Saint Vincent awaits Steelers arrival for camp
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The Steelers have held training camp at St. Vincent College for the past 45 seasons.
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It's not quite clear exactly when the Steelers will open training camp -- it could be as early as Wednesday -- but whenever they do, Saint Vincent College in Latrobe will be ready for them.
College spokesman Don Orlando said the school has done "some preliminary preparations" for the team's pending arrival, and the site will be all systems go whenever a start date is set.
"We probably would like to have about 48-hours notice, but could do it in a half day if we have to," Orlando said.
He said the final preparations will involve erecting fences and tents, as well as rearranging furniture in the school's residence halls, where the Steelers players will stay.
"We've been ready for weeks," he said.
Orlando said it was impossible to predict the attendance for this year's camp, or how it would be affected by the lockout, but noted that the past few years have seen crowds of around 100,000.
"I have no reason to think it'll be any different this year," he said.
Local hotels are playing the waiting game, hopeful that reservations from Steelers fans don't turn into cancellations. Amy Felgar, assistant general manager of the Hampton Inn in Greensburg, said business has been fairly normal up to this point.
"The reservations are still here, but they can still cancel," she said. "Hopefully that's not the case."
Felgar said fans typically make their arrangements well in advance. The hotel is sold out for the weekend of July 29-31, when training camp traditionally would start.
"It's basically just a standard year as far as our reservations go to this point," she said. "But I'm sure as soon as they release [the training camp schedule] we'll be getting calls off the hook."
The hotel has around a dozen rooms available from Wednesday to Saturday, Felgar said. If the Steelers do open training camp this week, though, she expected those spots to be gone "in a matter of minutes."
The Steelers traditionally provided a nice publicity boost for the school and the area, Orlando said. With an enrollment of just less than 2,000, Saint Vincent has played host to the team's training camp for the past 45 seasons.
"The visibility that it gives to the college is really priceless because a lot of people see the college and see the area for the first time when they come out to camp," Orlando said.
Though this offseason has been one of the most unorthodox in recent memory, Orlando said Saint Vincent plans on business as usual whenever training camp does start.
"We'll be ready whenever the Steelers tell us they want to come," he said.
First Published July 23, 2011 12:00 am
