For a history center named after a Heinz, its latest acquisition might be its most anticipated one.
One of the gigantic Heinz ketchup bottles removed from Acrisure Stadium last year is finding a new home at the Senator John Heinz History Center in the Strip District.
Kraft Heinz announced Wednesday that the 35-foot-tall refurbished bottle will be installed on the corner of 12th and Smallman streets outside the history center on Dec. 21.
In a statement, the company, which has co-headquarters in Pittsburgh and Chicago, said it was “thrilled” that the bottle would find a table in the Strip — and at the history center to boot.
“We’re committed to our ongoing support of the Pittsburgh community, a city that is our co-headquarters and where we have a proud 150+ year legacy. As part of this, we’ve partnered with Heinz History Center to memorialize the bottle as a historical artifact,” it said.
The ketchup bottle was one of two that flanked each side of the scoreboard at Acrisure Stadium, then named Heinz Field, for two decades. The bottles would tilt as if pouring every time the Steelers football team got inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.
Both of those bottles were removed last year when Kraft Heinz lost the naming rights to the North Shore stadium to Acrisure, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based fintech company.
Since then, one of the bottles has been refurbished and returned to the stadium, where it is displayed outside of Gate C, which is dedicated to Heinz as part of a five-year sponsorship deal.
Now the second bottle has found a home in the Strip, where everyone seems to be migrating these days. In its statement, Kraft Heinz said that visitors will be able to snap selfies or other photos of the bottle starting the day after it has been installed.
Andy Masich, history center president and CEO, described the bottle as “an important piece of Pittsburgh history that will surely become a landmark attraction” in the Strip.
“Holiday gift-giving will come a few days early for Pittsburghers this year. I know there’s been great anticipation over what would become of the iconic Heinz Field ketchup bottle. We’re happy to bring it ‘home’ to the Heinz History Center, which preserves and showcases the largest collection of H.J. Heinz Company artifacts in the world,” he said.
The bottle is actually the second to be collected by the history center.
A large HEINZ sign topped by a pouring ketchup bottle sits atop one side of the center’s building, serving as a beacon in the Strip and a reminder of the company’s ties to the city where it got its start more than a century ago.
The newest bottle won’t be the history center’s only gridiron artifact. A goal post from Three Rivers Stadium also is displayed outside of the building near 12th and Smallman.
Heinz had paid $57 million for the naming rights to the Steelers’ stadium before it opened in 2001 as part of a 20-year deal. That agreement was extended one year for the 2021 season.
Acrisure’s new deal runs 15 years and is believed to be worth at least $10 million a year.
Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com
First Published: December 13, 2023, 4:21 p.m.
Updated: December 13, 2023, 8:36 p.m.
