When good intentions of estate laws go bad--Will LSI really care?

[Elliott]

Steelers Shopped to Potential Buyers

From WSJ, 7/7/08

The storied Pittsburgh Steelers football franchise has been secretly shopped to potential buyers amid continuing divisions among the five sons of the team's founder, Art Rooney Sr. The talks affect not only one of America's iconic sports franchises, but one of its most fabled sports families. Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney, who helped build the National Football League and is the oldest of the five sons, wants to consolidate his control by acquiring most of his brothers' shares in the Steelers over 10 years, those briefed on the talks said.

Reuters Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger leaps into the endzone to score against the Cleveland Browns last November.

In a statement Monday afternoon, Dan Rooney confirmed these efforts and said, "I have spent my entire life devoted to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football League. I will do everything possible to work out a solution to ensure my father's legacy of keeping the Steelers in the Rooney family and in Pittsburgh for at least another 75 years."

The statement said the company is restructuring its ownership to ensure compliance with NFL rules. Dan Rooney "wants to stay in the football business while some of his four brothers plan to get out of the NFL and focus their business efforts on their racetracks and other interests." The statement said that Dan Rooney and his son, Steelers President Art Rooney II, are arranging a financing plan to buy Dan's brothers' shares in the team in order to continue substantial ownership of the franchise by the Rooneys.

But some of the brothers and younger third-generation family members are asking whether a better deal can be put together, if there is to be an ownership change. However its fate is decided, the Steelers franchise is a rich prize. The team has won five Super Bowl titles and been among the most dominant in the league for 30 years. They play in a new riverfront stadium that routinely sells out its 65,000 seats. And their fan base is famously loyal, reaching far beyond western Pennsylvania.

 

[jnordquist]

The Steelers are Pittsburgh, without them we would all go into a deep spiraling depression

 

[Elliott]

Jn,
So I get these call from the Republican National Committee, and I ask them,
"So John McCain voted against the elimination of the estate taxes, but now
apparently he's in favor of the Bush estate reform." See what happens when
'estate planning goes bad'?

So if you were advising one of the young, second generation turks, so should
I stay in Pittsburgh, or should I go for the bigger, more profitable cities with more TV
revenue, bigger stadium?? LA Steelers? Though they'd have to lose the black and yellow,
too much like the Raiders, maybe maroon and pink? And not the LA Steelers, how about
LA Greens, or the LA Traders, LA Importers, LA Surfer Dudes.

 

[Fred]

LA and oxymoronic team names

And not the LA Steelers, how about LA Greens, or the LA Traders, LA Importers, LA Surfer Dudes.

Why would LA teams have names that makes sense? The Brooklyn Dodgers, so named for people dodging Brooklyn trolley cars, moved to LA were there are no trolleys to dodge, but kept the name. Later, the Minneapolis Lakers, so named because Minnesota is "the land of 10,000 lakes," moved to LA where there is no lakes, but kept the name. So, the Steelers were named for steel mills and there are none in LA. Based on their track record, it's a perfect fit.