I totally understand the Pittsburgh mentality. Football should be played outside in the rain, snow, sleet, and cold.
When it what it boils down to is that stadiums/domes are used for more than just Steelers or Pitt football. Its time for us fans to think about the bigger and what the economic benefits there are for building a dome or retractable roofed stadium.
As of yesterday we’ve learned that the BCS will hold a 4 Team playoff. Now lets look at the cities up north that are bidding for these games; St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Detroit. Now ask ourselves a question, what do those cities have in common? If you guessed they all have a Domed Stadium, you’re correct. Each of those cities also held Super Bowls, Final Fours, and some have held events like Political Conventions, and so on.
Other events held at this style stadium could be Boxing, MMA, Wrestlemania, and maybe an ACC Tournament or 2.
Fans from teams participating in these events/games aren’t just going to attend a game and go home. They’re going to spend money at bars, local stores, hotels, restaurants, and so on.
Just think of watching Alabama vs Ohio State in Football or Duke vs Syracuse in Basketball here in Pittsburgh.
And again, I totally understand here in Pittsburgh the mindset is that football should be played in the cold and mud. But we also need of the taxpayer that pays for these stadiums that aren’t football fans or even sports fans in general. When thinking about economics, and the potential windfall locally this is the route we need to go.
I do understand we’re years/decades away from having to build a new stadium. But I do think this is a great topic to talk about during the offseason.
Now let the Joey Niklas slandering begin.
joeweasel 