, get them back to the Crowne Plaza South, and then get to the stadium.
Is parking easy to come by close to the stadium? I am ok for paying but I have a rental and it is going to be very close to kickoff before I arrive. Otherwise, should I take a cab? I shouldn't have any problem getting in, but I don't know how easy it will be to get a cab after the game. Tailgating and wandering over to the casino are out. This is just a slight diversion from a business trip and I have an early morning the next day.
I appreciate your help!
French
Comments
Catching a cab after the game could take a while. How close are you to Scranton?
There is quite a bit of parking near the stadium. PNC park and Heinz Field share the lots so there are lots of spaces. You should not have a problem parking fairly close; Pitt games don't ususally sell out. There will be a lot of traffic both before and after the game because there aren't many ways in and out of the area; it may take you a while to get to the area before the game and a longer while to get out of the lots after the game. The Penguins are playing at home that night; so traffic around downtown will be pretty heavy until the hockey game starts at 7:00 PM. The Fort Pitt tunnel is likely to be stop and go getting in toward the stadium. I have spent 30-40 minutes going the last 3 miles to get into downtown to cross over to the stadium area. If you are using a GPS and can select to avoid the tunnel, I would recommend that option.
Wish I could meet you there; i really enjoy your analysis and would love to meet you in person. But I will be out of town that day.
Bring us home a win.
If you go the cab route, grab an uber afterwards. From my previous experience, there are usually plenty out in that part of Pittsburgh.
Uber is awesome, will never use a taxi ever again. Quicker, cheaper, more readily available, and cooler cars and drivers. Also offer free gum and bottled waters which is nice. Wouldn't be surprised in 5 years if there aren't many taxi's left in business. Great way to get your drunk ass home.
Parking at Heinz isn't too bad. You should be fine. Give yourself extra time since downtown Pittsburgh can be a pain to drive in.
Before I offer any assistance, I have to know what your karma status is. Couple of questions.
1. How do the Hokies generally do when you go to games?
2. Did you go to the Pitt game in '12?
3. Was this a spontaneous purchase? Spontaneity usually lends itself to good karma.
4. If you answered "No" to 3 and this was a planned purchase, do you have a lucky hat, jersey, towel, penny, etc. with you?
If you answered with a winning record for #1, No for #2, Yes for #3 (or No for #3 and Yes #4) I'll help. Otherwise, you should probably dump the ticket, and watch from afar. Also, I don't like row L. Could you trade that?
(And for the rest of you... yeah, go ahead and smirk, but trust me...I know this stuff. )
Last six games I have attended in person include a bowl win (ChikFilA), an ACC title win, and 3 W's. The only loss was the 2011 ACCCG against Clemson.
Ok. That's a pretty solid record. I can work with that.
Beaver's advice is pretty sound. I can endorse that, especially on the hockey traffic. I think there's a bit of a buzz with the Penquizzles this year.
Go forth with your tickets and lucky talismans.
So true. Take note all you students and youngsters.
That's all I needed to hear. I'm going to quit my dead-end engineering job and start my own business selling cabbage patch kids, beanie babies, and exotic vegitables.
Tell me about these vegi-tables. Do you think they'll catch on? As an engineer, how do they compare to water-tables?
Recent graduate (May 2014), aka youngster, and consider my notes taken, reviewed and studied. I grabbed a ticket to Columbus for the Ohio State game on Tuesday of game week. Best $120 I've ever spent, hands down.
See? There you go.
Ohio State was a spontaneous trip from DC. So I will 100% back this claim.
I've got an awesome Hokie story from Russia. Can't post it without some legs. Help a Hokie brother out?
OK, its story time. We're waiting...
I'm flying into Pittsburgh at 4pm then taking a cab to the SpringHill Suites Pittsburgh North Shore that's about a mile walk to the stadium. You could possibly park at the SpringHill Suites under my name and just pay me the parking fee which I think is only be around $20.
Get my number from Joe and hit me up if you want to do that so I can confirm with the hotel that you parking there under my name would work out. You should hit me up regardless just to hang out at the game, haven't seen you since we played football out in Alexandria a couple years ago. I'll be in section 108.
Also I'm guessing that there are probably a lot of parking passes available if you want to park at the stadium. A lot of tickets still left on Stubhub and Pitt isn't known for filling the stadium.
Eat at Primanti Bros. This is the same advice I give to anyone I hear is going to Pittsburgh. Or Fort Lauderdale.
As for parking, absolutely no help here. Never been to a game at Heinz Field. So I'm really good for nothing here.
Oh, and I think you should now be required to reference yourself in the third person in the subject of every post you make.
Primanti Bros is available in the stadium; if you want to try that.
Parked in the Red Lot closer to PNC for the Steelers-Bucs game a few weeks ago (which ftr, I did not attend), and there were plenty of spots up on the 5th level just an hour or so before the game. Can't imagine you wouldn't find a spot up near the top levels of that lot.
Went to VT PItt last time it was up there and have been to Pittsburgh one other time. Park at the shopping Center across the river from the stadium and take the boat across right to entrance of the Heinz Field. You cut out crossing the bridge with post game traffic and there is places to get "cheaper" beer and food before heading the Heinz. Its called Station Square and the boat ride only costs 10 dollars.
Depends on how far you want to walk to the stadium. If you park in the PNC / Heinz lot, you're really close but might have a long wait to leave (there's only one road back out). You probably won't be able to park at the Science Center across the street (they're really picky if game times overlap with their hours). You can park in some public lots or on the street in a few block radius. But beware: the airport is easy to reach from Upper St. Clair, but you'll have to drive through the Liberty Tubes at rush hour to get back to the field. You might consider parking on the west side of the river and walking across one of the bridges.