Hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller wants to become the majority owner of the National Football League’s Pittsburgh Steelers, but will not become involved in a bidding war for the team.
The founder of Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Capital Management is in talks with four members of the franchise’s founding Rooney family about buying their stakes in the team. Each of the four brothers—Art Jr., Tim, Patrick and John—own 16% of the Steelers.
But Druckenmiller, a longtime Steelers fan who lives in New York, will immediately withdraw his offer if Goldman Sachs, which is advising the brothers, opens the process to public bidding, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. He is also not interested in a minority partnership in the team, and wants to be the majority owner, while keeping Dan Rooney, the son of the man who founded the Steelers in 1933, or his son, Art II, as head of the franchise.
But the Post-Gazette reports that Dan Rooney wants to keep that from happening and keep the team in the family, and has retained two investment banks in an effort to acquire funding to make that happen.
Druckenmiller, for his part, wants to buy all 64% of the Steelers owned by the four Rooney brothers who want to sell, and said he would consider allowing them to retain a minority stake in the team.
The Post-Gazette reports that Druckenmiller says he is “not getting any sense” that he will be unable to achieve his goal. The billionaire has pledged the keep the team in Pittsburgh.
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