Pittsburgh Steelers on the block

Oh Sweet Maria. Can things get any worse? The Cleveland Indians are in last place. Houses in Cleveland are selling for less than used Yugos. And GM is teetering on bankruptcy. While A-list (ha,ha) blogger Bob Lutz of FlastLane fame is on summer hiatus.

Well, yes. The Pittsburgh Steelers are on the block. Here’s the story from the Wall Street Journal online (don’t even try without a subscription):

Steelers Shopped to Potential Buyers

By JOHN R. WILKE
July 7, 2008 7:07 p.m.

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.

The Steeler Nation stands on guard tonight. For me, I’m heading to the closet and pulling out the Terrible Towel, the original circa 1972. And all this following the death of Myron Cope.

Conspiracy theories, anyone?

Who gave the “brothers and third-generation family members” a vote? This is important. It’s Pittsburgh Steelers football. It’s not a democracy. WTF.

To my KSU college roommate, still Pittsburgh resident and former co-owner with me of Steelers’ season tickets Tom Kollar: c’mon man. Get off the retirement bench and get back in the game. This is important stuff. Hi diddle diddle. Rogel up the middle. (You had to have been there. Trust me.)

Cars cheaper than Cleveland houses

Wonder how much the median price is for a  new — or used — car? Probably could find that somewhere. But not really worth the effort. But I was thinking about it while running this morning because of a story I read in The Plain Dealer yesterday.

“Has The Cleveland Housing Market Finally Hit Rock Bottom?” — by Mark Gillispie. The subhead: “Local prices plunge as glut of vacant homes are snatched up cheaply by outsiders looking to turn a quick profit.”

Gee. Another great story for the Cleveland economic development guys. The pitch: Cleveland. Home of cheap homes.

Well, probably not. Here’s a key paragraph:

The median home sale price in the city of Cleveland has dropped an astonishing 75 percent compared with the first six months of last year – from $62,000 to $15,500.

Ouch. And sad. Particularly for the residents of Cleveland and for the families involved. Folks, again, we’re facing some big problems here in Northeast Ohio and throughout the country. And we better start thinking about what we are going to do in a city where apparently you can now buy a house for about the same price as a car. And I wonder what the declining home values will mean in terms of school revenues — in Cleveland and elsewhere? I digress. And I wish I had something humorous to add here. But I don’t.

And since I am talking about The Plain Dealer I should mention that the management (publisher and editors) sure seem to be serious in doing what they need to survive as readers continue to abandon print for newspapers online. The printed version is readable — focused very much on local news (check out the front page any day) — and organized in a way that provides readers with information quickly and at a glance. Whether that will win over the young people and others who have abandoned the printed newspapers is doubtful. But The Plain Dealer is going to survive — online, with what is really a very good digital version. IMO. There is another newspaper closer to my home in Northeast Ohio that could learn some lessons here. And hopefully it will — sooner rather than later.