Steelers President Art Rooney II on St. Vincent College: “It’s been something that’s been good to us in terms of the performance of the team”

[Steeler Nation]

Steelers Radio Network host, Mike Prisuta sat down with Pittsburgh Steelers President Art Rooney II earlier this week to talk about the excitement of having training camp back at Saint Vincent College.

Because of COVID-19 and the recent pandemic, the Steelers have had to hold their training camp on their home turf at Heinz Field for the past two years. There were a few things that needed to fall into place for the Steelers to get back to St. Vincent as Rooney explained in the interview:

“Well, number one, we had to get outside of these COVID protocols that we’ve had the agreement between the league and the player’s association was in effect for the last two years. So you know, just getting beyond that, as well as all the other health protocols which I hope are not coming back at any point. We had to get all that behind us. So now, we’re looking forward to getting up to St. Vincent again this summer.”

The Steelers have been training at Saint Vincent College for over 50 years.


When asked if things might look a little different at St. Vincent this year with what hopes to be the worst parts of the recent pandemic behind us, Rooney expressed that he feels we’ll see a lot of what we’ve already seen in the past:

“I envision it being pretty close to what it’s always been. You know, it’s been a great setup, mostly for our fans. They love it up there and we’re anxious to get back up there and give our fans a chance to get up close and personal with our players and team, and that’s always been the best part about it.”

It’s been well known that Steelers head coach, Mike Tomlin is a huge fan St. Vincent and everything that encompasses training camp. When asked what makes it so special and why the Steelers keep going back, Rooney expressed that it’s pretty simple actually:

“We’ve had a pretty good track record coming up to St. Vincent since we’ve been going up there, so that doesn’t hurt. But I do think, like I said before, our fans just love it. It’s a great atmosphere and great for families. It’s free of course and there’s so many aspects of it that are great for the fans. The whole community up there in Latrobe gets behind everything, and we’ll have our Friday Night Lights workout going over there. There’s just a lot of great pieces to it that we’re anxious to get back to.” Rooney continued. “Tradition counts. I think tradition counts. Like I said, it’s been something that’s been good to us in terms of the performance of the team coming out of St. Vincent. And then the proximity for the fans, that’s probably the biggest thing.”

Steelers defensive captain, Cam Heyward signs autographs for fans at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA during training camp. | Steelers.com


When it comes to the Steelers and the Latrobe community, Rooney knows that tradition has been everything:

“Well, it’s been great. All you have to do is go to the Friday Night Lights practice and get a pretty good feel for the relationship there. We’ve been there now for 50 something years. We can’t say 53 straight years anymore I guess, but this will be something like our 55th training camp there. Fans, the Latrobe community, the St. Vincent community, they’ve just been great to us down through the years.”

To watch Rooney’s full interview with Prisuta, click here.

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