The Steel City Freeze brings club volleyball to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in early February — a full weekend of courts, brackets and families in from across the region. Confirm the current year’s dates with the organisers before booking travel; they are published in the autumn.
Staying Downtown for a convention-center tournament
The convention center sits on the edge of Downtown by the river, which makes this one of the easier tournaments to plan around. Stay central and you can walk or make a very short hop to the courts, then have the whole city for the evening: dinner from our Pittsburgh food guide, the rink at PPG Place if the tournament runs before late February, and the museums across the bridges.
Early February is deep off-season in Pittsburgh, which works in your favour: the city is quiet, and a whole home goes further than it does in October.
Why teams book whole homes here
A tournament weekend is three or four nights for a group that travelled together, and hotel blocks handle that badly. A whole home gives you a kitchen for the breakfast before a 7 a.m. start, laundry by day two, somewhere for families to eat together instead of scattering, parking for the cars and the gear, and a living room where the team can actually be a team between games. Split across families it usually lands under a block of rooms.
Booking for several families at once? Tell us what you need and we will work out the configuration — we have hosted 2,700+ guests since 2018 and travel teams are some of our favourite bookings.
Part of our travel-team housing guide.
Where to stay. Rivers & Steel City Homes offers full homes across the Pittsburgh metropolitan area — parking, a kitchen, and room for everyone who travelled in. 2,700+ guests since 2018; book direct and save 5–15% over Airbnb and VRBO. Lock in your dates at riversandsteel.com/search.
More to plan your trip: Things to Do in Pittsburgh · Pittsburgh Food Guide. Ready to visit? Find your stay »
