BusinessTN

It's great to be a Haslam in Tennessee. The family that built Knoxville-based Pilot Corp., a multi-billion dollar empire rooted in diesel fuel sales and convenience stores, also displays a passion for investing in regional sports teams that runs Big Orange in color and embraces Tennessee Smokies baseball, as well.

Late last year, Pilot's president and CEO, Jimmy Haslam, expanded his athletics portfolio and pledged his allegiance to the "Terrible Towel" as a newly invested minority owner in the National Football League's defending Super Bowl champions, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In an NFL-approved deal last December, Haslam took possession of a reported 16% of Steelers' stock, becoming one of six new partners of the league’s fifth oldest franchise (and one Forbes magazine values at $1.01 billion).

The unlikely pairing of the baron of coast-to-coast travel centers and dynastic NFL team owners began when a young sports investment broker met Haslam during a bankers' meeting about 10 years ago. When the founding Rooney family needed to sell $262 million of the team's stock to be in compliance with NFL franchise rules, Haslam's name made a short list of potential buyers.

Despite the Steelers' record seven Super Bowl appearances (and six wins), initially, Haslam was not interested. Nonetheless, curiosity led the consummate sports fan to agree to meet with franchise chairman Dan Rooney and his son, Art II, last summer during a trip to tour six Pittsburgh area Pilot stores.

"I had lunch with them and took an immediate liking to them. They have a family business just like we do -- very quality people," he says of the family that holds 30% of the team’s stock and retains majority and controlling ownership of the franchise.

Haslam was impressed. But before inking the deal, he needed to convince his reluctant father, James A. "Big Jim" Haslam, the Pilot Corp. founder who was a major player in bringing the former Houston Oilers franchise to Tennessee in 1997. (Big Jim also played college football for UT-Knoxville in the 1950s and was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1986.)

Haslam introduced his father to the Rooneys on the sidelines during a Titans/Steelers game last season. The elder Haslam, once rumored on FoxSports.com to have plans to buy the Titans from franchise owner and friend Bud Adams, was on board with Jimmy becoming a Steelers partner before the pair moved back to their seats in the stadium.

Even with the Steelers' strong legacy, the fear of a league-wide lockout, or work stoppage, could mean big losses starting with the 2011 season if owners and players cannot reach a new collective bargaining agreement. Should Haslam be worried? David M. Carter, executive director of the University of Southern California Sports Business Institute, does not think so.

"The potential for a lockout may impact the potential owner's decision process," Carter says. "[But] those who purchase sports franchises tend to do so for extended periods of time, and this will blunt any shorter term issues the league may encounter."

Haslam maintains that his contribution is strictly monetary. "The best thing I could do was stay out of the way," he says, after lavishing praise on how well the Steelers' organization is managed. Even so, Haslam is now initiated into the exclusive club of NFL team ownership, which could lead to more investment opportunities.