On Monday morning, a special media screening of 'The Football Town' - the first-ever immersive format documentary produced by NFL Films, in partnership with the Pittsburgh Steelers, VisitPITTSBURGH and U. S. Steel- was held at the Kamin Science Center.
It provided a first-look at the feature film - on Pittsburgh's largest movie screen – which is set to make its public debut this Saturday, February 28. It will run exclusively at the Kamin Science Center for two months leading up to the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, April 23-25.
"One of the reasons the NFL selected Pittsburgh to host the 2026 NFL Draft was the region's deep roots in football," said Dan Rooney, the Steelers Vice President of Business Development and Strategy. "From the outset, a priority for the Pittsburgh organizing committee has been to shine a light on Western Pennsylvania's impact on the game.
"As conversations began about how to highlight this legacy, we knew the story deserved to be told in a deeper, more expansive way. The concept for this film was born and given to NFL Films, and they were the perfect partner to bring this project to life. The release of 'The Football Town' marks the beginning of our celebration and sets the tone for everything to come as we build towards the Draft."
Thus, the stage was set for the 52-minute film with a scene appropriately set with striking visuals of rolling waters, George Washington, a blast furnace labeled "House of Pain," Dan Marino beating Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, a baby swaddled in a Terrible Towel, and a tombstone complete with a Steelers logo etched into the granite, before it downshifts to a shot of a couple of men sitting by the Allegheny river talking about the forged-in-steel relationship between football and Western Pennsylvania.
The two men are Bill Cowher and Jerome Bettis.
"Tell me what's in the water, what is it that produces such great players?" asks Bettis, sitting just across a body of water from where he once ran over Brian Urlacher.
"It's the convergence of the three rivers, J.B.," responds Cowher, seated approximately four miles from where he used to have a paper route in Crafton, Pa. "We have the greatest mixture of everything. The Allegheny, the Monongahela, it forms the Ohio.
"The Ohio will take you right into Canton, Ohio."
The Ohio will actually take you to Cincinnati but Steelers fans no doubt get the point Cowher was making, as, presumably, do natives of the region.
Those that don't should by the time they absorb 'The Football Town' in its entirety.
And those who saw it in their entirety on Monday, did absorb every bit of it.
"We believe that football is a pure part of the culture of Western Pennsylvania," said Jim Britt, Vice President of Sports Events, SportsPITTSBURGH for VisitPITTSBURGH. "We're excited to use the NFL Draft to showcase that importance in our culture, the fabric of who we are, and we're excited for this to be the first real stepping out moment for the NFL Draft."
'The Football Town' isn't just about Super Bowls and Hall-of-Famers (three of whom hail from just up the Ohio River in Aliquippa, with a fourth having emerged from neighboring Hopewell).
The "Friday Night Lights" high school experience is well chronicled, as are Pop Warner players, the Pitt Panthers and an overall passion for the game that extends to a Sunday mass at Saint Mary of the Mount, the church nestled on Mount Washington high above the city of Pittsburgh, where the congregation gathers in Steelers regalia and is reminded "we follow our Steelers faithfully."
"Watching that film, as a young football player growing up in Pittsburgh, I was thinking about how fond the memories were playing youth football in the various communities and how fun that was playing with your buddies," said Rooney. "There's really nothing like Friday night lights, whether you're at your home stadium or going to play a rival. That's what makes football special. It's the teamwork and the bond that you build with your coaches and players.
"We have that in a big way in Pittsburgh on every level. Youth football, high school football, Pitt, all the great college programs locally, and then the Steelers on Sundays. Football is special here, and it's something that we had that makes us unique, and it's really in the fabric of the community."
It's that fabric that made it easy for NFL Films to be involved.
"This was a great thrill and adventure for us to make and we were so grateful for the opportunity to show people that Pittsburgh isn't just a football town, it's 'The Football Town,'" said Neil Zender, coordinating producer for NFL Films. "Football is different here. It means more to people here. Part of the reason the Draft's coming here is because football means something different in Pittsburgh.
"A lot of times you can't put feelings into words, but you can put it on a screen. We wanted to try and capture that and share that with the people of Pittsburgh. Also, for all the people that come and visit, we want them to see it and see what Pittsburgh is about."
NFL Films has never had a documentary unfold as this one does. Never before has NFL Films attempted to work its magic in the immersive format.
The screen at the Kamin Science Center, just across the street from Acrisure Stadium on Pittsburgh's North Shore, is 70 feet wide and 41 feet tall.
Among the challenges was figuring a way to ready archive footage -the "Immaculate Reception" or Jack Lambert slamming Cliff Harris to the ground after Harris had messed with Roy Gerela in the Super Bowl-to be viewed at the Kamin's Rangos Giant Cinema.
"When you're sitting in that theater, you'll hear something in your left ear as if you're sitting in a stadium and it's something coming from your left side," said Leo McCafferty, a Pittsburgh native and the founder of president of Lion's Tale Media, one of NFL Films' partners on the project. "Or, a train may pass you on the screen and you can hear it pass through the screen. The visuals are such that you could watch this film in that theater four different times and you could see the same shot and you would notice four different things."
-- Teresa Varley contributed to this story
