PITTSBURGH — The school day was starting, but Arnetta Fuqua decided to let her 7-year-old daughter sleep a bit longer.
It was a sunny-enough Wednesday in April, but Ralilah, a first-grader in Pittsburgh public school, would be studying from home through the end of the week, after school leaders decided to shutter classrooms — not for snow or heat or a global pandemic, but for the arrival of a new kind of marquee sports event: the NFL draft.
Fuqua had just unpacked a grocery delivery from Walmart. She thought Ralilah could do her lessons later in the day without logging on to to her laptop. But around 9 a.m., she reread the packet that Ralilah’s teacher had sent home and realized they had to log in to record attendance and complete some initial lessons.
Pittsburgh’s time in the national spotlight was turning into a stressor well known for sending parents into tailspins.
“I can’t log in to the computer,” Fuqua, 33, said, fiddling with the keyboard at 9:21 a.m., an hour after the school day began. “The icons are not there, and I don’t even know what I am doing.”
Fuqua’s frustration highlights the tensions playing out throughout Pittsburgh as the NFL consumes Pennsylvania’s second-most populous city this week. In what local officials call the largest public event in Pittsburgh history, at least a half-million visitors are expected to crowd the city over the next three days, not to watch a playoff game but to hear NFL teams decide which college players will join their ranks.
The nationally televised event, which has even caused Pittsburgh to temporarily assume the name “Picksburgh,” is designed to showcase the city’s brilliant skyline, its rich manufacturing history and an economic future rooted in medicine, technology and higher education.
“This week is 99 percent about selling our city and to sell the opportunities that are in Pittsburgh on a national stage,” Mayor Corey O’Connor (D) said Wednesday, at a downtown ribbon-cutting ceremony. “And if we want to grow, and we want families to stay here, it’s about giving them opportunity.”
But in a year in which major cities across the nation are also gearing up to host World Cup soccer matches, Pittsburgh’s experience with the draft — a once-quiet affair that has ballooned to a tentpole event for the $20 billion-a-year NFL — highlights how major sports events can strain local infrastructure as they grow larger and flashier.
In a city with a tight downtown corridor sandwiched between three rivers, several major thoroughfares will be closed into the weekend. Electronic highway signs flash warnings as if a major storm is coming — “NFL draft … Avoid unnecessary travel.” And to those who do drive, the costs of parking in some downtown lots is projected to soar above $100.
Those concerns are what prompted Pittsburgh public school leaders to announce that about 20,000 students would shift to remote learning. Now, parents such as Fuqua are left to balance whether the disruptions caused by the draft are worth it.
Fuqua doesn’t consider herself a huge sports fan. But like most Pittsburgh residents she knows, she tries to sit down to watch Steelers games, and she understands that the draft will bring national exposure to a city that she believes deserves more respect. But the single mother, who also has a 2-year-old daughter, now feels trapped in her home.
“It’s a mess, and it’s really cutting into our lives,” Fuqua said, punching keys on her daughter’s computer. “I am going to look for good that is coming from this draft, but I am not sure there is going to be a lot for us to like. … It just seems like a lot of crazy.”
Bracing for impact
About 9:30 a.m., Fuqua finally summoned Ralilah from her room.
Perhaps the first-grader could navigate the computer better than Mom?
She could not.
“The school usually has the icons already on there, but they are not there,” Fuqua, said, still clicking.
She reclaimed her cellphone from her 2-year-old, who had been using it to watch cartoons on YouTube, and emailed the teacher, who quickly responded and urged Fuqua to log into the school network via another portal.
It worked. Mother and daughter could finally mark their attendance for the day.
“This is all very confusing,” Fuqua said. “There must be a lot of parents out there thinking the same thing.”
The decision by Pittsburgh Public Schools to shift to remote learning for the draft is backed by the teachers union, even though some city leaders were wary of the idea. Billy Hileman, president of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, said the school system’s remote learning procedures were well tested during the pandemic and since used at times during snowstorms or heat waves.
“The traffic situation … is going to be horrific, and many of our students use public transportation,” Hileman said.
In addition to schools, many downtown businesses are allowing employees to work remotely during the draft. The draft’s festivities include public gatherings at Point State Park as well as areas on the other side of the Allegheny River near the city’s professional football and baseball stadiums.
