Report: Pittsburgh on short-list for potential 2024 Republican National Convention sites
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Could Pittsburgh potentially host the next Republican National Convention?
The city is on the GOP national committee’s shortlist for 2024, according to a report in Politico.com, along with Milwaukee, Nashville and Salt Lake City.
“We always welcome commerce in the City of Pittsburgh, whether it’s filling our hotel rooms or eating at our restaurants,” city Councilman Anthony Coghill said.
City Council President Theresa Kail-Smith said Pittsburgh businesses “would be happy to entertain and benefit from whomever is coming into the city.”
The Politico story cited an unnamed source it said is close to the selection process.
Christine Toretti, Pennsylvania national committeewoman for the RNC, said she hasn’t spoken with the site selection committee but felt Pittsburgh would make a great host city.
“It would put the city on the global map for more than a week, presenting a tremendous opportunity to market our region as the best place to live and work,” Toretti said.
Officials for the Allegheny County and Pennsylvania Republican parties could not be immediately reached for comment.
The last time Pennsylvania hosted a national political convention was the Republicans’ 2000 convention in Philadelphia. However, Pittsburgh’s Lafayette Hall served as the site for the very first Republican political convention in the U.S., in 1856, according to the Library of Congress.
“Something like a Republican National Convention would need upwards of 16,000 rooms,” said Jerad Bachar, president and CEO of VisitPittsburgh.com. “But we could definitely handle it.”
Allegheny County has just over 18,300 hotel rooms, according to Tennessee-based Smith Travel Research.
Coghill and Kail-Smith said available hotel space could be a concern from a logistics standpoint.
“I serve on the Sports & Exhibition Authority board that books the convention center, and that always seems to be a problem — whether we’re trying to attract a Super Bowl or another large event,” Coghill said. “I imagine that would be the thing that could keep us from getting it.”
“I think that’s definitely a concern,” Kail-Smith said. “I don’t know the magnitude of what (a national convention) would entail. Those in special events, our public safety director and those folks would have to ask some questions to see if the city could host something like that.”
Toretti said the RNC’s site selection would not have put Pittsburgh on its shortlist if it wasn’t able to host the convention.
Bachar said he felt it could be done.
“There’d be a lot of logistics to work out, along with things like transportation, coordinating with the airport, the Port Authority, our restaurant and hotel community, the (Sports & Exhibition Authority) — it would really be a community effort,” he said.
Kail-Smith opted to look at the economic upside of the potential challenge.
“I think it could be a good opportunity for our businesses that have been struggling for the past two years,” she said.