Steelers president Art Rooney II reiterated his team’s plan to hold training camp at St. Vincent College near Latrobe, Pa. this summer during a question-and-answer session with fans on Thursday. Rooney had first said in February that the team was planning on returning to their usual summer home.
While he said the team is making plans for and is “optimistic” about having full crowds at Heinz Field this fall, he acknowledged that the earlier date of training camp will make that less likely.
“We are hoping things get back to normal this fall,” Rooney said. “Obviously, training camp happens a little earlier than that. It’s something we are planning for now, but we we’ll see how things go. We need this virus thing to turn the corner.
“We still want to make sure that fans are safe when they come to Saint Vincent. We may have to look at if we have to limit the number of fans, things like that. We’ll be looking at all of those issues. But right now, for sure, our goal and our plan is to have training camp at Saint Vincent this summer.”
The Steelers were forced to forgo their trip to the Laurel Highlands in 2020 due to the NFL’s rules regarding keeping players isolated during the coronavirus pandemic. It’s unclear how much those restrictions will change for the NFL teams this summer.
While unable to go to Latrobe last year, the Steelers spent the 2020 training camp and preseason at Heinz Field instead, snapping a 54-year streak of hosting their camp at the Westmoreland County college, where the field is named for former Steelers coach Chuck Noll.