Editorial: Steelers training camp gets back to basics

The relationship between a sports franchise and its fans can be a cynical thing.

It can seem purely commercial if not downright transactional. The teams play in massive venues often paid for with public funds. The players pick up staggering paychecks that are nothing in comparison to the ownership’s take. All the while, the fans who worship at the gameday shrine pay through the nose for tickets, T-shirts, hats and merchandise of all kinds.

But lest one get too pessimistic about the symbiosis of pro sports and proletariat, there is Pittsburgh Steelers training camp at Saint Vincent College in Unity to offer a different perspective.

While the NFL is definitely all about naming rights, sponsorships and $15 beer, there is something about training camp that strips away the corporateness a little bit and gets back to the simpler aspects of athletes and fans and community. At least there is for the Steelers Nation.

Training camp is where the team works on those fundamentals to get ready for Sundays and Monday night lights. It’s (usually) less about the temper tantrums of superstars and more like the push to get better and prove worth that every player lived before signing bonuses and autographs.

In return, fans can feel more connected when not watching players on pixelated screens or from the nosebleed seats of Heinz Fi — whoops, Acrisure Stadium.

In the community surrounding Saint Vincent, the impact of the team’s presence is felt as well.

While it can often feel like the financial impact is a one-way street, with traffic flowing toward the team, training camp shows how much the Steelers mean to the community in easily measured dollars and cents. That is particularly easy to measure after two years without the team coming to Unity because of coronavirus pandemic precautions.

The annual Friday Night Lights event has poured thousands of dollars into Greater Latrobe School District. Restaurants and hotels can see revenues climb by one-third or more while the team is in town. For a hospitality industry hit hard by the pandemic overall, the added injury of losing training camp for two years could have felt like an added penalty.

Yes, it’s still commercial. Yes, it’s still transactional. But it’s also different. This is less the glitzy, revenue-driven advertising juggernaut of the Super Bowl — not that we wouldn’t all like to see the Steelers back in that hunt. Instead, it seems more honest and direct and — perhaps more than anything — truly appreciated on both sides.

We don’t know where the team will end up by the end of the season. There may never have been a year with this much new going on — from a quarterback to the name of the stadium and even the scoreboard.

But training camp is getting back to basics, and with the return to Saint Vincent, that’s a good place to start — for the team, the fans and the community.