Pittsburgh Penguins Make Changes To PPG Paints Arena As They Welcome Fans Back
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - For the first time in a year, Penguins fans were allowed back into PPG Paints Arena.
"There was only 2,800 people here but they're Pittsburgh people. They sounded like 18,000 fans in most other cities," Penguins CEO David Morehouse said.
One of the big changes Pens fans will notice: everything is cashless. If you're coming in to get a drink or a snack, you'll be paying with your cards or your phone.
"What use to be the bellying up to the refreshments stand, we took a lot of those stands and turned them into grab and gos," Morehouse said after showing media the changes.
Pens CEO David Morehouse walks us through the how concessions work for fans to avoid contact. @KDKA pic.twitter.com/9ieTNMz7sW
— Chris Hoffman (@NewsmanChris) March 3, 2021
If you want to buy Sam a drink and his dog one too using cash, there are reverse ATMs. You will put cash in and get a card back with the same value on it.
"I think that's where everything is headed. I think it's the future," Morehouse said.
He said the changes were in the works before the pandemic. The arena wanted to address the needs of younger fans.
"It just so happened as COVID hit, this also plays well into keeping people socially distanced," Morehouse said.
The Penguins App will help people through everything from showing your mobile ticket to buying gear. Getting that Crosby jersey? That's cashless too. You can order it from your seat and pick it up in a locker outside the store.
Here are a few of the signs alerting fans to the COVID-19 safety measures. @KDKA pic.twitter.com/i9X46Cdc4I
— Chris Hoffman (@NewsmanChris) March 3, 2021
"New upgrades for new generations of fans," Morehouse said.
If you're not as tech savvy, there's no need to cry or wind your watch. The Penguins say they kept about the same amount of staff as before the changes to help with the new technology.
"Anywhere where you have to use technology, where you would not have had to use it before in the past, there'll be people here to help you through it," Morehouse said.
So the next time you call Arnold Slick from Turtle Creek and go to a game, you'll see safety measures too. Social distancing markers can be found all over the arena. More than 220 hand sanitizing stations are all around the facility. Other changes including making more areas more open so people can keep their distance.