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The Pittsburgh Steelers made headlines this week due to a poor grade on their NFLPA report card. That assessment scored franchises on things like treatment of families, team travel, ownership, and stadium accommodations.
Pittsburgh landed below average results in a large portion of the survey, which polled NFL player opinions across all 32 professional organizations.
One of the most concerning areas targeted ownership, which was one of a number of categories where the Steelers received an “F.” Another revolved around locker room and training facility offerings.
Steelers NFLPA report card — as graded by the players.
Mike Tomlin gets an A. Treatment of families gets an F- while the locker room gets an F and the training room gets a D+ pic.twitter.com/eD3GgQsMib
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) February 28, 2024
Shortly after seeing those poll results, images of the facilities in Acrisure Stadium made their ways to social media.
While some showed side-by-side comparisons with other locker rooms around the NFL, there were many that compared the areas to those of NCAA football programs.
The large majority put the Steelers to shame.
Pictured is LSU’s locker room.
Also pictured is the Pittsburgh Steelers locker room.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have a team value of $4.625B. pic.twitter.com/FpqzO2is1v— Colin Dunlap (@colin_dunlap) February 29, 2024
Schools from around the SEC and other Power Five conferences appear to boast much more updated provisions to better benefit both player comfort and health.
FSU, Texas A&M, and LSU are a few that come to mind.
4.6 billion dollar professional football organization
Vs
500 million dollar college football program pic.twitter.com/o16VXt8Sze
— Baku 🐧 (@Mazursky8895) February 28, 2024
NCAA women’s program facilities outshine the Steelers, too.
Maryland possesses one of the premiere lacrosse programs in all of college sports, boasting 15 national championships. To show appreciation of those accomplishments, the school unveiled an $11M facility in December.
Included in that overhaul are a larger space, new locker rooms, state of the art training areas, lounges, and offices. All would seem to be much more adequate than the Steelers’ current setup.
And it’s not just the storied programs outshining Pittsburgh’s focus on facilities.
The Clemson women’s lacrosse team recently posted their reveal of a new LAX building, which it claims to be the best in the nation.
The Tigers’ program has only been around since 2021, but it hasn’t stopped the university from providing top-notch support.
The case is true for sports outside of lacrosse, too. Noted above is the LSU football team facility. The Tigers’ women’s basketball locker room is equally as impressive.
It seems time for Pittsburgh to put some of that $4.6B franchise value to use.