Associated Press
PITTSBURGH ó The city of Pittsburgh will hold a victory parade for the Super Bowl champion Steelers today.
The parade will follow the traditional route for the city’s St. Patrick’s Day parade. It will begin at noon near Mellon Arena, continue through downtown and end at Gateway Center.
An estimated 250,000 fans turned out for a parade in 2006 to celebrate the Steelers’ Super Bowl victory over Seattle.
WILD NIGHT
PITTSBURGH ó Gold and black-clad fans waving Terrible Towels partied into the early morning hours Monday.
More than 100 people were arrested, mostly for failing to disperse from various locations.
One officer suffered a possible broken arm and some revelers broke windows, threw bottles at police ó including at a state trooper on horseback ó and engaged in fights, city police spokeswoman Diane Richard said.
Couches and several garbage containers were set on fire, and several vehicles were overturned as police responded to more than 400 emergency calls during the game and a similar number in the 21/2 hours after it ended, Richard said.
Police in riot gear and on horseback were out in force in the city’s Oakland neighborhood near the University of Pittsburgh, where thousands of people gathered, and also along a quirky strip of bars known as the South Side.
At least one person was arrested for arson and two others for drunken driving.
TV RATINGS
NEW YORK ó The Arizona-Pittsburgh matchup wasn’t considered an ideal one for television, but its finish riveted an estimated audience of 95.4 million people, second only to last year’s game as the most-watched Super Bowl ever.
More than 100 million Americans were watching between 9:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. EST, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The game was the third most-watched program in American television history, behind the 106 million people who watched the “M-A-S-H” series finale in 1983 and the 97.4 million who watched the 2008 Super Bowl.
“The Super Bowl, once again, proved its ability to capture America,” said Dick Ebersol, NBC Universal Sports chairman.
Between 1998 and 2004, none of the Super Bowls reached the 90 million mark in viewers. Each game for the past four years has topped 90 million.