When it comes to training camps, the Pittsburgh Steelers are a dying breed. These days, most teams stay at their practice facility, drive to training camp, and then head home after meetings to sleep in their own bed. Not Pittsburgh. For decades, only briefly interrupted by the pandemic, they’ve travelled to St. Vincent College tucked away in Latrobe, Pa., for three weeks every year.
Steelers training camp is a slice of football heaven. No big stadiums. No glitz and glamour. No overpriced parking. Just a field, some bleachers, and football. And fans love it. Each practice on Chuck Noll Field is filled with fans in the bleachers, along the fences, and in the grassy hills. For veterans, they know what to expect. For rookies, it’s an experience and reminder that they’re not in college anymore.
On the latest episode of 93.7 The Fan’s look back at the 2008 Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense, a historic group that produced the team’s last Super Bowl, host Chris Mack spoke with OLB LaMarr Woodley. They covered a wide range of topics but touched on what Steelers training camps were like. While many around the league might talk about the physicality or intensity or speed of practice, Woodley’s “whoa” moment was witnessing the droves of fans who came out to watch the team practice.
“I had no idea about that,” Woodley said of the crowd. “Coming out for a practice. In college, you go out there, there’s no fans here. You can hear the fans through the door. Like, ‘holy shit.’ It gives you that WWE feel. It gets you riled up for practice. Because there’s some tough days out there.”
Even after being back at St. Vincent College since 2022, there was record number of fans for this summer’s practice. Weekend practices were so full that the entire fields were full of cars, forcing fans to park along the adjacent road, a line that was at least a mile long. During the Friday Night Lights practice, the first since 2019 (2022 and 2021 were lost to COVID, 2022 was cancelled due to a severe storm), a record 13,957 fans attended this year’s session. Players walk out to practice past a line of surrounding fines like a wrestler entering the ring, as Woodley alluded to.
There are no official, or at least public, figures for the number of fans who attend the other practices but from someone who hasn’t missed a camp practice in a decade, this year’s turnout was larger than ever. For Woodley, hearing Steeler Nation helped get him through the dog days of summer.
“When you’ve got those fans out there rooting you on and yelling, you might not be able to get to autographs with them but they spark you up a little bit before you go out there to practice,” he said. “Gives you the energy you need.”
Pittsburgh’s still known for having the most physical practices in the NFL. And Latrobe weather in July and August comes in one of two forms. Extreme heat or rain with extreme humidity. Not easy to gut through on Day 12 when you’re on your sixth straight practice. But fans show up every day to get a peek at what the team could look like, no matter what happened the year before. It’s a tradition that hopefully remains ongoing for fans who don’t have to spend a penny cheering on their team. And for bloggers like us who can take in the day’s work and tell the rest of Steeler Nation unable to attend.
Check out the full interview below.
