NYT: Eldest Rooney Brother Poised to Buy Steelers

The New York Times is reporting that the Steelers Ownership Issue will likely be resolved by the end of the year and result in Dan Rooney buying out his brothers.

The NYT has been on top of this story from the beginning and what they are reporting is only good news.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Pittsburgh Steelers’ muddled ownership picture could clear by the end of the year, with the team’s chairman, Dan Rooney, buying out his four younger brothers, N.F.L. owners were told at a meeting here this week.
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The league is pushing the Steelers to settle their ownership situation. The four younger brothers are also working against their own deadline: they want to sell before the end of the year because they fear an increase in the capital gains tax rate if Senator Barack Obama is elected president in November.

Although the N.F.L. has not set a deadline to conclude the sometimes contentious intrafamily negotiations — which have now stretched into a third year — some owners have privately wondered why it has allowed three of the younger brothers to continue to own shares of the team while also owning racetracks in Florida and New York that have casino gambling operations, a violation of league rules. That, one owner said Tuesday, is a double standard.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has reported that at least two of the brothers have recently tilted toward selling to Dan Rooney.

Rooney and his son Art II met with the league’s finance committee last week to update it on their offer for the team, which includes outside investors who have not been publicly identified. Each of the five brothers owns 16 percent of the team, and N.F.L. rules mandate that one person own at least 30 percent.

Last month, the four younger brothers rejected a bid from the hedge fund billionaire and Steelers fan Stanley Druckenmiller, who had offered an all-cash deal to buy out their shares of the team. That decision followed a meeting of all five brothers with Commissioner Roger Goodell, after which Goodell made clear that the owners of the other 31 N.F.L. teams would do everything possible to ensure that Dan Rooney retained control of the team — an indication that the owners, who must approve the sale, would reject any other suitor.

When the four brothers rejected Druckenmiller’s offer, they said they wanted to reopen the bidding to others. But the global financial crisis probably means additional bids could be hard to come by in the next few months.

Dan Rooney also has a right of first refusal for any outside offer his brothers receive.

“Dan Rooney made it extremely clear that he was not going to be involved in the gambling business moving forward if he was successful in being able to complete this transaction,” Goodell said. He added, “That is important to our ownership because it is one of the rules that they are not in compliance with.”