PITTSBURGH -- Team 4's Jim Parsons took a closer look at the Steelers' response to the state's approval of PITG Gaming's application for a slots license in Pittsburgh.

PITG, headed by Don Barden, has announced its intention to build a slot machine casino near Heinz Field on the North Shore.

Steelers President Art Rooney II issued this strongly worded statement:
"We are extremely disappointed in the decision of the gaming commission to award the casino license on the North Shore. It seemed it was a process that was designed to give little weight to local interests and the result is indicative of that. We will have to consider all of our options in determining how to respond to this decision."

Rooney added no clarification, so Team 4 dug deeper.

Last May, Rooney sent a letter to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, voicing his opposition to a North Shore casino. In that letter, Rooney raised concerns about traffic and parking, but he also mentioned a legal issue regarding the new North Shore headquarters of Del Monte Foods and Equitable Resources.

Rooney wrote that Del Monte and Equitable "...were both concerned enough about the possibility of gaming coming to the North Shore that both requested and received specific written protection from the city which assured these entities that gaming facilities would not be located on the North Shore."

You might assume that the Rooney family owns every square inch of the North Shore, but they don't own the 17-acre parcel between the Carnegie Science Center and the West End Bridge, where Don Barden will build his casino.

Who does? Gateway Clipper Fleet owner Terry Wirginis, whose grandfather, John Connelly, purchased the riverfront land from U.S. Metal Service decades ago.

Ten years ago, Connelly proposed a development for the site that included a baseball stadium for the Pittsburgh Pirates and riverboat casinos. His architect, Dennis Astorino, explained it then to Channel 4 Action News reporter Sheldon Ingram.

Wirginis told Team 4 that he is confident he'll work out a financial deal with Barden for use of his company's land.

Team 4 called representatives at Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's office, Del Monte and Equitable. None of them could locate the letter that Rooney was talking about.

A spokeswoman for Del Monte Foods told Team 4 that the company is fairly certain that the promise the city made about not having any casinos on the North Shore was specifically referring to riverboat casinos, not fixed casinos.

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