Franchise Notes
Steelers investor Tim Rooney said that unless Steelers Chair Dan Rooney "puts together a viable offer to buy out his four younger brothers, uncertainty over team ownership will carry into 2009." Tim Rooney in an e-mail said, "I don't believe the Steelers will be restructured by the end of the year unless Dan buys the team by that time." Rooney said that the brothers "won't sell to a buyer outside of the family before giving Dan Rooney a chance to match the offer." Rooney: "I believe Dan has a right of first refusal with all my brothers, whether he has one legally or not." Four Rooney brothers -- Tim, Patrick, John and Art Jr. -- are "looking to sell their shares because of the prohibitive estate tax their heirs could get stuck paying." Tim Rooney also said that the brothers are concerned that the "capital gains tax will increase if Barack Obama is elected president" (Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 10/17).
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Packers Seeing Some Drop-Off
In Retail Sales |
PACKING IT IN: Packers President & CEO Mark Murphy Thursday said that since September, "there has been some drop-off in the team's retail sales." Murphy: "We were tracking pretty well, but since September it's slowed just a little bit. It's not a huge drop. But that's discretionary spending." Murphy also noted, "No-shows are up quite a bit across the league, which is a concern." But Murphy indicated that the "number of no-shows at Lambeau Field was not sizable" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 10/17).
TICKET EXCHANGE: The Bobcats this week sent "generic-looking tickets to their season ticket holders," and the team said that it "wasn't a cost-saving measure, but rather an urgent reaction when a custom printer went out of business." The Bobcats noted that Mercury Graphics recently went out of business, and as a result the team "chose speed over style and printed those generic tickets" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 10/16). Seven teams in total were affected by the company, which "plans to shut its only plant down" by December 18 (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 10/13 issue).
WOLF PACK: English Coca-Cola Football League Championship club Derby County, owned by Michigan-based General Sports & Entertainment (GSE), has formed a partnership with the Michigan Wolves-Hawks youth soccer club. Derby will provide financial and technical support to the U-16 and U-18 Wolves teams playing in the U.S. Development Academy, and in return the teams will change their name to the Derby County Wolves (GSE).
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