PITTSBURGH – Inside Acrisure Stadium, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz took the stage last Tuesday to hug Will Allen, one of the team’s former linebackers, as fans waved “COACH” signs behind them.
Four days later, near Steelers training camp in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, ex-Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown, a former teammate of Allen’s, called Walz “a real football coach” on stage at a rally for former President Donald Trump. Trump.
“He could never guard me,” Brown said.
As Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris rush into the fourth quarter of their presidential campaign, a split screen between Allen and Brown in western Pennsylvania featured one of the more notable games played by both campaigns — their efforts to court and promote former candidates. the region’s favorite players Chairlifters on the trail.
The endorsements helped amplify the common themes that campaigns wanted to project.
Endorsements have been filed for Harris, who has the support of several former Steelers, including numerous members of the famed “Steel Curtain” defense the team employed during four Super Bowl championships in the 1970s. part of their efforts to appeal to men and strengthen the party’s football messaginghas been leaned More this time with former high school football coach Walz on the presidential ticket.
for TrumpTwo more newcomers to the Steelers renegade like Brown and former running back Le’Veon Bell offer further evidence of the former president’s improved standing with black people and celebrities brave enough to publicly voice their support for him. .
In addition, both campaigns hope to capitalize on their association with the strongest brand west of Pennsylvania.
“Stiles is basically a cultural figure for the entire region,” said state Rep. Nick Pisciottano, a Democrat from Allegheny County. “It has a lot to do with the personality of the people who live in or have lived in western Pennsylvania.”
The political battle over the Steelers intensified Sunday when Trump attended the team’s prime-time game against the New York Jets. Together, the Democratic National Committee hung billboards near the stadium touting Trump’s economic record in the state.
Meanwhile, Harris brought out a list of endorsements from former Steelers, including defensive lineman “Mean” Joe Greene, running back Jerome Bettis and the family of late running back Franco Harris. Former cornerback Mel Blount and Allen also went public for Harris.
Not only did Brown and Bell join the stage at Trump Latrobe, but former wide receiver Mike Wallace, along with all the memorable players of a younger generation of fans. Jack Lambert, a Hall of Fame quarterback from the team’s 1970s iteration, he also wrote on social networks supported Trump for months.
The message from Steelers fans on both sides couldn’t be more different. At a rally with Walz, Allen mocked Project 2025 — a conservative policy plan contributed to by many former Trump administration officials but rejected by the former president — and what he described as Trump’s plans to “cut taxes for all his friends.”
“They care about working people, our seniors, our children,” Allen said of Harris and Walz. “They are fighting for all of us. They will move our country forward.”
In Latrobe, Brown criticized Walz:Tampon Tim” while Bell he wore a shirt that said “Trump or Trump?”
“I know the media is going to call me crazy,” said Brown, who also promotes cryptocurrency.MAGA Memecoin” he said. “Me and Trump are crazy about me talking here. But I want to make it clear. we are not. They are.”
Brown has a checkered legal history and in recent years has built an online identity around his “CTESPN” brand. It claims his often erratic behavior is the result of suffering from a degenerative brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy. after repeated concussions or brain injuries, but can only be diagnosed after death.
Earlier this month, Brown engaged directly with Trump’s running mateSens. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and Donald Trump Jr., in X, awarding the latter his nickname “Cracker of the Day” and a joke About serving as Vance’s assistant in 2028. Brown This was reported by The Daily Mail outside Acrisure Stadium during a pro-Trump voter registration drive on Sunday, he said he would start a job in the Trump administration.
The Trump campaign has been building its relationship with Brown in recent months. Alex Bruesewitz, a Trump campaign official who helped arrange Brown’s appearance at Saturday’s rally, said the campaign sent him the goods after he showed support online earlier this year.
“It’s new for us to have athletes and celebrities that are still famous,” Bruesewitz said. “I mean, Brown is the Pittsburgh Steelers. [second] all-time leading receiver. He’s not like a backup, is he? “He’s one of the greatest players in one of the greatest franchises in history, and he’s with us, he wants to help us, and he’s actively working to help us, and that’s great.”
Bruesewitz said he sees Brown’s endorsement as further evidence that there is a shift in the social acceptability of being a Trump supporter. The former president was supported by rappers Kodak Black, Sexxy Red and Waka Flaka Flame, among other current and former NFL stars. including Maxx Crosby of the Las Vegas Raiders and Lawrence Taylor of the New York Giants They also supported Trump.
“I think the resistance is dead,” Bruesewitz said. “You don’t have hatred, enmity, canceling the culture you have if a celebrity was for us in the past. And it gives celebrities the opportunity to speak their mind and be politically honest.”
But Brown has been a source of controversy in his post-Stiles career. Last yearhe had an arrest warrant for unpaid child support in Florida. promised No competition in 2020 in a battery case stemming from a dispute with a moving company. He settled cases with a former coach who accused him of sexual harassment and a man who pretends Brown almost hit his child on the furniture he allegedly threw from the balcony.
“Ex-Pittsburgh Steelers Split on Presidential Election,” Ryan Clark, ESPN personality and former Steelers safety, Posted in X. “On one side, the family of Mean Joe Greene, Jerome Bettis and Franco Harris supported him … and on the other side, you have Leveon Bell and Antonio Brown. Certainly people from different classes.” (Brown he answered Troy Polamalu, who lined up next to Clark for years, “carried second”.)
The Trump campaign and its allies allayed any concerns about Brown appearing on the trail with him, given his past.
“This fan base loves him, this community loves him, he loves this community,” Bruesewitz said. “I think it was unwise to leave him there. Nobody’s perfect.”
GOP Senate candidate Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania said he felt Brown’s endorsement was an indication of Trump’s ability to woo “non-traditional voters.”
“Honestly, I’m not that close to his history, but I think the big picture, the more people from the non-traditional parts of the coalition come out and embrace President Trump, I think it’s going to be better,” he said.
Voters who spoke to NBC News during voter registration on Sunday also did not express concerns about Brown joining the Trump team.
“We were voting for Trump before they were,” said Gregg Paladina, a school superintendent from New Castle, Pennsylvania, who supported Trump but voted for Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro in 2022, adding, “I don’t think you can judge. someone Obviously, Antonio Brown is not a role model, but neither are most of the people who support Harris.
Doc Harris, son of Franco Harris, who endorsed the vice president, said Brown “unfortunately” made some “questionable” decisions in his post-Steelers career, but he still praised Steeler, a Trump supporter. political process.
“My heart goes out to them,” he said. “I love the fact that they’re involved. Now I don’t agree with them. They don’t really talk about the lessons my father taught me.”
This is not the first time football and politics have mixed in Pittsburgh.
Franco Harris, who played a leading role in the franchise’s four Super Bowl wins in the 1970s, has been politically active for decades and has recently campaigned for prominent Democrats in the region. His former teammate, the wide-eyed Lynn Swann, was a 2006 GOP gubernatorial candidate in Pennsylvania. The team’s late owner Dan Rooney surprised many when he made a public appearance during Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. Rooney later served as Obama’s ambassador to Ireland.
For Pisciottano, the difference between Trump and Harris’ Steelers supporters is that Harris has more significant ties to Pittsburgh and the region than Trump.
“Many of those who support Kamala Harris are people who have lived in Pittsburgh for a long time or have been active in our community,” he said. “These people understand Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania and their political beliefs or their moral compass is influenced by the culture in western Pennsylvania and that informs their political decisions. … I don’t think either Mr. Brown or Mr. Bell have those longstanding connections.”