'It’s kind of unprecedented': Tailgaters, restaurants make best of Steelers home opener

It was a very different scene Sunday on the North Shore before the Steelers home opener. As in, there was hardly a scene at all.

The parking lots around Heinz Field, normally bursting with excited Steelers fans, were bare.

Coronavirus-related restrictions had barred the usual tailgaters from their usual spots. There were cars but no people. No grills. No beer. No games.

There were, however, signs that read “No Tailgating.”

“I think it’s a bunch of baloney, to be honest with you, to even not let people into the stadium,” Steelers fan Jim Setzenfand said. “We can go to Carlisle, put 20,000 people at a car show, but we can’t put 10,000-15,000 people in that big place. It doesn’t make sense to me.”

*tumbleweed blows by* pic.twitter.com/KUlZmWGbhE

— Maddy Lee (@MLeeTrib) September 20, 2020

Setzenfand has been attending Steelers home openers for at least 20 years. He wasn’t going to miss this one.

He and several other fans ended up snagging open boat slips along the North Shore Riverwalk by Heinz Field. They were doing their tailgating, or what some referred to as “boatgating,” from there.

“I woke up Thursday morning and was watching Channel 2 news. They shoot down from their building over this way. I saw these spots open. I jumped in the car and came down just to double check and make sure they were here. We were here by noon,” Setzenfand said.

Boaters and their friends, dressed in the team’s trademark black and gold, were well into their boatgating festivities before noon. Linda Jo Thornberg brought her boat, the “Dream On.” It had a full-blown bloody mary bar and a flat screen TV.

“We just love the Steelers. We can’t go to the game, but we still want to celebrate and feel like we’re a part of it,” Thornberg said. “It makes me sad that we can’t go in (to the stadium).”

Scenes from Pittsburgh’s North Shore, which is looking a lot different for this year’s @steelers home opener. pic.twitter.com/D393SoQSVo

— Maddy Lee (@MLeeTrib) September 20, 2020

Thornberg’s had her boat for five years. Before that, she would tailgate in the parking lots near Heinz Field.

She said it’s unfortunate people aren’t allowed to tailgate there. She thinks better plans could have been put in place, such as allowing tailgates in every other parking spot.

“We’re just fortunate that we have a boat that we can tailgate with,” Thornberg said. “We thought for sure they were going to not let us do that, but they haven’t yet.”

They can’t tailgate for the Steelers home opener today, but nobody said anything about boat gating. pic.twitter.com/ib7RVdKLQz

— Maddy Lee (@MLeeTrib) September 20, 2020

Jason and Michelle Brown were among the crowd boatgating with the Thornbergs. They’re Pitt season ticket holders. Pitt also plays at Heinz Field.

“We’re a Pitt-Steelers family,” Jason Brown said.

The Browns normally tailgate at all the Pitt and Steelers home games. They said tailgaters normally keep to their own groups, which are usually under 25 people. They don’t think it’s fair that tailgating has been banned from the parking lots.

“We’re all reasonable human beings,” Jason Brown said. “If you’re sick, stay home. If you think you have something wrong with you, go get checked out. Wash your hands.”

Really hammering home the “no tailgating” message. @steelers #SteelersNation #SteelersHomeOpener pic.twitter.com/eEeXS7J4Se

— Maddy Lee (@MLeeTrib) September 20, 2020

Dwight Kelly and Nick Pablonis, also boatgating along the river, think the coronavirus panic has been overblown.

Pablonis said studies have shown that being outside helps to mitigate the spread of the virus. Kelly thinks the restrictions have gone from being a medical necessity to a political issue.

“All you have to do is look and see the decisions that are being made and the things that are happening. Then you look at the numbers and you can’t deduce otherwise,” Kelly said.

Restaurants/bars making the most of it

The Foundry Table & Tap on the North Shore has been hit hard by the coronavirus-related restrictions. Not allowing people to tailgate in the nearby parking lots is not helping. General manager Daniel Flora said tailgaters normally come in to watch the games.

“The eight (Steelers) home games are our biggest eight days here. That’s kind of why we took this property,” Flora said.

Flora said the bar and restaurant had about 150 reservations as of 11:15 a.m. Sunday, but it’s hard to tell if those people are coming to eat or to watch the Steelers game.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen today,” Flora said. “It’s kind of unprecedented. When I drove down here and looked at all the empty parking lots, it was depressing. We should be just killing it right now.”

Burgatory Executive Vice President Vic Bovalino said the North Shore restaurant will probably do about one-third of the business it normally does for a home game day.

“We’ll fill up before the game, and then during the game we’ll have a good, substantial crowd that just came down to tailgate, didn’t have tickets,” Bovalino said. “It’s just from open to close constant.”

Bovalino said the coronavirus-related restrictions have been a “revenue killer,” but “we’re holding our own.” He said boaters typically come to the restaurant. He anticipated doing a lot of takeout orders Sunday.

“It certainly won’t have the same electricity and the feel, and that’s the excitement of being on the North Shore during a game day,” Bovalino said. “I think that’s what we will miss most.”