Pittsburgh councilmen vote to spend $1M on NFL Draft despite criticism of Gainey

Two Pittsburgh lawmakers, unhappy that the mayor pledged $1 million in city money to the 2026 NFL Draft without first securing City Council approval, softened their stance Wednesday and joined their colleagues in voting unanimously for the funding.

Over the last week, council members Anthony Coghill, D-Beechview, and Bob Charland, D-South Side, criticized Mayor Ed Gainey’s commitment to spend taxpayer money on the NFL’s marquee off-season event, which promises to bring hundreds of thousands of visitors and millions of dollars to Pittsburgh, before ever discussing it with council, which must approve such spending.

But they set those criticisms aside during a preliminary vote.

Coghill told TribLive he changed his position after someone with the Pittsburgh Steelers told him NFL officials had heard about the dispute among city leaders and were upset their future host city wasn’t unified in its preparations for the draft.

“They’re very sensitive, the NFL, about public conversations and dissent,” Coghill said, expanding on statements he made during the council meeting. “I just know the NFL nor the Steelers were happy with any fighting that might occur over this. My goal was to squash that.”

Coghill refused to provide additional details about his conversations with the Steelers, citing concerns from the team and the NFL over negative attention on the draft.

Coghill, who said he did not hear from the NFL, was unsure whether the league would have considered moving the draft to another city if council had rejected the $1 million proposal.

He noted the intense competition among cities to host the draft each year, and said the NFL needs “everybody on board.”

Charland said he wanted to show a united front.

“It is important we show the private sector, the public sector and the sports teams are all working together,” Charland said.

Coghill and Charland have questioned whether it made sense to dedicate $1 million — plus an unspecified amount of in-kind contributions — when the city is bracing for difficult financial years.

An NFL spokesperson did not respond to TribLive Wednesday.

A Steelers spokesman referred questions to VisitPittsburgh, the tourism agency coordinating preparations for the draft, to support the event. The agency did not respond to questions.

Details remain murky

Officials have not been able to say how much the NFL will spend on the event.

Visit Pittsburgh has committed $2 million, according to Jerad Bachar, the agency’s president and CEO.

The tourism agency is requesting $3 million from Allegheny County. The county has not moved to approve that expense.

Bachar told council he anticipates big businesses in Pittsburgh will contribute $5 million.

No details on how the cash will be used are included in council’s spending bill.

Jake Pawlak, the city’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, said exact plans about additional services to be provided by the city are still being hammered out.

City officials acknowledged they don’t know what kind of help the city will receive from other agencies for public safety or the economic impact of the draft on the North Shore, Downtown and beyond.

The Gainey administration has not publicly released its bid package and refused multiple requests by TribLive for bid documents and other records.

Communication breakdown

During the council meeting, Coghill and Charland took Pawlak to task over what they said was poor communication between the mayor’s office and council.

The two said they both learned about the $1 million proposal for the first time when they were contacted by a TribLive reporter last week.

“I expect better communication in the future, Jake,” Coghill told Pawlak. “This is absolutely unacceptable.”

Pawlak said council members received the legislation in a package of bills a few days before the proposal was introduced to council Sept. 17.

He said officials had briefed Councilman Khari Mosley — who introduced the bill through his committee — before that date.

But Mosley told TribLive he was not briefed until this past Monday, nearly a week later.

“I’m really not happy with the lack of communication, the lack of preparation coming from the mayor’s office,” Charland told Pawlak Wednesday. “I don’t know what we have to do to get you to pick up a phone and call council. I hope you can be better.”

Charland questioned why Pittsburgh officials had to agree to commit funding to the draft upfront.

Olga George, a spokeswoman for the mayor, last week said the financial commitment was a requirement of the bid process.

In responding to questions from TribLive, George wrote in an email:

“Participating financially in the efforts of the host committee was a requirement of the City submitting a bid, this agreement is necessary to make good on that commitment now that we’ve been selected.”

On Wednesday, Pawlak contradicted George and claimed the mayor’s office had committed only to support spending $1 million, not to actually spending the money.

“It’s a semantic difference,” Pawlak said. “The mayor had committed in the bid to supporting a $1 million allocation to support the draft. The mayor’s not able to make a unilateral financial commitment.”

Council is expected to take a final vote next week.

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