With his brothers having signed off on the deal, Dan Rooney continues to put together his team of investors to restructure the ownership in the Steelers.

Four of the five brothers met at Heinz Field today at their annual year-end board meeting of stockholders, and again went over details of their restructuring plan. Nothing, though, was done nor decided at the meeting.

Steelers chairman Dan Rooney, though, believes the deal still might be presented for a vote at the NFL owners meeting Dec. 17 in Dallas. First, the league finance committee must recommend the ownership restructuring at its meeting, which was moved from Wednesday to next Monday.

If the finance committee recommends it, it would go to a vote of owners, who must approve it by 24 of the 32 votes for it to pass.

"Our thoughts now are to move everything forward and try to get this agreement worked out,'' Rooney said this afternoon. "I think this was a step in the right direction. By no means is this finished, and we're still doing that. So there's still not a whole lot to say."

The reason it's not finished is that Dan and his son Art II, who need to acquire at least 30 percent of the franchise, have not yet completed putting together the investors who will purchase some of the other shares from the Rooney brothers and their cousins in the McGinley family.

Pat and Tim Rooney will each sell his 16 percent share of the team while brothers John and Art Jr. will sell a little more than half of their 16 percent share each. Pat did not attend yesterday's board meeting, sending son Brian to represent him.

The five brothers have agreed to a total franchise worth of $800 million, meaning one percent would equal $8 million. They also have agreed to payouts that range up to 10 years for their shares.

"There's a lot of things we have to do,'' Dan Rooney said when asked if he were still putting together his team of investors. "We have to do that. We also have the league to deal with. We have to present [the investors], they have to do research on people and things like that. That's why it's hard to say. Things come up, the league has their own ideas and things like that."

The league already is vetting some of Rooney's investors, although no names have become public.

Ed Bouchette can be reached at ebouchette@post-gazette.com.