No offense to pittsburgh fans, but they are a distant third in that city. It's all steelers steelers and god forbid if the Pirates actually did something they would take over the pens in popularity quickly. I mean they had a Cowher press conference headlining the news when their hockey team got the offer to move to KC.
The Steelers are kings in this town, but the Pens are a solid #2 behind them. The Pirates, those loveable losers that haven't had a winning season in 15 years are third now. Pirates season ticket sales are down almost 20% this year, and were only up last year because of the All-Star game.
The Steelers will always be #1 here, it's a football town first, but the Pens are easily #2 now, IMO. The Pirates are a distant third just because of their futility.
The Pens could be #1 again if they start making playoff runs, and the Steelers slump like in the late 80's, early 90's.
The big thing the Pens have going for them is the young fans. The kids like myself who grew up during the Mario/Jagr years are now old enough to have season tickets. The Student rush program brings in thousands of high school/college students on a nightly basis. The Pens have the largest fanbase of young people in this town easily. The Pirates fans are mostly ole timers...that are dwindling fast.