HARRISBURG -- Former Steelers wide receiver Lynn Swann has a new team to play for -- Team 88, a campaign committee he set up this week as evidence of his increasing seriousness about exploring a run for governor in 2006.

Lynn Swann

Swann, who lives in Sewickley and works as a college football analyst on ABC-TV, filed papers with the state Department of Elections to create Team 88, named after his number with the Steelers.

Formation of the political committee will allow Swann to begin raising and spending money as he decides whether to compete for the Republican gubernatorial nomination next year.

Swann joins two other GOP gubernatorial hopefuls who are more established politically but perhaps not as well-known to the general public: former Lt. Gov. William Scranton of Scranton and state Sen. Jeffrey Piccola of suburban Harrisburg.

"From the state party's standpoint, it's exciting to have the addition of a high-caliber individual like Lynn Swann to a field that already includes two other accomplished men," Josh Wilson, press secretary for the state Republican Party, said yesterday.

Swann has so far declined to address his possible candidacy directly with reporters and was still playing coy yesterday, not taking calls but issuing a brief statement through Swann Inc., his Pittsburgh-based company.

He said that over the next several months, he plans to have "a conversation with the people of Pennsylvania regarding a potential campaign" to unseat Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell next year.

The three-page committee document doesn't give many details of the Swann political machine, saying only that the chairman of Team 88 is Gary D. Brown of Mt. Lebanon and the treasurer is David Franklin, whose address was listed as 435 Sixth Ave., Downtown Pittsburgh. Franklin declined to comment yesterday and Brown couldn't be reached.

One political commentator from Central Pennsylvania said Swann's formation of an exploratory committee "sends an important message to the political community in Pennsylvania -- that this is a candidacy in the making."

G. Terry Madonna, based at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, said that since word first broke several weeks ago that Swann was looking at a gubernatorial run, the Super Bowl hero and member of pro football's Hall of Fame "has been like a celebrity or a rock star, but this isn't just a media event anymore. Now he'll have to go out and test the landscape and see what kind of political support there is for his candidacy."

Madonna said it's important for Swann to make himself better known to grass-roots Republicans as well as to members of the state committee. GOP candidates who are endorsed by the state committee have done well in statewide elections, he added.

Swann isn't the only ex-Steelers player with political ambitions.

Yesterday, lawyer Dwayne D. Woodruff, a former 12-year defensive back, announced he will run for Allegheny County Common Pleas judge. He is seeking to fill one of seven vacancies on the court.