Athlon ranks Heinz Field in bottom half of ACC

Athlon's out with another offseason list of interest. This time? Ranking the stadiums of the ACC.

Heinz Field checks in at No. 8 out of the 14 conference schools ... and that's probably about right.

No, this isn't my way of drawing a pop from the crowd since the Heinz Field/Pitt Stadium topic is always sure to ruffle feathers. But as Athlon says, there are positives and negatives to the big ketchup bottle.

Positives? It's a large pro venue that screams big time when significant opponents are in town. And having a pro venue can also help reel in some recruits. Negatives? That's far too often, and there are generally plenty of empty seats. That's particularly true near the end of the season if Pitt is struggling and playing a weak team.

The big negative, as always, is that it's off-campus. No one truly wants an off-campus stadium, but the fact is that it's simply not feasible right now in Oakland as we've been over ad nauseam on numerous occasions.

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