Who Would You Pay To See?

Over the weekend my friend Dan sent a message within a text group of the "Top Five Pittsburgh Athletes who are most worth paying to see in 2026". Before I reveal what he wrote, I will say that this is a very subjective topic, as my comments on the matter will show.  Example, if you don't give a damn about baseball in general or the Pirates in particular, you aren't going to pay to see them even if they reincarnate and trot out a lineup featuring Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, Honus Wagner, and Barry Bonds.

Here are the five that Dan picked in order:

1. Sidney Crosby
2. Konner Griffin
3. Olivia Babcock
4. Braxton Ashcraft
5. Mason Heintschel

Sorry, Dan, but the only guy on your list that I would pay to see is this guy:

I will also say that Dan's Pitt Panther loyalty is showing up big time here, and that is okay.  Olivia Babcock may well be the best female collegiate volleyball player in the nation, but she plays a sport that is a niche sport.  Of course, if this is a sport that you love, you certainly would pay to see her play, so maybe she should be on such a list, but with all due respect, she would not be on mine, and I suspect that she would not make the list of most other Pittsburgh sports fans.

And a big NO on Mason Heintschel.  Watched him play against a bad Syracuse team on Saturday, and while he may become a very good to great Pitt QB one day, right now, he's not even at Nathan Peterman's level of play.

Konnor Griffen?  Maybe. Braxton Ashcraft?  He had a breakout season but right now, if I had my choice to pay to go to one of two Pirates games, and Ashcraft was pitching one of them and Paul Skenes the other, I'm going to the Skenes game. He is the one Pirate I would spend money to see.  Despite the poor, by his standards, season in 2026, we have seen what he can do, and the mere chance that he will recapture his 2024-25 dominance makes him THE guy that I Would Pay To See.

I will say this about Griffin.  If I go to a Pirates game and if for whatever reason he is NOT playing that night,  I'm not happy, but he is not the sole reason I'm paying to go see the Pirates.

And Dan notes that there is no Steeler on the list.  Football is such a team game, it's hard to say that outside of a star quarterback or a stud runner or receiver, you're really going to see the team and not any individual player. Having said that, TJ Watt sure is fun to watch.

So who would be on my list?  I guess I would say that there are only two athletes in Pittsburgh that I would pay specifically to see, and they would be Crosby and Skenes.  That's it, that's the list.  However, here are some other athletes that I would pay to see.

• LeBron James
• Victor Wembanyama
• Caitlin Clark
• Patrick Mahomes
• Tom Brady* (retired)
• Shohei Ohtani*
• Lionel Messi*
• Alex Ovechkin*
• Conor McDavid*

There are no doubt others, but these are just off the top of my head.  The guys with the asterisks ARE guys that I actually have paid to see.