I enjoyed Lori Falce’s column “Pirates owe taxpayers better baseball” (June 4, TribLIVE). I had Penguins season tickets for 34 years.
The Penguins have 41 regular-season games, two preseason games and two playoff games, equaling 45 games; with sold-out attendance of 19,000, that equals 855,000 tickets sold. The Steelers have eight regular-season games, two preseason games and one playoff game, equaling 11 games, multiplied by 68,400 equals 752,400 tickets.
Total for the two teams: 1,607,400.
The Pirates’ average attendance over the last 11 years is 24,365, multiplied by 81 games equals 1,973,580. Many of those tickets are outside Pittsburgh, such as Morgantown, Erie, Youngstown and Johnstown. Not to mention the Cubs, Cardinals and Mets fans who stay in hotels.
The Pirates stink on the field, but I argue that they are the team that generates the most income for the city.
Ken Herrle
Sewickley