Jul 8, 2008 5:35 pm US/Eastern
Report: Pittsburgh Investor Interested In Steelers
Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller, chairman of Pittsburgh's Duquesne Management, may be interested in buying at least a share of the team
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
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Stanley Druckenmiller of Duquesne Management may be interested in buying at least a share of the Steelers
KDKA
As Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney works to hash out a deal to keep the football franchise in his family, a new investor has reportedly expressed an interest in the team.
Since the Rooney family also owns horse tracks in New York and Florida with legal gambling, they are now at odds with the NFL's gambling policy.
While his brothers plan to focus on these interests and leave the NFL, Dan Rooney is trying to buy his brothers' shares in the team.
Even though the NFL requires someone own at least 30-percent of a team, Dan Rooney and his four brothers -- Art, Tim, Patrick and John -- each owns just a 16-percent share, giving the Rooney family 80-percent ownership of the team.
Cousins of the Rooneys, the McGinleys, own the remaining 20-percent of the team.
According to
the Wall Street Journal, Dan Rooney has proposed paying $35-million to each brother and the McGinley family for a five-percent stake in the team. He would buy more equity over the next ten years.
So far, the brothers are reportedly balking, saying the team is worth more on the open market.
Matthew Futterman, one of the reporters who worked on the story for the Wall Street Journal, told KDKA Radio this morning that this issue is nothing new – especially when it comes to family businesses.
"This is something of an estate planning issue," Futterman added, "and this comes up with football teams and widget businesses when they go from one generation to the next."
"Some people want to be in and some people want to be out," explained Futterman. "And the people who want to be out usually say they're not being paid enough in order to be bought out. And that's why God invented lawyers and bankers to figure these things out!"
Now, another investor may enter the game plan to buy the team.
Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller, chairman of Pittsburgh's Duquesne Capital Management, may be interested in buying at least a share of the team.
Druckenmiller declined our request for an interview.
Our news partners at the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, however, are citing a source who claims that Druckenmiller "has been approached about possibly purchasing the shares of at least two or three of the Rooney brothers."
Identifying its source only as a friend of Druckenmiller, the PG says Druckenmiller would let Dan Rooney to continue running the team and that he only wants to provide investment capital to the Rooneys.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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