The final details of the Steelers ownership restructuring are beginning to emerge. Earlier this week, the Post-Gazette reported that Tim and Pat Rooney, who each control 16% of the Steelers, will completely divest themselves of any ownership stake in the team, allowing them to focus on the Rooney family race tracks in Florida and New York.
- This comes as Dan Rooney and his son Art II are finalizing a transaction to take controlling interest in the Steelers.
As has been speculated here in Steel Curtain Rising and in other quarters, Art Rooney Jr. and his brother John will continue as part owners of the Steelers. In early August both Tim and Pat resigned for Steelers Board of Directors, but Art Jr. and John did not follow suit, indicate that both men were not ready to part ways with the team their father founded.
Size and Structure to Change, but Rooneys and McGinley’s to Remain
Art Jr. and John Rooney will apparently only sell a little less than half of their shares, leaving each man with an eight percent of the stake. The McGinley family, nephews of Art Rooney Sr. currently controls 20% of the team, divided between Aunt Rita McGinley and Jack McGinley’s six sons. John McGinley Jr. confirmed that while he and Rita McGinley are keeping his shares, some of this brothers and sisters will likely sell theirs.
Identity of Other Minority Investors “Names that we will recognize…” Still Unknown
No names have been released as to who will join the new Steelers ownership structure, but Dan Rooney has apparently lined up between three and five major investors, in a group that will total ten or fifteen. When news of the ownership restructuring first broke, it Dan Rooney confirmed that he and Art II were lining up investors, promising that they would be “names you will recognize.”
Given the current financial climate, it will be interesting to see exactly who is both willing and able to pony up millions upon millions to own a part of the Steelers, an investment which brings a lot of prestige, but reportedly little in the way of returns.
