Mick Griffith has been a Pittsburgh Steelers season-ticket holder for 30 years, but he has no desire to attend the much-hyped game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day at Acrisure Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cChristmas Day is not for football,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Steelers fans who celebrate Christmas on Wednesday will balance a love of the game with loyalty to faith and family. Notably, how does a holiday often steeped in family tradition match up with a love for the Steelers, who find themselves in a fight for the AFC North division title and better playoff seeding?<\/p>\n
Hanukkah also begins Dec. 25 at sundown. With the Steelers game at 1 p.m., that leaves a tight window for anyone to get home before dark to kick off celebrations.<\/p>\n
The last time the Steelers played a home game on Christmas was 2016, when they played the Baltimore Ravens. Attendance was announced as 66,276. The stadium\u2019s capacity is 68,400.<\/p>\n
The Steelers hosted the Las Vegas Raiders on Christmas Eve in 2022 with 64,761 in attendance on a 9-degree night. Franco Harris\u2019 Immaculate Reception was honored during the game, just four days after his death Dec. 20.,<\/ins> 2022<\/ins><\/p>\n The NFL launched yuletide day games \u2014 played during a period of several days around and on Christmas \u2014 in 1971 before bringing them back on a semi-regular basis in 1989.<\/p>\n The Raiders versus Chiefs game on Dec. 25, 2023 \u2014 Taylor Swift and Santa Claus attended \u2014 drew the highest Christmas Day viewership since 1988.<\/ins><\/p>\n In all, the NFL has held 30 games on Christmas.<\/p>\n Traditions tested<\/p>\n Since the time his children were babies, Mick Griffith and his wife have traveled from Scott to sleep at his mother-in-law\u2019s house in Clarion on Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n \u201cThey wake up on Christmas at grandma\u2019s,\u201d said Griffith, whose children are now grown. \u201cIt\u2019s a tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n Griffith has been a season-ticket holder since 1994. He is often found tailgating before games. But not come Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe a lot of families don\u2019t want football on Christmas Day,\u201d he said. \u201cI am a huge fan, but I decided to give tickets to a friend who wants to bring his dad.\u201d<\/p>\n He won\u2019t totally unplug, though.<\/p>\n He said his family plans to eat at noon and won\u2019t turn the game on until some time in the second half. He did not attend the games when the Steelers played at home Christmas Day in 2016 or Christmas Eve in 2022.<\/p>\n Bill Aguglia of Lower Burrell attended the 2022 Christmas Eve game with daughters Alyssa and Billie but will not be at the Christmas Day game this week. He said his family considers Steelers games as a family event \u2014 and not being able to get tickets for the entire family is the biggest reason he won\u2019t be at the game. Instead, more than a dozen family members will have brunch and watch at his son Cameron\u2019s house in Reserve.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Steelers and sports have been a part of my life since I was a kid,\u201d Aguglia said. \u201cI played sports, I love sports, and I am a football fan. We watch games on Thanksgiving, too. Some families might be watching Christmas movies on Christmas Day, but this family will be watching sports.\u201d<\/p>\n Michael Katchur of White Oak said he would be tailgating outside Acrisure.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will be celebrating a Steelers victory right here,\u201d Katchur said as he stood on the North Shore before the Steelers and Browns game on Dec. 8. \u201cThe Steelers bring family members together, and some of my relatives want to come to the game. Some think they might spot Taylor Swift.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s a possibility \u2014 the pop superstar has attended NFL games to cheer for her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.<\/p>\n Merrill Stabile, president of ALCO Parking, said he expects a \u201cmoderate crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPeople have other plans on Christmas Day and (the first night of) Hanukkah,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I don\u2019t anticipate record crowds.\u201d<\/p>\n Game day logistics<\/p>\n He said much of the same game day logistics apply \u2014 gates will open five hours before game time, and parking prices will be the same as any other game day. Stabile said he will have a crew of 40 employees whom he will pay time and a half to work on Christmas Day.<\/p>\n He said the 1 p.m. game was preferable for his staff because they will have time to get home for holiday dinner.<\/p>\n Bruce Ibe of Squirrel Hill is an avid fan who travels to many of the away games in addition to watching at Acriscure. He said he won\u2019t be at the Christmas game because he spends the week between Christmas and New Year\u2019s in Florida \u2014 and this year will include a Hanukkah celebration, as Ibe is Jewish.<\/p>\n \u201cThis could be an important game and could affect home-field advantage (in the playoffs),\u201d Ibe said. \u201cI love the Steelers, and I support them. I will be watching on television and wishing I were there.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he also feels for the players and their families. The period between games is short in terms of players\u2019 health, and the Kansas City team won\u2019t get home until late Christmas night.<\/p>\n Ibe\u2019s friend Jimmy Depetris, a native of Blairsville who lives in Florida, said he spends $30,000 a year traveling to Steelers games \u2014 all of the home games and a few away games. He said he has been to 409 games in all. He hasn\u2019t missed a playoff game since 1977 and has attended six Steelers Super Bowls. He owns a condominium in Downtown Pittsburgh where he stays for games. It is decorated in black and gold, and he calls it \u201cthe fan cave.\u201d <\/ins><\/p>\n But he also will miss this week\u2019s game.<\/ins><\/p>\n \u201cThis is so disheartening that we won\u2019t get to see back-to-back Super Bowl Champions (Kansas City Chiefs) in person,\u201d Depetris said. \u201cBut Christmas is a family day at home. We can work the game into the schedule that day, but going to a game is not more important than being with the people you love on Christmas.\u201d <\/ins><\/p>\n Steve Bland of Highland Park, who runs a tailgate with Max Beier of Shadyside, said he plans to attend the game and tailgate.<\/p>\n \u201cDie-hard fans will be here,\u201d Bland said.<\/p>\n But one of those die-hard fans won\u2019t be: Kim Shanahan-Sezawich of Whitehall has a Steelers bus with a photo of her late husband, Joe, on the side that she drives to tailgates. They had four children, and Christmas is an important time to her parents to be together with the kids and grandkids, she said.<\/p>\n She and her second husband, Karl, are avid Steelers fans, and their families know not to schedule events on the game days.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an exception,\u201d Shanahan-Sezawich said. \u201cChristmas is a holiday for the kids and grandkids. My family knows that life stops for Steelers games for me, but a Steelers game on Christmas is an exception. It\u2019s about church and family.\u201d<\/p>\n Jeff Hrapla of Cranberry had a Christmas tree with lights at the Dec. 8 tailgate \u2014 with an IC Light can as the star at the top. He plans to be at the game on Christmas.<\/p>\n \u201cAll I want for Christmas is a Super Bowl championship,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Bob Kostelnik of West Mifflin said he would love to tailgate and go to the game on Christmas, but he won\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cI have grandkids,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a day to spend with them. Maybe when they are older and if there is a game on Christmas I can bring them. But you only get those years to watch them open presents when they are little for a short time.\u201d<\/p>\n JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a TribLive reporter covering the region\u2019s diverse culinary scene and unique homes. She writes features about interesting people. The Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist began her career as a sports reporter. She has been with the Trib for 26 years and is the author of \u201cA Daughter\u2019s Promise.\u201d She can be reached at jharrop@triblive.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mick Griffith has been a Pittsburgh Steelers season-ticket holder for 30 years, but he has no desire to attend the much-hyped game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day at Acrisure Stadium. “Christmas Day is not for football,” he said. Steelers fans who celebrate Christmas on Wednesday will balance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":20397,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\n