First-Timer's Guide to PNC Park

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PNC Park is one of the easier first visits in the majors. The bag rule is lenient and you can bring your own food. Two rules need planning. There is no re-entry, and on weeknights with a 6:40 start, the gates open later than you’d expect. Get those right and nothing else here will surprise you.

Backpacks, outside food, and re-entry

The bag rule is one of the most lenient in baseball. One soft-sided bag up to 16 by 16 by 8 inches per guest, and backpacks are fine as long as they fit the size. Hard-sided bags and coolers stay out. Diaper bags and medical bags clear separately after inspection. If other stadiums have trained you to leave the backpack at the hotel, you can unlearn that here.

Outside food and water are allowed. Bring what fits in your bag, plus one sealed clear plastic bottle of water up to 24 ounces. Cans, glass, carbonated drinks, sports drinks, and thermoses stay outside. The allowance also stops at the premium doors, so no outside food goes into the Home Plate Club, the Suite Level, or the Left Field Lounge.

There is no re-entry. Once you scan in, leaving means you’re done for the day. Do the Federal Street stop and any trips back to the car before the turnstile.

Alcohol runs on two clocks. Concession stands and vendors stop selling at the end of the 7th inning. Five bars keep pouring to the end of the game: the Surfside Iced Tea & Vodka Skull Bar, the Crows Nest Bar, Cinderlands Corner Bar, Fat Head’s Bullpen Bar, and Miller Lite Landing. The limit everywhere is two drinks per person 21 or older per transaction.

Plan on paying with a card. PNC Park is cashless. If you arrive with cash, machines behind Sections 119 and 319 convert it to a prepaid card you can spend anywhere in the park.

Smoking, umbrellas, and first aid. The park is tobacco-free, e-cigarettes included. Umbrellas are allowed in, just not open during play. If something in your section needs security, text SECURITY plus your section and seat number to 61592. First aid stations sit at Sections 115 and 315, each with a water-bottle filling station next to it. A Designated Driver booth operates near Section 101.

Gates and timing

Head for the gate nearest where you arrive. Each entrance keeps its own Hall of Famer out front, so orientation is easy: Honus Wagner at the Home Plate Gate, Roberto Clemente at the center-field gate by his bridge, Willie Stargell at the Left Field Gate, and Bill Mazeroski at the right-field entrance.

A few practical notes on the doors themselves: the Edgar Snyder & Associates Home Plate Gate has an escalator to the main concourse and faces the T station, the Left Field Gate runs escalators to the main, club, and upper levels, and the Right Field Gate opens next to the Kids Play Area.

Gate times run like this:

• Most games: gates open 90 minutes before first pitch.
• 6:40 pm games, Monday through Thursday: one hour before, at 5:40. Plan around this one.
• 6:40 pm Fridays: season-ticket holders at 4:30, general public at 5:00.
• 6:40 pm Saturdays: season-ticket holders at 4:00, general public at 5:00.
• Home Plate Club: ticket holders get in two hours before first pitch.

Clemente Bridge and the four statues

If you’re staying downtown, walk in over the Roberto Clemente Bridge. It closes to cars on game days, the walk from the Cultural District takes about ten minutes, and it delivers you to the center-field gate at the foot of Clemente’s statue with the whole park in front of you.

Pittsburgh’s airport bus, the 28X, stops downtown, and the T is free from there to North Side station. PNC Park will not hold or store prohibited items, so check where to leave your suitcase before you head to the gate.

Once you’re through the gate, the four statues make a natural first lap, roughly twenty minutes at a browsing pace: Wagner at home plate, Clemente in center field, Stargell in left, Mazeroski in right. Each one marks a different era of a franchise that has been playing since 1887. You can find more about Wagner, Clemente, Stargell, and Mazeroski in our History section.

With kids

The Kids Play Area sits just inside the Right Field Gate and is built for ages 5 to 10. On select Sundays, Kids Run the Bases after the final out. The line forms during the 8th inning, and since there’s no re-entry, plan on staying through the end. The Family Fun Zone takes over Federal Street two and a half hours before Sunday matinees from May through September, and it’s free.

Quieter needs are covered too. Nursing pods sit on the Highmark Riverwalk near the STEM Zone and at Guest Relations. A sensory room operates at Suite 62, with sensory bags available through the park’s KultureCity program. A Bucaroos kiosk on the Riverwalk runs through the end of the 6th inning.

Ways to save

The Pirates publish an unusually deep set of official discounts, and a first-timer should check them before paying face value:

• PNC Bank debit card: up to 37% off tickets for PNC customers.
• Military, seniors, and students: up to 37% off, verified through GovX or XNow, or with ID at the box office.
• Miller Lite Great Taste ticket: a standing-room ticket that includes early access and your first drink.
• Lunch with the Bucs: discounted weekday matinee tickets with $12 of concession credit loaded on.

Know PNC Park better than we do? Tell us what we got wrong, or where we should be sending people instead.

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