Why Pittsburgh is a pure match to host the 2026 NFL draft : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8256x5504+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F60%2F5a%2F2a010c2c443aa7f0dbe3654212de%2Fnfldraft-pitt-027.JPG" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8256x5504+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F60%2F5a%2F2a010c2c443aa7f0dbe3654212de%2Fnfldraft-pitt-027.JPG" class="img" alt="The North Shore of the Allegheny River outside Acrisure Stadium on Tuesday, in Pittsburgh." fetchpriority="high"/> The North Shore of the Allegheny River exterior Acrisure Stadium on Tuesday, in Pittsburgh. Jeff Swensen for NPR conceal caption

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Jeff Swensen for NPR PITTSBURGH — Amir Grigsby is standing on North Shore Drive, simply blocks from the Steelers' dwelling stadium, the place Pittsburgh is internet hosting this yr's NFL draft. He is speaking fervently about how the Metal Curtain dominated the NFL "again within the day."

He is referring to the fearsome Steelers protection of the Seventies, when the soccer staff gained three Tremendous Bowls, launching one of many best American sports activities dynasties.

Grigsby wasn't born but — he is solely 22. However as a fifth-generation Pittsburgher, he was raised on these tales of the town's profitable spirit.

"The should be nice may be very distinguished in Pittsburgh," he mentioned.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7107x5060+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ffd%2F45%2F6ee1510340cc833f176d2da5ea44%2Fnfldraft-pitt-022.JPG" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7107x5060+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ffd%2F45%2F6ee1510340cc833f176d2da5ea44%2Fnfldraft-pitt-022.JPG" class="img" alt="PITTSBURGH-APRIL 21: Amir Grigsby, 22, talks sports allegiances along North Shore Drive outside Acrisure Stadium on Tuesday, April 21, 2026 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.(Jeff Swensen for NPR)" loading="lazy"/> Amir Grigsby talks about his love for Pittsburgh sports activities exterior Acrisure Stadium. Jeff Swensen for NPR conceal caption

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Jeff Swensen for NPR The town expects between 500,000 and 700,000 followers to attend the draft, or about double Pittsburgh's inhabitants. Through the three-day occasion that runs by Saturday, 32 NFL groups are choosing which school gamers will be a part of their rosters.

It is the primary time Pittsburgh has hosted the draft in virtually 80 years. However natives like Grigsby say the town's passionate fanbases and 16 main skilled league championships make the choice a pure match.

The draft returns The final and solely different time Pittsburgh hosted the draft was in 1947. However the occasion was nothing just like the public-facing extravaganza it's now. The house owners and coaches of the ten groups on the time gathered on the Fort Pitt Resort downtown to make their picks. And that was that.

Again then, Pittsburgh had already began to ascertain itself as a sports activities city. In baseball, the Pirates had two World Collection titles underneath their belt. The town can be the place skilled soccer obtained its begin: The primary documented occasion of somebody being paid to play a professional soccer sport was in Pittsburgh in 1892. Among the earliest professional hockey video games occurred within the Nineties within the metropolis's Duquesne Gardens, a barn-turned-ice-rink, mentioned Mark Fatla, a local and the writer of Pittsburgh's Historic Ballparks.

However Pittsburgh was simply getting began, and the town turned it up a notch within the Seventies. Along with the Metal Curtain victories, the Pirates gained two of their whole 5 World Collection in these years.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4293x2844+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc0%2F94%2Ffece58a2424b954b326785b5fd60%2Fgettyimages-84059114.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4293x2844+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc0%2F94%2Ffece58a2424b954b326785b5fd60%2Fgettyimages-84059114.jpg" class="img" alt="Pittsburgh Steelers defense (from left) Dwight White (#78), Ernie Holmes (#63), Jack Lambert (58) and Jack Ham (#59) tackle Minnesota Vikings Dave Osborn ($41) during Super Bowl IX in New Orleans on Jan. 12, 1975. The Steelers won 16 to 6." loading="lazy"/> Pittsburgh Steelers protection (from left) Dwight White, Ernie Holmes, Jack Lambert and Jack Ham sort out Minnesota Vikings Dave Osborn throughout Tremendous Bowl IX in New Orleans in 1975. The Steelers gained 16-6. Walter Iooss Jr./Sports activities Illustrated through Getty Pictures conceal caption

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Walter Iooss Jr./Sports activities Illustrated through Getty Pictures That period, Fatla mentioned, "captured the creativeness of sports activities followers far past Pittsburgh."

