Positioned
at the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny
rivers, Three Rivers Stadium was to be a crowning jewel
of Pittsburgh when it was opened in 1970. As the
home for baseball's Pirates and the NFL's Steelers, the
stadium reflected the apex of the "cookie
cutter" era: a period where cities, seeking
to save money in constructing sports facilities, opted
to build so-called "multi-sport" facilities
that could accommodate both baseball and football - and
then building facilities well-suited to neither sport.
In the case of Three Rivers, despite moments of glory
such as the Pirates World Series wins of 1971 and 1979
and the Steelers four NFL titles during the 1970's, the
people of Pittsburgh quickly fell out of love with the
place that was referred to as "The Atrocity by the
Monstrosity" (the monstrosity being the Ohio
River). By the time the Maulers played their only
USFL season there in 1984, Three Rivers was seen as an
antiquated eyesore, and due to inadequate parking and
unfriendly staff at the stadium, unless there was a very
strong attraction people most likely found more reasons
to stay away from Three Rivers rather than go
there. The only consistent exceptions to this
seemed to be Steeler home games, Pirate home openers,
and Pirate playoff games, which regularly sold out the
stadium's seating capacity, which varied from 49,000 to
57,000 depending on configuration and era.
After nearly three decades and lots of political
jostling, both the Pirates and Steelers were to get new
stadia, and the decision was made to bring Three Rivers
down via implosion. Originally scheduled for
implosion in late February 2001, the desire to blow the
place up was so strong that the date was moved up two
weeks, to February 11, 2001.
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THREE
RIVERS STADIUM |
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Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania |
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