Jerry Jones still aptly chooses to crown his Dallas Cowboys with the moniker “America’s Team” but the fact remains, there is one team and one team only that possesses 6 Super Bowl championships. That’s a large reason why the Pittsburgh Steelers are considered one of the most storied franchises in the entire league, with a fanbase as rabid as any in existence. While advancing to the postseason in 2014 after a two-year hiatus, the team is poised to be better, at least offensively, in 2015 and beyond, as it can hang it’s hat on it’s set of triplets in Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown. They are as trendy a pick as any when oddsmakers lay out Super Bowl favorites, and in the coming seasons, another northeastern city could play host to the greatest spectacle in sports, the Super Bowl. Why not Pittsburgh?
In February 2014, the Seattle Seahawks clubbed the Denver Broncos at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands, in 49 degree weather at kickoff. The event proved a cold-weather city was more than capable of showcasing the game, and Steelers chairman Dan Rooney actually voiced similar sentiment right before this year’s Super Bowl.
Even at 67,440 seats with the latest expansions to the seating chart at Heinz Field, the stadium could be considered a bit on the small side for a venue to house the mecca known as the Super Bowl. There’s also the question of whether or not the sufficient hotel accommodations would be readily available, as commissioner Roger Goodell has said before that 30,000 rooms would be needed to house everyone and their mother whether it be press, celebs, performers and obviously the fans.
However, city leaders and council will in fact be meeting next week with reps from Four Seasons Hotels to lay out a plan to bring the chain to the Steel City. According to Pittsburgh news outlet WTAE, Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto says that the city was actually very high on the wish list of the hotel chain, due in large part for the city’s sports reputation and tourism. The South Side offers so much for them, and whoever hasn’t yet been to Primanti Bros. is really missing the boat entirely. Peduto said Four Seasons isn’t the only hotel chain with “Blitzburgh” in mind either, as several have their eye on it. He believes the influx of hotels in the coming years will obviously add some luster to the proposal of Pittsburgh housing events like the big game, the NCAA tournament or perhaps the Olympics.
Goodell has also been on record saying he wants “some new blood” in the running for the 2019 Super Bowl, and the championship lore of the team could play heavily into that.
“I don’t know if that should be a big part of it with us getting a Super Bowl,” Rooney said. “But I’m sure it will come up in the talks.”
If all goes well, the memories of Jerome Bettis retiring after a Super Bowl XL victory in his hometown of Detroit would arguably be trumped by the thought of Roethlisberger, at the end of his current contract, retiring and riding off into the sunset, hoisting the club’s next Lombardi Trophy in front of thousands of Terrible Towels. There likely isn’t a better ending in all of sports.
