Bob Cranmer - Plan B

Plan B

The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Pittsburgh Pirates sports teams shared Three Rivers Stadium from 1970 to 2000. After discussions over the Pittsburgh Pirates building a full-time baseball park, a proposal was made to renovate Three Rivers Stadium into a full-time football facility. Though this met with negative reaction from Steelers ownership, the proposal was used as a "fallback position" that would be used if discussions for a new stadium failed.

Steelers ownership stated that failing to build a new stadium would hurt the franchise's chances of signing players who might opt to sign with other teams, such as the other four teams in the Steelers division who had all recently built new football-only stadiums.

Originally, a ten county half percent sales tax increase was proposed by the Allegheny Conference on Community Development to fund three projects: Heinz Field, PNC Park, and a major expansion of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, along with other regional public works infrastructure improvements in all ten counties. After the rejection of this proposal in a referendum, Cranmer, Mike Dawida and Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy developed Plan B which involved no "new" taxation. The source of the funding would be the Allegheny County Regional Asset District which already collected a one percent sales tax in Allegheny County. The county commissioners were required to be involved if this revenue was to be used for the projects.

Thus Cranmer became a central figure to the plan's formulation and success. Similarly controversial, the alternative proposal was labeled Scam B by opponents. The Steelers' pledge toward the new stadium was criticized for being too little, even after it was raised from $50 million to $76.5 million. Other local government members criticized the $281 million of public money allocated for Plan B.

The lone Republican, Cranmer's support was seen as key for the plan to succeed. He had initially stated that he would not use tax money to build stadiums but later clarified his position to mean revenue collected from "property taxes". This was due to his discovery that a portion of the Regional Asset District Tax was specifically designated for the "construction and maintenance" of sports facilities. However, he was determined to put together the best deal possible and led the final negotiations with the Steelers personally."It was time to make a deal. If it wasn’t made then, it probably wouldn’t have gotten done. When you make a compromise, there are things you want and things you don’t get," Art Rooney (Art Rooney II) of the Steelers said.

The plan met with criticism and opposition from Fred Baker, a member of the Regional Asset District Board. When Baker made clear his opposition to the plan, Cranmer asked for his resignation. After resigning, Baker ran for a seat on the new County Council in order to continue opposing Cranmer's plans. One member of the Allegheny Regional Asset District board called the use of tax dollars "corporate welfare".

The plan, totaling $809 million, was approved by the Allegheny Regional Asset District board on July 9, 1998, with $233 million allotted for Heinz Field. Shortly after Plan B was approved, the Steelers and the Pirates signed leases to stay in the city until at least 2031. The total cost of Heinz Field was $281 million, with the Pittsburgh Steelers paying for all costs over the original budgeted amount.

Due to his support for Plan B his popularity with Republican voters dropped significantly and he announced in early 1999 that he would not run for the newly created position of county executive. He was both praised and reviled for his role in Plan B with much of his other work going unnoticed by the general electorate. Many Republicans also would not forgive him for working cooperatively with the Democrats.

In 1999 Cranmer would not agree to a similar deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins Hockey Team which guaranteed that a funding plan would be in place by 2002 to build a new hockey arena. He maintained that there would be no money to support such a financial plan without a tax increase and was against committing the future government to such a financial responsibility.