The Steelers' generational ownership drama involves the same toxic mix of money and emotion that can pull apart any family-owned business, according to experts, highlighting the frequent reluctance of far-flung heirs to pay a hefty federal estate tax.

The five second-generation Rooney brothers who control the team are in their 60s and 70s. Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney is the oldest, at 75. Each owns 16 percent of a storied football franchise valued at a minimum of $800 million by Wall Street investment bank Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Four of the five brothers are interested in selling their shares before they get much older, hoping to avoid a sizeable U.S. tax.

If the brothers die without selling, their children would be required to pay the federal government 45 percent of the shares' value. In cases where the Pennsylvania estate tax is applied as well, heirs would pay a total tax of about 48 percent, according to LeRoy Metz, president of Downtown law firm Metz Lewis.

Using conservative estimates of the team's worth, the Rooney brothers' heirs would owe hundreds of millions of dollars in tax on an asset they couldn't sell. They'd have to find to find the money elsewhere. Cashing it out now will make estate planning easier.

U.S. law makes it "very hard to keep family businesses for multiple generations," said local venture capitalist and millionaire Glen Meakem, who like many estate tax opponents refers to the levy as a "death tax."

Locally, the Rooneys are not the only family to struggle with generational tax issues and the cooling passions for the core business that can develop among siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews as relatives disperse across the country.

Last year, the fourth- and fifth-generation families that owned the century-old Kennywood amusement park decided to sell to a Spanish park operator owned by a British private equity group. Seven Springs Mountain resort was also sold last year after years of fighting among its family members.

A feud inside the Gumberg family is currently splitting the third generation as younger brothers Andrew and Lawrence accuse older brother Ira of misappropriating millions from joint real estate holdings valued at $500 million.

And when local developer Jack Buncher died in 2001, The Buncher Co. in Squirrel Hill came under the control of The Buncher Family Foundation, according to court documents, instead of his daughter and son. The value of his estate near death was nearly $200 million, according to court documents.

What Mr. Buncher did is one way of avoiding a tax bite -- passing the estate to a qualifying charity.

Another way to reduce the amount of taxes paid upon death while keeping the business in the family is to park assets in a "family limited partnership," Mr. Metz said, adding that Internal Revenue Service often frowns on these partnerships and is known for contesting them in court.

His advice: "Set aside legal fees."