From the metal mills to the soccer fields However what cemented the town's champion legacy was that they saved profitable. The Pittsburgh Penguins hockey staff sealed back-to-back wins within the Nineteen Nineties and once more within the 2010s. Within the 2000s, the Steelers gained two extra Tremendous Bowls.

Fatla credit all that success to the town's blue-collar work ethic, solid in its metal mills for the reason that nineteenth century. Pittsburgh later emerged because the world's prime producer of metal.

The exhausting work it takes to fabricate metal reveals up on the sector, Fatla mentioned.

"It isn't all the time as flashy as some locations and a few groups," he mentioned. "But it surely's very workman-like, very gritty, very a lot get the job executed by no matter means you need to do it, inside the guidelines."

The Steelers have been based on that industrious spirit. Staff founder Artwork Rooney turned a horse race guess into massive winnings — sufficient to maintain the soccer staff afloat financially. Franchise possession has since been handed down the Rooney household line.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8256x5504+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F18%2F09%2F4bb718644f97b7f995bda50a30d2%2Fnfldraft-pitt-020.JPG" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8256x5504+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F18%2F09%2F4bb718644f97b7f995bda50a30d2%2Fnfldraft-pitt-020.JPG" class="img" alt="Jimmy Coen is the owner of the souvenir shop Yinzers in the Burgh, which sells Steelers gear and NFL Draft items." loading="lazy"/> Jimmy Coen is the proprietor of the memento store Yinzers within the Burgh, which sells Steelers and NFL draft merchandise. Jeff Swensen for NPR conceal caption

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Jeff Swensen for NPR Jimmy Coen, proprietor of Yinzers within the Burgh, a memento store that sells Pittsburgh sports activities merch, says the Rooney household has saved the staff's requirements excessive all these years.

"In case you're gonna play for the Steelers, you are gonna be a winner," he mentioned. "You are not gonna come into Pittsburgh and be lazy."

The metal business began to break down within the Seventies and Eighties attributable to international competitors. With fewer jobs, 1000's of Pittsburghers left. However Coen mentioned sports activities introduced those that stayed nearer collectively.

"Issues have been tough in Pittsburgh," Coen mentioned. "Individuals have been leaving. In order that's all we had was the Steelers."

However Pittsburghers took their pleasure of their groups on the street.

"There's this complete Pittsburgh diaspora on the market that also maintains this sort of emotional connection again to the town, and people folks present up at video games and different locations carrying their Pittsburgh regalia," Fatla mentioned.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8256x5504+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F22%2Fd1%2Ff32ca3ab498fa6b858e6a520cd33%2Fnfldraft-pitt-016.JPG" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8256x5504+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F22%2Fd1%2Ff32ca3ab498fa6b858e6a520cd33%2Fnfldraft-pitt-016.JPG" class="img" alt="A customer looks at a Pittsburgh t-shirt at souvenir shop, Yinzers in the Burgh." loading="lazy"/> A buyer checks out a T-shirt at a Pittsburgh memento store, Yinzers within the Burgh. Jeff Swensen for NPR conceal caption

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Jeff Swensen for NPR Even individuals who have by no means lived in Pittsburgh flock to the black and gold, the colours of all three of the town's main skilled groups.

Albert Martinez is touring all the way in which from Houston to attend the draft. He inherited his love for the Steelers from his mom, who grew up in Monterrey, Mexico — a serious metal manufacturing hub nicknamed the "Pittsburgh of Mexico." His mom felt a kinship with Pittsburgh, and would tune into Steelers video games within the Seventies.

"I bleed black and yellow," Martinez mentioned.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7984x4921+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F30%2Fae%2F3c5b446c427e83e2d8610c6923e9%2Fnfldraft-pitt-001.JPG" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7984x4921+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F30%2Fae%2F3c5b446c427e83e2d8610c6923e9%2Fnfldraft-pitt-001.JPG" class="img" alt="Acrisure Stadium is the site of the 2026 NFL Draft." loading="lazy"/> Acrisure Stadium is the location of the 2026 NFL draft. Jeff Swensen for NPR conceal caption

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Jeff Swensen for NPR The way forward for Pittsburgh sports activities Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O'Connor, a local, says the "Metropolis of Champions" fame endures as a result of totally different generations have seen totally different eras of profitable groups.

For one technology, it was the Seventies Steelers groups. For Grigsby, it was the Steelers of the 2000s.

The newest Pittsburgh championship was gained by the Penguins in 2017. However, as Grigsby tells it, it will not be lengthy earlier than the town seizes one other one.

"Confidence simply comes from you already proving to your self that you have already executed one thing," he mentioned. "We're simply ready for time to catch again up once more. Historical past repeats itself, that is the way it goes."