Steelers Consider Public Funding

The NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers are considering public funding to help with the cost of building a $10 million entertainment facility next to Heinz Field.

Developer Fred Kass, chairman of Continental Real Estate Cos., said the team hopes to get moving on the project in a few weeks but will need some help from the public, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

"I know we will have a deal done that still requires some public funding. We should be ready to apply for that by the end of March," Kass said.

The developer added that although the Steelers have talked with AEG about partnering on the new project, they are also talking to other potential operators, the paper said.

The new plan would be a theatre-nightclub type of complex that would seat up to 3,000, with outdoor concerts a part of the mix.

Team officials previously tried to build a complex near the stadium called North Shore Live! that would have included a 5,600-seat amphitheatre with a glass roof, surrounded by various buildings. That plan was scuttled when Gov. Ed Rendell appropriated the funds elsewhere, prompting developer Cordish Co. to withdraw from the project.