SWOT Analysis: The Pittsburgh Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers have arguably the most passionate fan base in all of football, making them a marketing and business giant, however, these key strengths for the Steelers are somewhat counterweighted by their weaknesses. To the naked eye the Steelers really have no stand-out drawbacks, they sell out practically every game at Heinz Field, but when taking a closer in depth look at the organization it appears that the Steelers suffer from the same downfalls as the rest of the National Football League. NFL fans are some of the oldest fans in all of sports, these fans that are of old age will soon not be physically able to go to as many games as they once have, the Steelers have one of the oldest fan demographics. Season tickets are passed

When these players retire, with them goes the sales of their player branded items, like jerseys. When these Steeler legends retire and they are replaced by an unknown face, a drop in revenue can be expected. Just over the past few years we have seen true Steeler icons retire, Troy Polamalu, Brett Kiesel, and Heath Miller are just a few. When they retire, the fans are less inclined to buy their jerseys because they want to keep up to date with the team. Looking at data from 2011 when some of the most memorable Steelers played, in the top 10 for player jersey sales there are three Steeler players, Troy Polamalu in third, Ben Roethlisberger in fifth and Hines Ward in eighth (Bryan). Now in 2016, Ben Roethlisberger is the only active player out of the three. When looking at the top 10 player jerseys in 2016 on nflshop.com, none of the players are found in the top ten. Obviously, star players retiring results in a loss of revenue, it is interesting to note in this day and age NFL players are retiring earlier than ever because they know of the head trauma caused by playing the dangerous game of football, when they retire they leave behind millions of dollars of possible team revenue. It is not just the star players that are getting old but the entire team is one of the oldest in the NFL. According to a study done on the entire NFL, the data shows in 2015 the Steelers had the seventh oldest team in the league

According to data from the 2014 season, the Steelers rank sixth in highest ticket prices, with the average cost of a ticket being $328 (Reevy). Such high ticket prices result in less opportunities for new fans to attend a game because they may not be willing to spend hundreds of dollars yet. Also, these high ticket prices drive away families from attending a game. By the time a family of four buys their tickets, pays for parking, and satisfies their hunger and thirst, they could very well be $1500 in the hole. Making going a Steeler game regularly almost impossible for the average family. A large majority of the fans at Heinz Field are season ticket holders making it harder for new fans to get their hands on tickets. While the Steelers do not have a problem selling out games, they have problems getting new fans into Heinz Field. The Steelers following is almost so good that it is bad, I will explain. Data from FanDuel Insider shows, the Steelers waiting list is over 40,000 people long (Musico). And these fans who are in current possession of these tickets will not be wanting to give them up any time soon. So it is obvious the Steelers organization will have no problem selling season tickets now, but when potential fans see this number they could very well give up hope of getting their hands on season tickets, as it