The ownership mess that has been percolating in Pittsburgh for as many as two years possibly could have been avoided.  At a minimum, it possibly could have been resolved without turning awkward, verging on ugly.

As NFLPA-certified agent and sports lawyer Ron Del Duca pointed out to us on Thursday, no one is asking whether the Rooney brothers  have a “buy-sell” agreement in place, which would have provided a framework for the transfer of one of their interests to one or more of the remaining owners.

“If they don’t have one, why didn’t they ever get one in place?” Del Duca said.  “Then if one or some wanted to sell, the ones that want to stay owners would have the right of first refusal.”

Del Duca explained that agreements like this are very common in business.  Some contain language preventing any transfer of ownership without the unanimous consent of the remaining owners.  Others set forth a specific procedure for triggering a potential sale of a partial interest to the remaining owners, along with a procedure for determining a fair and appropriate price.

It’s also possible that an agreement is in place, and that it provides the remaining owners only with a right to match any other offers that one of the owners obtains from an outsider.  If that’s the case, Dan Rooney could find himself unable to meet the offer from someone like Stanley Druckenmiller.  And that would explain any effort by Dan Rooney to lowball his brothers, which has been alleged by some of them, in a roundabout way.

Regardless, the current situation has all the signs of becoming a huge mess.  In some respects, it already is.

Based on a Thursday item from the Associated Press, the situation could have its roots in a falling out from two decades ago between Dan Rooney and brother Art Jr., which led to Art Jr. being pushed out.  He previously had been the scouting and player personnel chief.

“How about that? I’ve become a big shot after being exiled 20 years ago,” Art Jr. recently said.

Big shot, indeed.  He’s currently in a position, along with his three brothers, to render the eldest son of team founder Art Rooney a bystander in the management of the franchise that the family has owned for more than three quarters of a century.