The Pittsburgh Steelers have had a rich tradition of going away to Latrobe, Pa., and Saint. Vincent College for training camp. In the middle of nowhere and away from the city, they spend three weeks hunkering down, sleeping in dorm rooms, and focusing on football.
For the rest of the NFL, that idea is going extinct.
Today, the Carolina Panthers announced they will stay at home for their 2024 training camp, leaving just five teams that go away during the summer.
It’s a big shift for the Panthers’ franchise. Since entering the league in 1995, they spent their summers in Wofford for camp. Now, the team will hold serve at its team facility.
Pittsburgh is now one of just a handful of teams that travels for camp, joining the Buffalo Bills, the Dallas Cowboys, and a couple other squads that go away. But the Steelers have arguably the most unique training camp setup and certainly the longest tradition. Aside from 2020 and 2021 due to COVID, Pittsburgh has practiced at St. Vincent College since 1966.
Although the team returned last year, 2023 produced record crowds. The highlight of camp, the Steelers’ Friday Night Lights practice had more fans attend than ever before, nearly 14,000 showing up (though it was the team’s first such practice since 2019). But even for the practices held on St. Vincent’s campus, more fans attended than ever before. For one practice, the entire field in front of practice was full of cars with a mile-long line on the adjacent road. A completely free experience, the Steelers have remained committed to keeping it at Saint Vincent with the Rooneys and Mike Tomlin favoring the environment.
Despite that commitment, you have to wonder if the team will ever change course. Will Tomlin’s eventual replacement, whenever that is, want to hold camp at home? Will the increasing number of people who film and essentially livestream the sessions compel the team to freeze out fans?
For now, all signs point to the team returning to St. Vincent in 2024. The Steelers might be the last team to go away for camp. As of now, they’re in the clear minority.
