Pirates fans attempt to put pressure on Bob Nutting with billboards, website

Frustration has been brewing among Pittsburgh Pirates fans for more than a decade as they watch owner and chairman Bob Nutting run their beloved team into the ground. Now, after years of airing their grievances into the void, they have taken more extreme measures to make their feelings known.

Beginning Monday night, billboards began to pop up around downtown Pittsburgh reading, "Abandon ship, Bob! Sell the team." The billboards, as noted on the signs themselves, are funded by Zachary King, the voice behind the @IratePiratesFan account on X. The signs also direct readers to a website, OurTeamNotHis.com, which provides further detail on the fan initiative.

"We're a group of frustrated, passionate Pittsburgh Pirates fans tired of the endless losing baseball in our great City," the site reads. "So we decided to do something, anything to create uncomfortability within the organization and to call attention to the blatant dereliction of duty in hopes to affect change."

According to the site, a group of "150 passionate fans demanding change have raised over $15,000 that will 100% be funneled into this initiative." The website includes photos, links to purchase "sell the team" merchandise from local business Pittsburgh Clothing Co. and a calendar of events that fellow disgruntled Pirates fans are encouraged to attend in order to make their voices heard. Scheduled events include a public Sports and Exhibition Authority (SEA) Board Meeting in December and an organized protest at the team's annual PiratesFest fan event in January.

The website also includes a link to the initiative's GoFundMe page inviting fans to "join a grassroots movement to call out the Pirates ownership and management group through the billboard campaign," which has already raised more than $17,000 toward its $20,000 goal.

"Ticket boycotts and internet campaigns are simply not working," the fundraising site reads. "It's time for embarrassment. Ideally, billboard(s) would lead to local TV/media/newspaper coverage which would certainly make it to the C-suite of 115 Federal Street."

Pirates' front office responds to Pittsburgh billboards sending message to Bob Nutting

The billboards have indeed caught the attention of the Pirates' front office, prompting team president Travis Williams to issue a statement in response.

"We appreciate the passion of all of our fans and share in the disappointment with the way last season ended," Williams said in the statement (via Sheldon Ingram of WTAE-TV). "In the end, we all want the same thing: To win. We are focusing all of our energy on building a team that can compete for the postseason and will not let anything distract us from achieving that goal."

Perhaps that's the problem – Nutting, Williams and the rest of the front office won't see these impassioned pleas as anything more than a "distraction."

At the end of the day, the owner – no matter how inept he is – can't be fired. So, while it's a valiant effort on the part of these devoted Pirates fans, it's hard to believe that this grassroots movement will effect any meaningful change.

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