Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II, the third generation of the family to hold controlling interest in the team, is now 71 years old, leading to repeated inquiries about who the next in line is; fortunately, the answer hasn’t changed in a long time, that being his son, Daniel Martin Rooney.
One of five Rooneys currently in the front office or scouting department, Daniel is now roughly 35 years old. He has cut his teeth in a number of different departments already and returned to the organization in 2022. Currently the Director of Business Development & Strategy, he’s taking on more and more tasks for the future awaiting him.
I’ve seen a lot of people raising questions about “the next Rooney” this offseason, perhaps due to the Steelers’ struggles. Art II isn’t getting any younger, of course, and by and large there hasn’t been another Rooney in the public eye. But slowly, perhaps, that is changing.
“I don’t know how long Art Rooney II continues to serve in the team president role, but I would say his son Dan has become more and more visible since I started covering the team in ’19”, said Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a recent chat.
He popped up a couple times last year, in fact. In May, he was the point man in the Steelers’ conversations about playing a game in Ireland. I suspect we may see him surface for such roles more and more frequently in the coming years.
Daniel Martin Rooney has worked in the scouting department and an assistant coach previously within the organization. Perhaps by design, he has sampled a little bit of everything. A college quarterback for Dartmouth, he also understands the game as a player.
Prior to joining the Steelers organization, Rooney also served as a special events intern in the NHL. He also interned at the U.S. Embassy in Ireland, where his grandfather served as ambassador. Immediately preceding his time in Pittsburgh, he participated in an NFL program concerning public relations and analytics.
But like his father before him, he also left the football world for a bit. He dabbled in other business ventures for a few years between 2019 and 2022 prior to returning to the Steelers in his current capacity, in which one can only imagine he’s being groomed for an eventual ownership role. So of course he’s going to be more visible when he’s back working here, I suppose. Not that he wouldn’t have been a presence in the interim. He’s a Rooney, after all.
Currently, the late Dan Rooney Sr.’s brother, Art Rooney Jr., serves as Vice President, with Dan’s son, Art II, the President we all know and love. Another of Dan’s sons, Dan Jr., is the Steelers’ Vice President of Player Personnel. The unfortunately named Anthony Rooney is an intern in the scouting department—the great nephew of Dan. His father is Patrick Rooney Jr., son of Patrick Rooney Sr., son of Art Rooney Sr.—The Chief.
And then there’s Dan’s grandson, his closest namesake down to the middle initial, Daniel Martin Rooney, or Dan Rooney III—currently only listed as “Dan Rooney” on the team’s website. He is approaching that point of his life where he figures to grow into his future. Batko isn’t the only reporter who’s mentioned him this offseason as having a greater presence. Will he have enough of a presence to stop the annual questions, though?
