ARCHIVE: Pittsburgh tells New Orleans to stop trying to poach Pirates

The idea of Pittsburgh without the Pirates may seem unbelievable today, with a beautiful ballpark standing on the North Shore for 22 years.But as this WTAE archive report from the early 1980s shows, there was uncertainty about the baseball club's long-term future in Pittsburgh.In April 1981, WTAE reported that then-Pirates President Dan Galbreath met with the executive director of the Louisiana Superdome for two hours.Galbreath then told reporters that something had to break in his dispute over terms of the Three Rivers Stadium lease: "They say, well, the Galbreaths can afford it, so let's don't worry about it. I'm telling you, we've come to the end of that road. And if they think there aren't viable alternatives out there, there might be some very surprised people."Pittsburgh Mayor Richard Caliguiri said in response that the city had a binding agreement with the Pirates: "I'm saying to the city of New Orleans to butt out of our business."Watch the full archive report in the video player above.