The Steelers
, whose history may be traced to a regional pro team that was established
in the early 1920s, joined the NFL as the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 8,
1933. The team was owned by Art Rooney and took its original name from the
baseball team of the same name, as was common practice for NFL teams at
the time. To distinguish them from the baseball team, local media took to
calling the football team the Rooneymen.
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football
league consisting of 32 teams, divided equally between the National
Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC). The
NFL is one of the four major North American professional sports leagues
and the highest professional level of American football in the world. The
league is headquartered in New York City.
