Art Rooney II says team is prepared to discipline Ben Roethlisberger

During a televised press conference this afternoon, Pittsburgh Steelers team president Art Rooney II said that embattled star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger won't be disciplined at this time as NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell continues to review the situation.

The Steelers are prepared to discipline him now. There will only be one punishment, though, not punishment from the league and the organization.

Roethlisberger wasn't charged with a crime, but was investigated for allegedly sexually assaulting a 20-year-old Georgia woman. He was admonished publicly by prosecutor Fred Bright.

"As you know, Ben met with the commissioner in New York on Tuesday," Rooney said. "Since then, I've talked to the commissioner about his review of the matter. As far as the timing of any disciplinary action, the commissioner told me he would like to take at least a couple of weeks for further review of the matter. I don't expect we'll be announcing any final decisions until the week after the draft at earliest."

"I want to say that we told the commissioner that the Pittsburgh Steelers are prepared to take disciplinary action at this point. However, I want to make perfectly clear that any disciplinary action will be coordinated between the commissioner and the Pittsburgh Steelers. In other words, there will only be one disciplinary action."

"We believe each of our players has not only a responsibility to live up to the highest standards on the field, but also equally high standards off the field. Receiving the support of Pittsburgh Steelers fans all over the world is something that must be earned. I've made it clear to Ben that his conduct in this incident did not live up to our standards. We've made it very clear to Ben that there will be consequences for his actions. And Ben has indicated to me that he's willing to accept those consequences."

"Ben has rejoined the team and participating in our offseason conditioning program. We allowed Ben to do this after being convinced that he was sincerely contrite for his actions as well as having Ben's assurance that he's firmly committed to working every day to regain the trust and respect of this organization and Steelers fans. After imposing an appropriate level of discipline, and outlining the steps we feel will be necessary to be a successful player and person, we intend to allow Ben the opportunity to prove to us that he's the teammate and citizen we all know he's capable of being. And we hope the entire Steelers community will allow Ben the opportunity to prove to them that he deserves their trust and respect."

Rooney also weighed in on the debated decision to trade troubled wide receiver Santonio Holmes to the New York Jets for a fifth-round draft pick.

Holmes is a former Super Bowl MVP who has been charged in the past with domestic violence and possession of marijuana and was recently accused of throwing a drinking glass at a woman in an Orlando, Fla., nightclub.

Holmes has been suspended for four games by the NFL for violating its substance abuse policy.

"Trading a player or releasing a player is never an easy decision," Rooney said. "We have to take into account a number of factors. First and foremost, we have to evaluate if a player is truly committed to the standards that we expect. And on occasion when a player makes a mistake we have to evaluate if the player is committed to taking the required steps to improve in the future. To keep our commitment to our fans to putting the best possible football team on the field, we must also evaluate a player's contribution in the short term and the long term.

"Clearly, Santonio is a very talented football player. But his multiple violations of league policy and his off-the-field problems led us to conclude that it would be in the best interest of our organization to part ways. I wish Santonio all the best and I hope he's able to do what's necessary to be successful both on and off the field."

Rooney reiterated Roethlisberger will only be punished once by the league or the team.

When asked about the Steelers' image, Rooney said: "In terms of the team's image, certainly I feel like we've taken a hit. But an image is built over a long period of time. I certainly think there's a lot of good will left in the Steelers' image."

Rooney was asked if the team has discussed trading Roethlisberger and didn't deny discussing it internally.

"We don't talk about trades in advance," Rooney said. "At this point, we have not discussed a trade with any other club. We're dealing with a player who has a contract. There's a lot of pieces to the puzzle."

On Roethlisberger rejoining the team for workouts: "We wanted to make sure we had Ben's commitment and that he'll do the right things to be a successful player and person. We've had multiple conversations, both myself and others in the organization. We've had some very frank conversations. We look at this as an ongoing journey.

"Ben is going to have to continue to demonstrate to us that his commitment is evidenced in his actions going forward. He's going to have to work hard through all of this to rehabilitate his image. There's no question it's taken a hit. He's going to have to be up to meeting the challenge."

As for the district attorney's comments, Rooney said he hasn't formed his opinion off those remarks. He referred to some of Bright's comments as "conjecture." 

The Steelers have been through a tough period, Rooney acknowledged.

"It's been a difficult situation," Rooney said. "It's something we're very concerned about. We understand we all have a lot of work to do to earn the fans' trust back."

Rooney said the team believes disciplinary action is appropriate, but the team wants to give Roethlisberger another chance.

When asked about the other incident in Nevada where Roethlisberger was sued for sexual assault, Rooney said the lack of charges there in the other incident doesn't factor in greatly to this incident.

"It's a difficult situation," Rooney said. "You do the best you can and you try to move forward the best you can."

He declined to get into hypothetical situations about trading Roethlisberger.

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