PITTSBURGH — There are big signs to replace, minute details to tend to, social media platforms to adjust and letterhead to revamp.
Changing the name of the North Shore stadium formerly known as Heinz Field is no small task. It's a job that requires a spreadsheet, oodles of patience and maybe even a thick skin to endure the blowback from fans not happy with the new name: Acrisure Stadium.
"It certainly is outside the norm," Ryan Huzjak, Steelers vice president of sales and marketing, said of the work involved.
"There's just a lot of integration points and mentions of the stadium name that need to be addressed and need to be looked at, which is not normal."
The Steelers football team now in Latrobe isn't the only one getting ready for the season.
Huzjak and his squad, which includes Jimmie Sacco, vice president of operations and stadium management, are under a tight deadline to get their job done before the season opens in September.
And now they have an added challenge — weaving the Heinz name back into the venue that knew no other name for its first 21 years.
While Kraft Heinz, as the company is now called, lost out to Acrisure for the naming rights, it will be maintaining a presence under a new five-year deal that includes continued sponsorship of the Heinz Red Zone.
Fans who have been to the North Shore since the 15-year Acrisure agreement was announced July 11 have seen how quickly the Steelers are moving to rebrand the stadium.
Heinz Field signs, including the largest one behind the main scoreboard facing the Ohio River, have been removed. The same goes for the two giant ketchup bottles that flanked the scoreboard, although one will be returning in a new role.
In all, five major pieces of signage will be removed and replaced. But that's just a small part of the overall task, Huzjak said.
There are wayfinding and other directional signs that have to be addressed — perhaps as many as 100. And there's the digital aspect of it all — websites, social media and handles, commercial platforms and even the season tickets delivered by phone.
"There's a lot to address in terms of changing over the name of the stadium outside of just the physical assets, for sure," Huzjak said.
To help with the transition, the Steelers have hired Infinite Scale, a Salt Lake City firm that has worked with other professional sports teams on naming rights deals.
Infinite, through daily conversations and biweekly meetings, is "helping us to manage all aspects of the project," Huzjak said. The team also is working with the Populous architecture firm, and Mascaro, which will help with the construction side of the transition.
In addition, the Steelers have been meeting with the city to get whatever approvals they need regarding the new physical signage for the stadium.
While Huzjak declined to give a figure, the naming rights deal with Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Acrisure is believed to be worth at least $10 million a year.
The Steelers, he said, are still working with the company on how its signage at the stadium will look. The final design probably won't deviate that much from some preliminary renderings.
Some signs will be lit. Some will be horizontal, while others will be vertical.
"Our goal is for it to be simple and powerful, easily recognizable, and consistent across all applications," Huzjak said.
Heinz had the great ketchup bottles on each side of the scoreboard and the Heinz Red Zone. But what kind of clever profile-raising gimmicks can you come up with for a fintech company known mainly for insurance?
While the brainstorming is still in the early stages, one possibility is to connect Acrisure with game highlights and statistics — perhaps a natural for a company that deals a lot with actuarial tables.
"We think that works well with what they do and the way they go about that and so we think that's a nice connection to their products," Huzjak noted. "I think that's a nice fit for them. It makes sense, and I think it underscores kind of who they are."
Some Steelers fans — and even quarterback Ben Roethisberger — have reacted negatively to the name change, with some vowing to always call it Heinz Field.
Huzjak said he understands the angst — and in some ways sees it as a positive.
"I look at it in that the fact that it's meaningful to our fans and it's important to them is a real positive thing," he said.
The reaction to some extent was understandable, he pointed out, given that Acrisure was not a well-known name in the region, while Heinz has been affiliated with the stadium since its birth in 2001.
"Change is hard. Change is not easy. We recognize that this is a pretty abrupt change and so we recognize that there's going to be different and in some cases visceral reactions to that. Again, I think we just chalk that up to the fact that it's an important thing, and it's meaningful to a lot of people," he said.
"We think they'll grow to love Acrisure Stadium. I think [Steelers defensive lineman] Cam Heyward said it best — we plan to make some great memories in the building moving forward as well. So that's kind of our focus."
Huzjak declined to say how much it will cost the Steelers to convert the stadium signage and make all the other needed changes, other than to say it is "significant." The team is footing the bill for the work.
Marc Ganis, a Chicago-based sports industry consultant, said the cost usually is in the "mid six figures" but can vary significantly depending on the amount of work involved.
He said the new sponsor typically picks up the cost separately and apart from the amount it is paying for the naming rights, although he didn't know if that was the case with the Acrisure deal.
"It's like a moving cost, which would be in addition to buying a house," he said.
The new five-year deal with Kraft Heinz has produced a more favorable fan reaction. As part of the agreement, the Heinz Red Zone will stay in place, and the global ketchup-maker is working with the Steelers on some branded concession stands.
In addition, one of the 35-foot-tall fiberglass ketchup bottles that flanked the scoreboard is expected to return as part of a Kraft Heinz display to be located elsewhere in the stadium.
Huzjak stressed that the Steelers wanted to maintain a relationship with Kraft Heinz.
"We really talked about that all along as we worked through the various iterations over the last couple of years — that there was an interest in continuing to work together regardless of the outcome of the stadium naming circumstances," he said.
With Acrisure signed and a new deal with Kraft Heinz done, Huzjak and his partners now have about six weeks to get the changes made. They already have put their game faces on.
"We're working every day to try to make the transition as quickly and as smoothly as possible. You'll definitely see a major transition as soon as games start coming up in another month or so," he said.
