Sports have been played in Pittsburgh since the American Civil War. In 1892, the city hosted baseball, hockey, and the first professional American football game.
When the Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Panthers football team, and Pittsburgh Steelers won many championships in the 1970s, the city became known as the “City of Champions.” Today, Pittsburgh is home to three major professional sports franchises: the Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins.
Additionally, the University of Pittsburgh Panthers competes in a Division I Power Five conference, the highest level of collegiate athletics in the United States, in both football and basketball.
Duquesne and Robert Morris also have Division I men’s and women’s basketball teams, as well as Division I FCS football teams. Robert Morris fields men’s and women’s Division I ice hockey teams.
The MLB’s Pittsburgh Pirates have won five World Series titles, the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins have won five Stanley Cups, and the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers have won a league-record-tying six Super Bowls.
With 9 national championships in football and 2 in basketball, the Pittsburgh Panthers have also had success in the NCAA.
Based on the colors of William Pitt’s coat of arms, the flag of Pittsburgh is black and gold; Pittsburgh is the only city in the United States where all professional sports teams share the same colors.
In the 1920s, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the city’s original National Hockey League (NHL) franchise, and the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets, that team’s non-NHL forerunner, sported black and gold as their colors.
Art Rooney, the founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers, chose the colors in 1933. The Pittsburgh baseball Pirates changed their color scheme from red and blue to black and gold in 1948.
The second NHL franchise in Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Penguins, donned blue and white due to general manager Jack Riley’s Ontario upbringing.
After the Steelers and Pirates won their respective league championships in 1979, the Pittsburgh Penguins changed their color scheme to match, despite concerns from the Boston Bruins, who have utilized the black and gold combo since the 1935-1936 NHL season.
Does Pittsburgh have two NFL teams?
Pittsburgh has two NFL teams which are the Steelers and the Panthers. The Pittsburgh Steelers compete in the majors of the National Football League as a member club of the American Football Conference North division. The Pittsburgh Panthers football program represents the University of Pittsburgh in intercollegiate football.
The city also has three different major sporting franchises and that is the NFL, the MLB, and NHL.
The Pittsburgh Pirates compete in the MLB, the Pittsburgh Steelers compete in the NFL and the Pittsburgh Penguins compete in the NHL