Dan Rooney on NFL Draft: ‘My great-grandfather and my grandfather would be very proud’
The NFL Draft in Pittsburgh will be a special moment for the city, and for the Rooney family, who founded the Steelers in 1933 and still own the team today.
The stage is set in Pittsburgh for what’s expected to be the biggest event the city has ever seen. The NFL Draft, held Thursday through Saturday, is expected to bring as many as 700,000 people to Pittsburgh’s iconic North Shore and Point State Park. >>> Pittsburgh NFL Draft: What you need to know <<< It will be a special moment for the city, and for the Rooney family, who founded the Steelers in 1933 and still own the team today.
“My great-grandfather and my grandfather would be very proud of the city,” said Dan Rooney III, Steelers vice president of business development and strategy. He sat down with Channel 11 for a one-on-one interview ahead of the Draft. Dan is the son of Steelers President Art Rooney II, the grandson of former Steelers president and chairman Dan Rooney and great-grandson of founder and former president and chairman Art Rooney Sr.
, “The Chief. ” “We heard stories from back in the 1930s about meetings that my great-grandfather would have been in talking about the concept of the NFL Draft,” Dan Rooney said. “Now that we’re in 2026 and the draft will have hundreds of thousands of people in Pittsburgh over the course of the week, I just know that my great-grandfather and my grandfather would be very proud of the city and the Steelers and everyone involved.
” “When you look at just what this year has been from the first regular season game in Ireland to this moment a week from now, what do you think they would say if they could see all this? ” asked Channel 11 Anchor Jatara McGee. “That game we talked about in Dublin was certainly a special one.