Tweet
HELPING GUIDE THE NFL INTO THE MODERN ERA
In addition to guiding the Steelers from the dark ages into a renaissance on the field, Dan Rooney also was very instrumental in doing similar things for the NFL. In 1973 he was named Chairman of the League’s Expansion Committee that added Seattle and Tampa Bay to the NFL, in 1976 he was named Chairman of the Negotiating Committee, and he also served on the eight-person Management Council Executive Committee, the Hall of Fame Committee, the NFL Properties Executive Committee, and the Player/Club Operations Committee.
“When I first became commissioner, he would work in the league office on scheduling,” said Pete Rozelle in a 1987 interview. “That’s a very intricate talent. He would figure it out. There were 12 teams then. But he had certain guidelines – you didn’t want any team at home for three straight weeks, or away three straight weeks; you had to avoid baseball; and you had to avoid stadium conflicts. He knew all the phases of the game.”
Dan Rooney was instrumental in the formation of the system of free agency tied to a salary cap that was instituted by the NFL in 1993 and has become a model for professional sports leagues around the globe.
“Dan’s leadership did not stop there,” former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue once said. “He was deeply involved in resolving disputes and reaching agreements with the NFL Players Association starting back in the 1970s. His integrity and understanding of both football and team economics made him invaluable in negotiations on the college draft, the need for competitive balance on the football field, free agency, and player safety matters.
“But Dan Rooney is not just an innovator, consensus builder, and peacemaker. He is a fighter who relishes a good argument, or – when his convictions and core interests are challenged – even a tough lawsuit. For Dan, his right to fight to defend his principles, his Steelers, or his NFL in a courtroom is as crucial as a Steelers Super Bowl victory. Many pretenders and adversaries have learned this, including the USFL, the NFL Players Association, and others both inside and outside the NFL.”
Dan Rooney was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2000, and at that time he and his father, Art Rooney Sr., joined Tim Mara and Wellington Mara as the only two father-son combinations in Canton.
OVERALL, A PEACEMAKER
He has a bust in Canton for his role in turning the Pittsburgh Steelers into a dominant franchise, for sure, but Dan Rooney’s contributions to professional football and his influence on the NFL extended far beyond the city limits of Pittsburgh.
The family patriarch, Art Rooney Sr., long was an advocate of the players forming a union so as to secure a pension for their life after football. This respect for the players and the interest in their well-being was passed from father to son, and it came to pass that whenever there was a work stoppage or any other type of labor issue that arose in the NFL, Dan Rooney always was one of the consensus-builders in the room.
“Dan Rooney has been indispensable to this league,” said Art Modell during the era when he was still the owner of the Cleveland Browns. “He’s modest and self-effacing, but when there has been a problem, particularly in collective bargaining, we’ve called on him and he has delivered the goods. He knows the players’ mentality and the mentality of the owners. I’d put the future of the Cleveland Browns in his hands as far as collective bargaining is concerned.”
The 1982 strike was an especially bitter one, because it ended up costing the league seven regular season games while the issues were being resolved. For the NFLPA, Ed Garvey was painted as the villain by the NFL ownership and then by extension by the fans themselves, but Dan Rooney never saw it that way.
“The players are important,” said Dan Rooney. “When (former NFLPA executive director) Ed Garvey said all those years ago, ‘We are the game,’ everyone on the management side got all excited. I never did. I’m willing to admit the players are the game, but so is everybody else. So are the coaches and the staff.”
During the 1987 strike, Dan Rooney made sure that Tunch Ilkin, the team’s player rep at the time, knew that his secretary had the key to unlock the gate of the makeshift practice facility adjacent to Three Rivers Stadium in the event a bunch of players wanted to get together for informal workouts as the work stoppage was being resolved. His integrity, his honesty, his commitment to doing the right thing instead of being committed to proving his side was in the right, all of that combined to forge a trust that allowed him to be a successful mediator in these disputes.
“If there were more Dan Rooneys, there never would have been a strike (in 1987),” said Ilkin at that time. “Players around the league recognize him as a fair-minded person. When you talk to him, you know you’re talking to a real person. He’s never condescending. You never feel like you’re being talked down to.”
Added present Commissioner Roger Goodell, “Dan was deeply involved in the NFL’s labor negotiations, playing a key role for decades. He was seen as the voice of reason during many difficult discussions because he had a strong sense of the best interests of the game; he was practical; and he knew how to forge a consensus.”
Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown described it this way: “He doesn’t just pursue his own agenda. He pursues the league’s best interests. People know that, so they listen to him.”
Dan Rooney worked tirelessly through many such negotiations with the NFLPA over different versions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, and his deft touch in otherwise touchy matters became valuable during the time that he co-founded The American Ireland Fund to help bring peace and charity to Ireland. The Fund raised well over $300 million for peace and educational programs, according to Raymond H. Frye, who was the president of the selection committee that presented Dan Rooney with the John F. Kennedy Award in 2010.
Ted Smyth is a former Irish diplomat who was a firsthand observer of the birth and work of the American Ireland Fund, and this is what he said when Dan Rooney’s posting as Ambassador was set to begin: "I think people will cheer on both sides of the Atlantic. Dan has an extraordinary record of commitment to the peace process in Ireland."
Smyth noted the millions raised by the Fund, before adding, "More than that, Dan raised awareness across America that there was a peaceful way forward, and the way of the gun was not the way to go. In retrospect, it now looks like the peace process was inevitable. But it was never inevitable."
