Whether or not their teams are winning, Pittsburgh is the best football city in the world. That seems to be the only logical conclusion after the city was named the best city for football fans for the third consecutive seasons by WalletHub.
The outlet already awarded that title to Pittsburgh in 2019, ranking first for pro football and even seventh for college football. Having one of the most accessible stadiums doesn’t hurt, but the biggest push is probably fan engagement. WalletHub also named the Steel City tops for 2020, so this is now three straight years during which they have reached the same conclusion.
The outlet did a comparison of 240 cities around the country with either college or pro football teams, or both, judging them on 21 different metrics, such as team performance, ticket prices, game attendance, stadium accessibility, and fan engagement.
It’s no surprise that Pittsburgh scores high in the fan engagement metric, tied with the Green Bay Packers for the most engaged fans in the NFL. It’s quite frankly the reason that we here at Steelers Depot have been able to be as successful as we have and grown year after year, thanks to, well, frankly, most likely you, the person reading this.
Pittsburgh is known to be a city that lives and breathes its football. Walk around town on game day and everybody will be gearing up for the game. You can probably strike up a conversation about football with just about any given stranger that you come across on the street.
The Steelers are said to have a well-traveled fan base. While that is partially true, it’s really more accurate to say that they have a wide diaspora of fans, many of whom, or their families, left the city as the steel industry shrunk and Pittsburgh began transitioning from more blue-collar factory jobs to white-collar work in tech and science.
Because of the migration around the country of Pittsburghers seeking opportunities elsewhere, they have taken their fandom with them and continued to pass them down from generation to generation. I think that fact also speaks to the strength of the love of football in the city. You can take the Yinzer out of Pittsburgh, so to speak, but you can’t take Pittsburgh out of the Yinzer.
Considering the Steelers haven’t won a playoff game in over five years—their longest playoff drought since the merger—it is commendable that the fans have stayed engaged. Right now is an exciting though anxious time of transition, as Mike Tomlin begins the search for a new quarterback and the front office moves under the watch of a new general manager. What will these changes bring to our beloved team, which continues to embody the city?
