Pittsburgh

===Football===
{{further|American football in Western Pennsylvania}}
{{more citations needed section|date=January 2017}}
[[File:Pittsburgh Steeler fans 15 Oct 2006.jpg|thumb|[[Pittsburgh Steelers]]' fans waving the [[Terrible Towel]], a tradition that dates back to [[1975 Pittsburgh Steelers season|1975]]]]
The city's professional team, [[National Football League|NFL's]] [[Pittsburgh Steelers]], is named after the distribution company the Pittsburgh Steeling company established in 1927. News of the team has preempted news of elections and other events and are important to the region and its [[diaspora]]. The Steelers have been owned by the [[Rooney family]] since the team's founding in 1933, show consistency in coaching (only three coaches since the 1960s all with the same basic philosophy) and are noted as one of sports' most respectable franchises.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pittsburgh Steelers Owner: Art Rooney net worth, political donations - Sports Illustrated |url=https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/07/17/pittsburgh-steelers-owner-art-rooney|access-date=October 9, 2020 |website=www.si.com|date=July 17, 2018 }}</ref> The Steelers have a long waiting list for season tickets, and have sold out every home game since 1972.<ref>{{cite news |title=ESPN ranks Steelers fans No. 1 |url=http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_585606.html?source=rss&feed=3 |website=Pittsburgh Tribune-Review |date=August 30, 2008 |access-date=August 30, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081008134730/http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_585606.html?source=rss&feed=3 |archive-date=October 8, 2008}}</ref> The team won four [[Super Bowl]]s in a six-year span in the 1970s, a [[Super Bowl XL|fifth Super Bowl]] in 2006, and a league record [[Super Bowl XLIII|sixth Super Bowl]] in 2009. Since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 they have qualified for the most NFL playoff berths (28) and have played in (15) and hosted (11) the most NFL conference championship games.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}}

[[High school football]] routinely attract 10,000 fans per game and extensive press coverage.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}} The [[Tom Cruise]] film [[All the Right Moves (film)|All the Right Moves]] and ESPN's [[Bound for Glory (ESPN)|Bound for Glory]] with [[Dick Butkus]] both filmed in the area to capture the tradition and passion of local high school football.

[[College football]] in the city dates to 1889<ref>{{Cite book |last=Starrett |first=Agnes Lynch |url=https://documenting.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A00afj8718m/viewer#page/248/mode/2up |title=Through one hundred and fifty years: the University of Pittsburgh |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |year=1937 |page=198 |language=en}}</ref> with the [[Division I (NCAA)|Division I]] (FBS) [[Pittsburgh Panthers football|Panthers]] of the University of Pittsburgh posting nine [[NCAA Division I FBS National Football Championship|national championships]], qualifying 37 total bowl games, appearing in the [[2018 ACC Championship Game]], and winning the [[2020 ACC Championship Game]] which was the program's first conference title since leaving the [[Big East Conference (1979–2013)|Big East]] for the [[Atlantic Coast Conference|ACC]] between the 2012 and 2013 seasons.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pitt Panthers College Football History, Stats, Records |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/pittsburgh/index.html |access-date=November 21, 2023 |website=College Football at Sports-Reference.com |language=en}}</ref> Local universities Duquesne and Robert Morris have loyal fan bases that follow their lower [[NCAA Division I Football Championship|(FCS)]] teams. Duquesne, Carnegie Mellon University, and [[Washington & Jefferson College]] all posted major bowl games and AP Poll rankings from the 1920s to the 1940s as that era's equivalent of Top 25 FBS programs.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}}

Acrisure Stadium serves as home for the Steelers, Panthers, and both the suburban and city high school championships. Playoff franchises [[Pittsburgh Power]] and Pittsburgh Gladiators competed in the [[Arena Football League]] in the 1980s and 2010s respectively. The Gladiators hosted [[ArenaBowl I]] in the city, competing in two, but losing both before moving to [[Tampa, Florida]] and becoming the [[Tampa Bay Storm|Storm]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/s_695755.html |title=Pittsburgh Power unveiled as arena football expansion team |first=Rob |last=Rossi |newspaper=Pittsburgh Tribune-Review |date=August 20, 2010 | access-date=August 20, 2010 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100823084558/http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/s_695755.html | archive-date=August 23, 2010 }}</ref> The [[Pittsburgh Passion]] has been the city's professional women's football team since 2002 and plays its home games at [[Highmark Stadium (Pennsylvania)|Highmark Stadium]]. The [[Edward J. DeBartolo, Sr.|Ed Debartolo]] owned [[Pittsburgh Maulers (1984)|Pittsburgh Maulers]] featured a [[Heisman Trophy]] winner in the mid-1980s, former superstar University of Nebraska running back [[Mike Rozier]].