Pennsylvania Keystoners The Pennsylvania Keystoners was the idea for an American football team thought up by then - Pittsburgh Pirates owner , Art Rooney , in 1939 to have a single National Football League franchise based in both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia . The team would play half of its home games in each location . The idea for the Keystoners is the result is from a " franchise two - step " between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Steelers that still exists with the most convoluted in sports history . History . Origins . During their early histories , the Pirates and the Eagles were among the weakest in the league . In his first eight years of operating the Pittsburgh franchise , Pirates founder Art Rooney was estimated to have lost $ 100 , 000 . Neither the Eagles nor the Pirates - Steelers had posted a winning record in their first eight years of existence . Losses on the field were compounded by the combined loss of about $ 190 , 000 in Depression dollars . The Steelers were so bad that Rooney sold them at the end of the , 1940 season to Alexis Thompson , a 26 - year - old steel heir from Boston , Massachusetts frequently described in the press as " a well - heeled New York playboy " . Thompson renamed the Steelers the Ironmen , but he planned to move the franchise to Boston and play games in Fenway Park . Eagles owner Bert Bell brokered a deal in which Rooney sold the Steelers for $ 160 , 000 which was 64 times his original franchise start - up fee of $ 2 , 500 in 1933 , and Rooney in turn invested $ 80 , 000 to become partner with Bell in the Eagles . The deal , which also involved the trade of 11 Steelers to the Eagles and eight Eagles to the Steelers , came to light on December 8 , 1940 , the day the Chicago Bears defeated the Washington Redskins , 73 - 0 , in the NFL title game . Meanwhile , the Eagles were owned by a syndicate headed by Bell , however the team lost $ 80 , 000 and 21 games in its first three seasons . Soon all of the team ' s investors left the franchise , and by the end of the 1935 season Bell had the Eagles to himself . He became the coach , general manager , scout and public relations director , and took to selling tickets on downtown Philadelphia street corners . Because the rent was cheap , the team played in the 102 , 000 seat Municipal Stadium before at least 100 , 000 empty seats . According to one account , one rainy Sunday , only 50 people showed up for a game against the Brooklyn Dodgers ; Bell invited those few fans up to the covered press box , where he provided free coffee and hot dogs . The deal . Rooney and Bell had become close friends during the early NFL years , and so , soon after he sold the Pittsburgh franchise , Rooney bought a half interest in the struggling Eagles operation . The two owners planned was to field a combined Philadelphia - Pittsburgh team called the Keystoners that would play home games in both cities . The original proposition was that Thompson would buy the franchise and take the Pittsburgh club to Boston and Bell and Rooney would pool their interests in the Eagles to form a Philadelphia - Pittsburgh club , splitting the home games between Forbes Field in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia ' s Municipal Stadium . Second thoughts . The Pittsburgh Pirates were supposed renamed the Boston Iron Men , however Thompson ' s move to Boston fell through . The Rooney / Bell idea to have one Pennsylvania Keystoners franchise with games in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh was vetoed by the league as well . However Rooney had second thoughts about leaving Pittsburgh for Philadlephia , he caught Thompson at the right time and the two men changed their plans . As a result , Rooney and Bell would take their Philadelphia operation back to Pittsburgh and rename it the Steelers while Thompson , could move Rooney ' s original franchise to Philadelphia and play as the Eagles . Afterwards . Before the 1941 season , Rooney returned the name to Steelers back from the Ironmen . Bell began the season as the Steelers ' coach , but after two losses , Rooney hired Aldo Donelli . Bell continued as part owner of the Steelers until 1946 when he was elected NFL commissioner . Bell served as commissioner until 1959 when he died of a heart attack at Franklin Field in Philadelphia during a game between two teams he had helped form , the Steelers and the Eagles . Because the Steelers never actually missed a game in Pittsburgh , the NFL considers the Rooney Family ' s ownership reign to be unbroken . But from 1941 to 1946 , when Bell became NFL commissioner and gave up his half interest in the Steelers , the club ' s operating name was still technically referred to as the Philadelphia Eagles Football Club Inc . The teams would merge though for one season in 1943 as the Philadelphia - Pittsburgh " Steagles " due to player shortfalls brought on by World War II . The league only approved the merger for one year ; Pittsburgh was willing to merge again for 1944 but not Philadelphia . This forced the Steelers to merge with the Chicago Cardinals ( as Card - Pitt ) for 1944 .