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The people love the team, though attendance has always been lower in the fall while the Steelers are still playing. Spring attendance goes through the roof generally.
The problem comes down to the fact that they play in one of the oldest sporting facilities on the continent still used as a professional venue. Only a few notable baseball parks are older. They broke ground on the facility in 1957 and it opened in 1961. They've rennovated it a few times, and I absolutely love the building, but it needs to go. The reasons it's gotten to this point are many and tie in to previous owners, and the city itself.
Don't think though that people in Pittsburgh don't care about their hockey team though. They support it. It's just been one of the worst teams in the league for half a decade, and that would affect the numbers of ANY city's attendance. They've also shown the biggest jumps in attendenace the past couple of years. Also the city just recently built brand new stadiums for the bucs and steelers, and the people of the region are still a bit shellshocked from paying for them.
A new arena though is vital to the region not just for hockey, but for tons of other events. We don't get lots of concert tours through here anymore because the arena actually can't handle many of the electircal requirments of modern bands. How insane is that?
We'll know soon hopefully if there will be a new arena. If there will be one, and they break ground, and the pens aren't going to go anywhere you'lls ee another jump in attendance. There are many people who also don't want to put too much heart into the team this year because they don't want it broken if they move next year.
Anyway don't blame the fans. They could sell out every game and still lose money in that arena. It's gotta go.
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