Pittsburg, PA
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey talks hosting 2026 NFL Draft:
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Mayor Ed Gainey is predicting a million people will attend the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh.
He spoke one-on-one with KDKA-TV hours after being joined by Governor Josh Shapiro and Steelers owner Art Rooney at an Acrisure Stadium press conference.
Speaking directly with KDKA, we asked the mayor about the impact the draft will have on the city, what he’s learned from past drafts.
“Today is a great day,” Gainey said. “It’s extremely exciting. I think it’s great for the city.”
Bringing the draft to Pittsburgh has been Gainey’s dream for some time. He’s made it a priority, he said, sharing he brought the idea to Art Rooney during their first meeting after Gainey took office. Gainey said the Steelers have six Super Bowl Titles, and are due to host a draft.
Gainey has watched the growth of the draft from an event inside of Radio City Music Hall to the massive outdoor event that travels to a new city each year.
“I think it explains the phenomenon of football in this nation and in this city, we are a football city we are a football county, we are a football region,” Gainey said.
It’s part of the reason he is predicting the 2026 Draft will be the biggest-ever. He thinks it could be especially popular for Pittsburgh natives who have moved away.
“This will give people the opportunity to come back and see the new Pittsburgh, see the new city, see how we are doing things nowadays,” Gainey said.
He thinks they’ll be impressed.
Also helping attendance reach those new heights is the proximity of Pittsburgh to other NFL cities, he said.
Asked by KDKA what he learned from his trip to the NFL Draft in Detroit, Gainey said collaboration with public safety services is critical.
That goes along with making people can move around without human gridlock.
“I think going there and and listening to them having it in downtown and the impact it had for businesses inside the city was critical for me to hear and know,” Gainey said.
We asked Gainey about if the city made any commitments to the NFL to land the draft.
He responded saying everyone involved has been able to talk about the services they would deliver.
When pressed for specific, Gainey said it’s something that could be discussed later.
The NFL did not require any tax breaks or incentives for the draft, Gainey told KDKA.
Gainey said the NFL is working out any logistical commitments they’d be making with the city.
Governor Shapiro said at the press conference earlier in the day that Pittsburgh would have the state’s support.
“The commonwealth will make the investment,” Shapiro said. “We’re prepared to make this an awesome experience for everybody.
The 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit brought 775,000 people to the city over the course of 3 days. Gainey said Pittsburgh can hit a million.
Visit Pittsburgh told KDKA last year that Allegheny County has 18,000 hotel rooms.
When we told the mayor about that figure, and asked if the city has the space for the million people he predicts will attend the draft, Gainey said he believes we do.
When pressed to learn where, Gainey said he doesn’t know if the 18,000 number includes Airbnbs. In addition he said he does not know if it includes the instances where people stay with family members.
He said counties around Pittsburgh, like Westmoreland, Washington, and Butler counties will all benefit as a lot of people will stay in hotels outside Allegheny County.
“As long as they are close they will stay at those hotels,” Gainey said.
During the early afternoon press conference, Visit Pittsburgh CEO Jerad Bachar said the NFL has spent a considerable amount of time in Pittsburgh figuring out logistics.
“They’re satisfied with everything that we have on offer, including the number of hotel rooms,” Bachar said.
Gainey said there is a lot of work ahead, but it will all be worth it.
“It’s all city, it’s all football, it’s all team. Let’s go get it,” Gainey said.
We also asked the mayor about the specific location of the draft stage and how Point State Park would be used.
He said the NFL hasn’t finalized those details yet so they don’t have anything they can share.
Pittsburgh voted best Fourth of July celebration in America
In 2026, Pittsburgh gets the bragging rights for the nation’s Best Fourth of July Celebration, as determined by voters in USA Today 10BEST Readers’ Choice Awards.
Pittsburgh has long been known for its connections to horror films starting with George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead in 1968.
Now, in honor of that designation and the legacy of Romero, who died in 2016, the Pittsburgh Film Festival has announced it is introducing a new award this year.
