steelers president Art Rooney II has decided to build a new …
ORLANDO, Fla. — The NFL’s annual meeting concluded this week at the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes resort with the Pittsburgh Steelers’ top decision-makers speaking extensively with local reporters for the first time in a month or more, discussing what happened the last several weeks, why it happened and what might happen moving forward.
Head coach Mike Tomlin, general manager Omar Khan and team owner Art Rooney II spent a little more than an hour combined going over a unique offseason for the Steelers, after they revamped their quarterback room within a month, going from Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph to Russell Wilson, Justin Fields and Kyle Allen.
The report noted, “There is little confidence among respondents in the willingness of club owner Art Rooney II to invest in a better workplace.”
Rooney was not particularly happy with the poll.
“We prefer to get our feedback directly from the players,” he said. “Not even sure where that comes from. It doesn’t get presented to us. It gets presented to the media. So, as far as I’m concerned, it’s more of a media opportunity for the Players Association as opposed to a serious effort and constructive criticism. But having said that, we look at improving our facilities every year, and we’ll continue to do that.”
The Steelers finished with an F-minus in the treatment of families. They have always prided themselves on being a family-run organization.
The Steelers are limited with space on the South Side because they share a facility with Pitt. Still, they invested $10 million in the expansion and upgrades of the weight room in 2016, with conditioning coach Garrett Giemont saying it might be “the most advanced weight room in the NFL” at the time. They are in the process of upgrading the weight facilities and have also upgraded their kitchen facilities and media workroom and provided a bigger meeting area for the offensive linemen.
