Heinz Ketchup Bottle Returns to Acrisure Stadium

PITTSBURGH — The legendary Heinz ketchup bottles have returned to Acrisure Stadium — at least one of them, that is.

One of the 35-foot long fiberglass ketchup bottles that formerly was hung above the scoreboard at the Pittsburgh Steelers home stadium has returned to the facility after being removed in 2022 while the name of the building was changed from Heinz Field to Acrisure Stadium. The Steelers moved the bottle to Gate C, which will now be known as the Heinz Gate.

The 22-year-old ketchup bottle was also refurbished while it was off display, with a new coat of paint. The new installation will show the bottle in the “pouring” position that was formerly reserved for a Steelers offensive trip to the red zone.

“It then has to be placed on a diagonal, which is how the graphics and the original layout showed that it be on angle, as if the ketchup was going to pour out of it,” Sandy Steffan, vice president of Steffan Industries, one of the contractors on the project, told our news partners WPXI-TV.

The other ketchup bottle is also being refurbished. Steelers president Art Rooney II said earlier that it will be placed somewhere inside the stadium where fans will be able to have their picture taken with it.

Heinz had been the naming-rights sponsor of the stadium from 2001-21, but the condiment brand, now a part of KraftHeinz after a merger, and the team could not reach a deal on extension for 2022. The Steelers instead chose a deal with Michigan-based insurance technology firm Acrisure, worth $150 million over 15 years.

The Steelers and Heinz were able to make a new deal on a less-substantial marketing arrangement, which includes serving Heinz products inside Acrisure Stadium and the Heinz Gate branding and ketchup bottles.

PHOTO GALLERY BY ED THOMPSON