Football fanatics will turn their attention to the North Shore and Downtown for the 2026 NFL Draft later this week, but on Wednesday, local fans celebrated something that will last far longer: the opening of a community athletic field at Pittsburgh’s sprawling Hazelwood Green development.
Gridiron celebrities turned out for the occasion, including NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Steelers president Art Rooney II, coach Mike McCarthy and draft prospects, who hit the field with local youth athletes and Special Olympics players.
Sonya Tilghman, executive director of local community group Hazelwood Initiative, said the field will be an asset for the entire region. It was designed collaboratively with Hazelwood residents, who called for an athletic field that is welcoming, accessible and open for young people.
“That input helped guide decisions along the way,” she said. “This field truly feels like it has community as its heart.”
Tilghman joined top NFL leaders and elected officials in cutting a ceremonial ribbon under an arch of black and gold balloons with Wiz Khalifa’s “Black and Yellow” playing in the background.
“What happens next is really what matters, seeing it used, seeing it shared, and seeing it made part of the everyday life of this neighborhood,” Tilghman said.
Rooney said he can see the site from his office. For too long, the former brownfield sat unused, he said.
“It’s so great to see all this action here,” he said.
The field won’t be used only for football. It also will host soccer, other sports and community events.
Local youth athletes cheered for McCarthy, who grew up in nearby Greenfield and was briefly introduced during Wednesday’s ceremony.
The field was developed by a collaboration of the Richard King Mellon Foundation — which provided a $10.8 million grant — Tishman Speyer, Hazelwood Green Youth Sports Charities and Steelers Charities. On Wednesday, officials announced it will be named the U.S. Steel Community Field at Hazelwood Green.
The field is one in a string of projects underway at the 178-acre former industrial site along the Monongahela River known as Hazelwood Green.
The site is home also to Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Innovation Center and the University of Pittsburgh’s BioForge. Mixed-income housing also is in the works.
“Pittsburgh is a city that builds, a city that rebuilds, built in the mills and carried forward by the three rivers that connect all of our communities,” U.S. Steel President and CEO David Burritt said. “And today, we have the opportunity to write a new chapter together.”
The field will host the Central Catholic Vikings football team, as well as the neighborhood team Hazelwood Cobras and Oakland Catholic girls flag football.
Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato said the field will meet a real community need, providing a space for young people to grow and for communities to gather.
“It’s been a very long time coming,” Mayor Corey O’Connor said of the new field. “On behalf of the city of Pittsburgh, this is an exciting week for all of us but, more importantly, for the community.”
Goodell said unveiling the new community field was an appropriate way to kick of events around the draft, which will be held in Point State Park and the North Shore Thursday through Saturday.
“There’s nothing better than watching kids be able to participate in sports, to compete, to learn so many valuable lessons,” Goodell said.
The draft, he said, brings hope to each NFL team. The Hazelwood field, he said, can do the same for the local community.
“We’re going to celebrate not just football,” Goodell said. “We’re going to celebrate Pittsburgh.”
Sam Reiman, director of the Richard King Mellon Foundation, said the kids who play on the Hazelwood field will improve their mental and physical health through sports. They’ll learn to bounce back from failure on the playing field, he said.
He ended his remarks with a prediction that in a decade, the Steelers just might draft someone who grew up playing football there.