Estate Planning & the Pittsburgh Steelers

The devastating impact of estate taxes and on family-owned businesses is being illustrated by the Pittsburgh Steelers organization. Art Rooney, Sr., founder of the team, left the team ownership to his five sons when he died in 1988. Since then, the value of the NFL team has ballooned, estimated to be worth between $717 million and $1.2 billion as estimated by Forbes Magazine and Goldman Sachs, respectively. At least four of the five brothers want to sell their equal shares in the team in order to avoid costly estate taxes for their children and grandchildren. But, the NFL wants the family to retain ownership and requires the approval of 24 of the NFL’s 32 owners to approve any sale. The brothers rejected an offer of $550 million from billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller, seeking something closer to what they believe is the fair market value of the organization. Estate taxes on a $1.2 billion estate could run in excess of $539 million dollars.