Espn story on the Rooneys

by steelerark on Jul 16, 2008 1:48 PM EDT

So the world's squirreliest looking sports reporter has a pretty good story today about the sale of the Steelers.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=3485962

I'm curious to see how the rest of you feel about the diminishing family ownership around the NFL. It's kind of sad for me, and I would imagine many of the rest of Steeler Nation, to think of the team not in the hands of a Rooney, but this article does a good job of showing just how hard that will be in this age of billion dollar franchises. Note in that article that the friggin inheritance tax is 45%! Holy shit. That is an unbelievable number.

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it would make a great book

to talk about the different owners of the nfl. To compare to the Rooneys is the DeBartolo-York family in San Fran. DeBartolo was a well-loved owner who (amid scandal and money issues) pass control to his sister. Who, with her husband York, nly a few years ago drove a stake in the fanbase by threatening to move (and fielding several years of awful teams).
Or the Chargers, originally started by hotel heir Barron Hilton, then sold to a group led by Eugene Wilson 6 years later. Then sold again in 1984 to current owner Alex Spanos.
The New York Jets- started by Harry Wismer before a group led by Werblin and Hess rescued it from near bankruptcy. Hess bought out his partners. And on his passing in 1999 the estate sold it to Johnson and Johnson heir Woody Johnson.
Well-off businessmen buying and selling nfl teams isn’t new. Sometimes the transition is smooth, sometimes it destroys the team. As I said before, the Rooneys, and especially Dan Rooney are a luxury for the Steelers and the NFL. Many other teams suffer under terrible owners, with little or no history and the specter that the team might pack up and leave.

by vherub on Jul 16, 2008 3:51 PM EDT 0 recs

Another article (well, editorial) on the tax/ownership issue

This was in the Wall St Journal. I brought the clipping in to my cubicle neighbor and we had a good cry by the printer.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121617415128956849.html

May the wind be always at your back, and may your placekicker have icewater in his veins.

by juperee on Jul 19, 2008 9:46 PM EDT 0 recs

disgusting

The death tax is one of the biggest travesties this country has ever seen. It is appalling and immoral, and causes so many ordinary folks to have to sell off not just businesses, but homes and other properties as well.

by steelerark on Jul 24, 2008 4:08 PM EDT 0 recs

Agreed 100%!

by WolfpackSteelersFan on Jul 25, 2008 4:02 PM EDT up 0 recs

yah but

it makes sense if someone was a successful business owner their whole life and accumulated alot of wealth that the government should tax him/her when he dies and redistribute that wealth to lazier people who didn’t work as hard…... (heavy, heavy sarcasm)

by TheMostViolentTeam on Jul 24, 2008 5:33 PM EDT 0 recs

Right on!!

Proletarier aller Länder, vereinigt euch!!

by BadMaafala on Jul 24, 2008 6:18 PM EDT up 0 recs

Eine deutsch!

Wunderbar! haben Sie die national mannschaft beobachten? Ballack ist am bessen. OK, clearly training camp needs to start when I’m speaking German on the website.

by TheMostViolentTeam on Jul 24, 2008 7:53 PM EDT up 0 recs