Haslam excited to be a Steeler

Photo by NEWS SENTINEL

Jimmy Haslam, president and CEO of Pilot Travel Centers, is pictured in 2006. Haslam is a new minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers

Knoxville businessman Jimmy Haslam, president and CEO of Pilot Travel Centers, is used to being the man in charge.

The fit 54-year-old executive with a piercing stare and stern demeanor is known for his intense focus on running a national business. Pilot is the largest travel center operator in the country, with 300 locations in the United States and Canada, 13,000 employees and about $16 billion in revenue last year.

But in his newest business venture - minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, one of the most storied franchises in National Football League history - Haslam is more than happy to let others run the show.

The Steelers play the Arizona Cardinals today in the Super Bowl in Tampa. If the Steelers win, it will be the franchise's sixth Super Bowl championship. The Cardinals are going for their first Super Bowl win.

"We feel very fortunate and very lucky to be in this position. … Really, we're just along for the ride," said Haslam, who's hoping for a Steeler victory, of course, but he declined to predict a final score.

Some NFL owners wait decades for their team to play for the championship. Some owners never make the big game.

It will be incredibly special, Haslam said, to watch the Steelers play in the Super Bowl just a few weeks after he other new minority Steelers owners were approved by the NFL.

"It's exciting," said Haslam, who will be joined in Tampa by family members, including his father, James A. Haslam II, founder of Pilot Corp.

"Dad's probably more excited than anybody," Haslam said.

The Haslams are not strangers to sports. Haslam II played football for the University of Tennessee in the 1950s, and the family, including Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam, is a principal owner of the Tennessee Smokies minor league baseball team in Sevier County.

Jimmy Haslam, who grew up as a Dallas Cowboys fan, has always been interested in professional sports and had checked out various ownership opportunities in the past, but when first asked if he would be interested in owning a piece of the Steelers, Haslam said no thanks.

"I got a call last summer from someone who asked me if I knew the Rooneys," Haslam said. "I said I didn't know them and after he explained the situation, that they might be interested in selling (a minority stake), but I said I doubted I'd be interested."

However, since he planned to be in Pennsylvania the next week to visit some Pilot locations, Haslam agreed to meet Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney, and his brother, Art Jr., for lunch.

Needless to say, lunch went well. Haslam said he and the Rooneys found common ground right away.

"I really liked them after the first meeting," Haslam said. "They run a family business, just like us."

Haslam also was impressed with the front-office talent surrounding the Rooneys and how hard everyone in the organization works.

"It all starts with people and they have great talent," Haslam said. "And they have a good concept, they're very purposeful."

The Steelers were founded in 1933 by Art Rooney Sr., who paid $2,500 for an NFL franchise. Today the Steelers are worth considerably more. In its 2008 ranking of NFL franchises, Forbes magazine valued the Steelers at $1.01 billion, 18th highest in the league.

Haslam declined to say how much he has invested or what percentage of the team he will own when the sale closes in a few weeks.

"I can't say out of respect for the Rooneys," Haslam said. "They are very private people."

After their initial meeting in early August in Pittsburgh, Haslam and the Rooneys met several times in New York over the next few months to hammer out details of the sale. Haslam also met several times with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and other league officials.

"I was very impressed with the NFL and how well it is run," Haslam said.

"It's been a lot of fun," Haslam continued. "The sports part is a lot of fun … but getting to learn about another business and how it is run has been fun, too."

Although he will have a lot of money invested in the Steelers, Haslam said he wouldn't presume to help the coaches evaluate football players or suggest game strategies - in fact, he has yet to meet any of the players or head coach Mike Tomlin.

"They've been pretty busy," Haslam said.

However, when it comes to the business side of football, Haslam said he's learned a few things about running a business over the years and won't hesitate to "offer business judgment" when he thinks it will help.

But he doesn't expect to be overly involved.

"The Steelers have a lot of very talented people and they have been very, very successful," Haslam said. "And one thing I have learned over the years, if something's working don't fix it," Haslam.

Assistant business editor Roger Harris may be reached at 865-342-6342.