The inaugural Romero Awardfor Best Horror Feature will be presented at the 45th annual Three Rivers Film Festival, scheduled to run from Nov. 4-15, according to the group’s website. Presented with support from the George A. Romero Foundation, the award will be selected by a panel of industry judges.
Named in honor of Romero, the award celebrates bold, visionary work in the horror genre. As the birthplace of Night of the Living Dead, Pittsburgh remains a vital home for horror storytelling, making the Romero Award a natural addition to the festival’s juried honors, the group said.
“The GARF is devoted to preserving Romero’s legacy and continues to support creatives and independent filmmaking in genres and horror spaces,” Suzanne Romero, George’s widow and founder and president of the George A. Romero Foundation, said recently. She died June 24 at her home in Toronto after a long illness.
Film Pittsburgh’s executive director, Shanna Carrick, added, “We are proud to partner with the GARF to introduce an international competition for best independent horror film. Pittsburgh has a deep love of horror films and we believe that our audiences will be thrilled to experience new voices in the genre.”
The festival is currently accepting submissions, with the full lineup to be announced in October.
The festival will also continue to celebrate its horror offerings with its beloved Chiller Theater, named in honor of the late Pittsburgh horror show host Chilly Billy Cardille. The spooky showcase features the best new independent horror shorts from around the globe and Allegheny County.
The Cincinnati Reds are in a rain delay for the second consecutive day. Saturday’s rain delay came before the game even started. Sunday’s rain delay occurred in the bottom of the 8th inning.
“The tarp is on the field, and we are in a delay here at PNC,” the Pirates official account posted on X. “We’ll update when we have info.”
Update: The grounds crew is taking the tarp off the field and the game is expected to resume around 5:20 ET.
The Pittsburgh Pirates lead the Reds 5-4 in the 8th.
Let’s take a look at how we got there.
Game Recap
In the second inning, Esmerlyn Valdez hit a ground-rule double off Reds starting pitcher Brady Singer that scored Nick Gonzalez, giving the Pirates an early 1-0 lead.
Later in the inning, former Red Tyler Callihan hit his third home run of the year, giving Pittsburgh a 4-0 lead.
However, in the fourth, the Reds would battle back. After Elly De La Cruz reached on an error and Sal Stewart singled, JJ Bleday added a single of his own that would score both, making it a 4-2 Pittsburgh advantage.
The Reds continued to rally in the fifth. After Noelvi Marte walked, Tyler Stephenson stayed hot with an RBI double to left field, getting the Reds back within a run.
Edwin Arroyo followed with an RBI single of his own that tied the game at 4.
The Pirates got a run back in the bottom half of the fifth when Ryan O’Hearn hit his 12th home run of the season. That would be it for Singer, who gave up five runs on nine hits in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out six and did not walk a batter.
The Pirates had a big opportunity to break the game wide open in the seventh when Zach McCambley walked the bases loaded. Reds manager Terry Francona brought in Brock Burke, who was miraculously able to get out of the jam with a pop-up and an inning-ending double play.
The Reds had a big chance to tie the game in the 8th when they had runners on first and second with nobody out. However, Nathaniel Lowe popped out, Spencer Steer flew out, and Noelvi Marte grounded out to end the threat.
Pierce Johnson was set to come in the game for the Reds when the game entered a rain delay.
We will provide an update as we know more.
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Two people are dead after an early morning crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
According to state police, around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, they were called to a single-vehicle crash near Hempfield Township in Westmoreland County.
A vehicle with two people inside reportedly drove onto an embankment, where it lost control. After losing control, it then hit the overpass, causing it to flip, which trapped the two people inside.
State police said that once fire and rescue crews arrived on the scene, both of the occupants of the vehicle were dead, and the coroner was called to the scene.
The Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office identified the driver as Hunter Fronius of Connellsville and the passenger as Raymond Foster, also of Connellsville.
According to the coroner’s report, the cause of death for both of the deceased was blunt force injuries, and the manner of death was ruled to be accidental.
The coroner’s report also stated that neither of the men in the vehicle was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.
Pennsylvania State Police are investigating the crash.
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