O’Connor, the mayor, said estimates of 500,000 to 700,000 visitors for the draft comes from data showing that parts of 11 NFL markets are within a 4½ drive or one-hour flight to Pittsburgh. Last year’s draft, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, drew an estimated 600,000 visitors over three days, while the draft in 2024 in Detroit attracted a record 775,000 attendees.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) said Wednesday that the event could generate over $200 million for the state’s economy. Also, Shapiro said the draft has forced state and local officials to expedite several community building projects to enhance quality of life.
Shapiro, O’Connor and other officials cut the ribbon on a revitalized Market Square, a public plaza in the shadow of the 40-story PPG Place skyscraper. Last week, officials opened another new four-acre park downtown called Arts Landing. Point State Park, where the city’s iconic water fountain is, also recently underwent a major renovation.
“This event was a catalyst for investment downtown and a catalyst for investment in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said. “You are seeing big things happen as a result of the focus of this draft.”
Steel City’s moment to shine
David Brown, 70, said he can attest that Pittsburgh feels like a transformed city as it prepares for its big moment.
As a young man, Brown worked in the now-shuttered polluting steel mills along the Monongahela River. He now likes to walk around downtown Pittsburgh — in his Steelers cap, naturally — to stand amid the skyscrapers and sports stadiums that symbolize the city’s renaissance. Brown, who now walks with a cane, plans to take part in all three days of the draft, reminiscing of past Steelers football legends Joe Greene, Ernie Holmes, L.C. Greenwood and Terry Bradshaw, to name a few.
“This will bring a lot of different people, from different places,” Brown said. “We got a lot of development for the people to see.”
Local business owners are more cautious about whether the draft will jolt the economy in meaningful ways, especially if local residents are turned off by the inconvenience or price surge. A Bud Light at an official NFL draft outdoor bar in Market Square costs $9 — New York prices in Pittsburgh.
“It’s kind of overhyped so far,” said Maryam Williams, 43, who was selling Italian ice from a cart on Wednesday afternoon. “It’s like a waiting game to see if all of these people really show up.”
Jordan Nicholas, a real estate investor whose family has operated Nicholas Coffee and Tea Co. for 107 years, said he believes businesses in the immediate vicinity of the draft stage, which stands on the North Shore across the Allegheny River from downtown, will see robust business. He fears other downtown businesses will be disappointed.
“They scared everybody and told everybody who works downtown not to come downtown,” Nicholas said. “So, if you lose all the office workers and just replace them with the out-of-towners, it’s almost like a net neutral effect.”
Juan Garrett, a local business leader, said he’s already seen the draft bolster Pittsburgh’s economy in other ways. Garrett, who works with minority- and women-owned small businesses, said he helped 165 such businesses, including electricians and portable-toilet distributors, sign contracts with the NFL. They’re the kind of business, he said, that have not had as much opportunity here as in some other major East Coast cities.
“Even if they only got a small contract, what we are telling people is: ‘You can say, I got a contract with the NFL draft,’” Garrett, 60, said. “And that builds their businesses and that is clearly economic impact.”
‘This is a lot’
For the country, the draft starts Thursday night. But as Fuqua hovered with her daughter over the computer a day prior she thought about how challenging the next few days could be for her and her family.
Ralilah will need to hold her lessons with her speech therapist online on Thursday instead of meeting in person. And Fuqua, who is trying to return to work as a nursing assistant, is scheduled for a CPR recertification class on Saturday on the outskirts of town.
“How are Ubers going to navigate and circulate if they’ve got all of these road closures?” asked Fuqua, who no longer drives because repairs on her 20-year-old Honda became too costly. “I’m not paying $100 just to go 10 minutes down the road for a CPR license.”
Then a more immediate challenge emerged.
As Ralilah was using the computer to learn vowels, an error message appeared: “This site can’t be reached.” Ralilah put down the computer and ran up to her bedroom to watch cartoons.
“With all of this traffic, and us having to maneuver and take care of our kids, this is a lot,” Fuqua said. “Especially for people who are not big-time sports fans.”
They would try the lessons later in the day, Fuqua said. For now, she wondered if their time might be better spent at a nearby park. If they went, they would definitely walk.
Razzan Nakhlawi contributed to this report.
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