In addition to guiding the Steelers from the dark ages into a renaissance on the field, Dan Rooney also was very instrumental in doing similar things for the NFL. In 1973 he was named Chairman of the League’s Expansion Committee that added Seattle and Tampa Bay to the NFL, in 1976 he was named Chairman of the Negotiating Committee, and he also served on the eight-person Management Council Executive Committee, the Hall of Fame Committee, the NFL Properties Executive Committee, and the Player/Club Operations Committee.
“When I first became commissioner, he would work in the league office on scheduling,” said Pete Rozelle in a 1987 interview. “That’s a very intricate talent. He would figure it out. There were 12 teams then. But he had certain guidelines – you didn’t want any team at home for three straight weeks, or away three straight weeks; you had to avoid baseball; and you had to avoid stadium conflicts. He knew all the phases of the game.”
Dan Rooney was instrumental in the formation of the system of free agency tied to a salary cap that was instituted by the NFL in 1993 and has become a model for professional sports leagues around the globe.
“Dan’s leadership did not stop there,” former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue once said. “He was deeply involved in resolving disputes and reaching agreements with the NFL Players Association starting back in the 1970s. His integrity and understanding of both football and team economics made him invaluable in negotiations on the college draft, the need for competitive balance on the football field, free agency, and player safety matters.
“But Dan Rooney is not just an innovator, consensus builder, and peacemaker. He is a fighter who relishes a good argument, or – when his convictions and core interests are challenged – even a tough lawsuit. For Dan, his right to fight to defend his principles, his Steelers, or his NFL in a courtroom is as crucial as a Steelers Super Bowl victory. Many pretenders and adversaries have learned this, including the USFL, the NFL Players Association, and others both inside and outside the NFL.”
Dan Rooney was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2000, and at that time he and his father, Art Rooney Sr., joined Tim Mara and Wellington Mara as the only two father-son combinations in Canton.
OVERALL, A PEACEMAKER
He has a bust in Canton for his role in turning the Pittsburgh Steelers into a dominant franchise, for sure, but Dan Rooney’s contributions to professional football and his influence on the NFL extended far beyond the city limits of Pittsburgh.
The family patriarch, Art Rooney Sr., long was an advocate of the players forming a union so as to secure a pension for their life after football. This respect for the players and the interest in their well-being was passed from father to son, and it came to pass that whenever there was a work stoppage or any other type of labor issue that arose in the NFL, Dan Rooney always was one of the consensus-builders in the room.
“Dan Rooney has been indispensable to this league,” said Art Modell during the era when he was still the owner of the Cleveland Browns. “He’s modest and self-effacing, but when there has been a problem, particularly in collective bargaining, we’ve called on him and he has delivered the goods. He knows the players’ mentality and the mentality of the owners. I’d put the future of the Cleveland Browns in his hands as far as collective bargaining is concerned.”
The 1982 strike was an especially bitter one, because it ended up costing the league seven regular season games while the issues were being resolved. For the NFLPA, Ed Garvey was painted as the villain by the NFL ownership and then by extension by the fans themselves, but Dan Rooney never saw it that way.
“The players are important,” said Dan Rooney. “When (former NFLPA executive director) Ed Garvey said all those years ago, ‘We are the game,’ everyone on the management side got all excited. I never did. I’m willing to admit the players are the game, but so is everybody else. So are the coaches and the staff.”
During the 1987 strike, Dan Rooney made sure that Tunch Ilkin, the team’s player rep at the time, knew that his secretary had the key to unlock the gate of the makeshift practice facility adjacent to Three Rivers Stadium in the event a bunch of players wanted to get together for informal workouts as the work stoppage was being resolved. His integrity, his honesty, his commitment to doing the right thing instead of being committed to proving his side was in the right, all of that combined to forge a trust that allowed him to be a successful mediator in these disputes.
“If there were more Dan Rooneys, there never would have been a strike (in 1987),” said Ilkin at that time. “Players around the league recognize him as a fair-minded person. When you talk to him, you know you’re talking to a real person. He’s never condescending. You never feel like you’re being talked down to.”
Added present Commissioner Roger Goodell, “Dan was deeply involved in the NFL’s labor negotiations, playing a key role for decades. He was seen as the voice of reason during many difficult discussions because he had a strong sense of the best interests of the game; he was practical; and he knew how to forge a consensus.”
Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown described it this way: “He doesn’t just pursue his own agenda. He pursues the league’s best interests. People know that, so they listen to him.”
Dan Rooney worked tirelessly through many such negotiations with the NFLPA over different versions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, and his deft touch in otherwise touchy matters became valuable during the time that he co-founded The American Ireland Fund to help bring peace and charity to Ireland. The Fund raised well over $300 million for peace and educational programs, according to Raymond H. Frye, who was the president of the selection committee that presented Dan Rooney with the John F. Kennedy Award in 2010.
Ted Smyth is a former Irish diplomat who was a firsthand observer of the birth and work of the American Ireland Fund, and this is what he said when Dan Rooney’s posting as Ambassador was set to begin: "I think people will cheer on both sides of the Atlantic. Dan has an extraordinary record of commitment to the peace process in Ireland."
Smyth noted the millions raised by the Fund, before adding, "More than that, Dan raised awareness across America that there was a peaceful way forward, and the way of the gun was not the way to go. In retrospect, it now looks like the peace process was inevitable. But it was never inevitable."
Comment