The Pittsburgh Steelers, founded by Arthur J. Rooney in 1933, is the fifth-oldest franchise in the National Football League. In the 1970s, the Steelers became the first team in NFL history to win four Super Bowls and the only team to win back-toback Super Bowls twice.

Faced with the challenge of escalating construction costs for their new stadium and the complexity of newly deregulated energy markets, the Steelers chose to focus on their core business of football, and seek a partner that could provide both the capital and technical expertise to outsource a critical component of their stadium operation -the energy infrastructure.

The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Constellation to design, develop, operate and maintain its central energy plant serving the 65,000 seat Heinz Field. Constellation built the entire energy infrastructure for heating, cooling and hot water supply at the stadium.

The central energy plant was designed to allow expansion to add 33 percent more capacity, thus making it possible for Constellation to serve adjacent building development and further drive down operating costs for the Steelers. Thanks to the construction coordination efforts led by Constellation personnel, the energy plant was completed a month ahead of schedule and within 1 percent of the original budget estimate. Constellation's seamless integration and collaboration with the Stadium's construction team throughout the process helped ensure the success of this project. As a result, Constellation's role has since expanded to include maintenance of key refrigeration and HVAC equipment at Heinz Field.

Constellation Energy's Projects & Services Group funded this project as a build-own-operate-maintain (BOOM) project for a 20-year term. The financial arrangements allow for the treatment of the project as an operating lease where Constellation retains title to equipment and has rights and responsibilities as owner of plant.