PITTSBURGH – Steelers president and part-owner Dan Rooney called Al Davis a "lying creep" and accused the Raiders owner of leaking documents in order to sway the outcome of a civil trial in Los Angeles, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on Tuesday.
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Rooney disputed figures that showed his Steelers were the ninth-most profitable team in the NFL. The Los Angeles Times on Sunday published a document it said was introduced as part of the Oakland Raiders' $1 billion lawsuit against the NFL that shows operating profits of each NFL team from 1995-99.
The document, entered into evidence in the trial, reveals that the Steelers turned an operating profit of $12.2 million in 1999, ninth-highest in the league, and never ranked lower than 12th among the league's profit-makers from 1995-99.
The league office sent a memo yesterday to its 31 teams to emphasize that the document was an inaccurate portrayal of operating profits and that it was a simplified version of complex financial figures.
Rooney, the Steelers' president and part-owner, angrily accused Davis, the Raiders' majority owner, of making a grandstand play toward the jury in Los Angeles.
"It's that lying creep, Al Davis, trying to influence a jury in L.A.," Rooney said. "And he gave out this information."
Rooney said an analysis of the Steelers' finances from 1999 shows the team spent more money than it acquired.
"Basically, we were in a loss situation, not a profitable one," Rooney said. "They're definitely wrong. Our cash analysis shows we spent more than what we took in.
"So many things are involved, that's why it's wrong."
Davis is suing the NFL because he alleges the league forced the Raiders to move from Los Angeles back to Oakland, and claims the NFL market in Los Angeles still belongs to him.
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