Pittsburgh has another opportunity to prove its passion for football, now that the 2026 NFL Draft is over.

The Steel City is among the nominees for “Best NFL City” in the USA Today Sports Readers’ Choice Awards, a new nationwide contest modeled after the media company’s successful 10BEST Readers’ Choice Awards program.

Public voting will decide who gets the bragging rights from the slate of 20 nominees, which also includes Philadelphia, Baltimore and Cincinnati, by the way.

In addition to choosing the Best NFL City, voters can select their favorites in three other categories: Best College Baseball Stadium, Best Local Sports Bar and Best Sports Bar.

One vote per person, per day will be accepted in each category, and voting ends at noon on May 11. The top 10 winners in each category will be announced on May 20.

USA Today, the Beaver County Times and the Somerset Daily American are owned by the USA Today Co. media company.

Outrage is building in a quiet Pittsburgh neighborhood.

Residents say they were blindsided by a plan to convert the former Fraternal Order of Police lodge on Banksville Road into a reentry center. The building could be turned into housing for up to 100 federal inmates, officials said.

Dismas Charities, an organization that operates federal halfway houses across the country, is behind the proposal. But neighbors say this isn’t the place.

“What will these people be doing when they’re not in the halfway house? Will they be law-abiding citizens and respect our community and its members?” questioned Judi Perry, a Shady Crest resident.

Concerns range from safety to proximity. Some fear the risk of repeat offenses, even though the facility is designed for rehabilitation. Residents point to past incidents tied to similar programs, including a case in Kentucky where an inmate left a facility and killed a police officer.

“We need to be better educated about how this facility would operate, what the parameters are for the people who stay there, and maybe, if we had more information, it would comfort us,” Perry said.

Inside a recent Pittsburgh Planning Commission presentation, Dismas Charities pitched the facility as a second-chance model.

“Over the past five years, we’ve had almost 40,000 residents participate in our programs nationally, and the rate of recidivism is .08 percent,” a Dismas Charities representative said at the meeting.

But that message isn’t landing here. Petitions are already circulating with hundreds of signatures collected. Neighbors say this fight is just beginning.

“We have preconceived notions about these people who were convicted and committed a crime. We don’t know what their crime was, and so maybe our concerns are exaggerated. But in general, you don’t like the idea of that facility being so close to our community,” Perry said.

A decision could come soon, as the commission is set to take this up in the coming days. If approved, it would still need additional sign-off before any inmates move in.