Mark Cuban declined opportunity to purchase minority stake in Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers were founded by the Rooney family in 1933, and the family has been the owners and operators of the organization ever since. There are some minority owners involved with the Steelers as well, but when you think about the owners of the Steelers, everyone's first thought is the Rooney family. 

Another big name, Mark Cuban, had an opportunity to buy into the team, but he refused, despite his serious long-time fandom for the franchise.

Cuban was born and raised in Pittsburgh, and even attended Pittsburgh for part of his college education. He has spoken publicly before about his love for the Steelers, but he recently also mentioned that he was approached by a minority owner of the Steelers who wanted to sell his shares. Cuban, somewhat surprisingly, declined the offer. If any Steelers fan in the world was offered to be a part owner of the team, you'd think they would say yes in an instant. Cuban spoke on this in an interview with Julian Edelman on the podcast "Games With Names." 

"I had an opportunity to buy into the Steelers, a minority owner contacted me about selling and I just didn't want to be a minority owner," Cuban said.

Cuban said the main reason he hasn't pursued buying a team in the NFL is because they are so expensive and they don't come up for sale very often. He then had an opportunity to be at least a part-owner of the Steelers, but declined. The way he told the story, it seemed if he was given an offer to buy the whole team from the Rooney family, he would consider it more. He just had no interest in becoming a minority owner. 

Cuban is known as one of the world's best businessmen. He purchased a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA back in 2000 for $285 million. He turned the Mavericks organization around quickly, as they made an appearance in the NBA Finals as early as 2006. Cuban and the Mavericks won the NBA Finals in 2011, and he is often considered one of the best and most successful owners in the NBA. He recently sold his majority stake in the Mavericks for a price in the range of $3.5 billion. He will still be in charge of basketball operations. 

The reasoning for him selling his majority stake in the Mavericks has been pondered by many. Some think it may be to focus on building up the gambling scene in Dallas, as he has spoken about his aspirations to bring a gambling district and resort to the area. There are even some people that think he sold his stake because of his desire to run for president. The person he is selling his stake to is Miriam Adelson, who is a casino magnate in Las Vegas. So the first option is probably more realistic than Cuban becoming a presidential candidate. 

Regardless of Cuban's reasoning for his sale of the Mavericks, he now has a little more walking around money. About $3.5 billion more, which might make him reconsider his answer if he is asked if he wants to buy into his favorite organization in the NFL. Whether he is happy with the thought of being a minority or not, Cuban now has a huge hole in his life that has been filled since 2000. He no longer is a majority owner of a sports team in any of the four major American sports leagues. Should he get the itch to buy into another team, he should make a move for that minority stake he was initially offered. 

Cuban has tried to become a part of Pittsburgh sports ownership many times. He tried to buy the Pittsburgh Pirates back in 2005, but was denied, and it's likely he certainly would have done a better job than Bob Nutting has. He also joined an ownership group with Dan Marino in 2006 that attempted to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins. Obviously, neither of these moves were successful.