Note 1 - Description and Basis of Presentation	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2013
Business Description and Basis of Presentation [Text Block]	1. Description and Basis of Presentation Description Steel Excel Inc. (“Steel Excel” or the “Company”) currently operates in two reporting segments: Steel Sports and Steel Energy, while continuing to identify additional new business acquisition opportunities. The Company also reports certain other equity investments, investment activity and unallocated corporate expenses within its Corporate segment. Steel Sports: Focuses on sports and health-related businesses. Services include marketing and providing baseball facility services, including training camps, summer camps, leagues and tournaments, concession and catering events and other events and related websites. In addition, the Company provides strength and conditioning services and products and obstacle course race events. Steel Energy: Focuses on providing services to oil and gas companies, utilizing technological advances in supporting horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Services include snubbing services (controlled installation and removal of all tubulars - drill strings and production strings) in and out of the wellbore with the well under full pressure, flowtesting, and hydraulic work over/simultaneous operations (allows customers to perform multiple tasks on multiple wells on one pad at the same time). For a complete discussion of the Company’s reporting segments, please refer to Notes 3 and 17 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012 Basis of Presentation In the opinion of management, the accompanying Condensed and Consolidated Financial Statements (“Condensed Financial Statements”) of Steel Excel and its wholly-owned subsidiaries have been prepared on a consistent basis with the December 31, 2012 audited financial statements. The Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with the regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and, therefore, omit certain information and footnote disclosures necessary to present the statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America and are considered unaudited and condensed. The December 31, 2012 Condensed Balance Sheet was derived from audited financial statements. These financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited financial statements and notes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012, which was filed with the SEC on March 11, 2013. The Company’s Condensed Financial Statements include the accounts of Steel Excel and its subsidiaries. All significant intercompany accounts have been eliminated in consolidation. The Company is reporting its quarterly financial information using a calendar convention; that is, the first, second and third quarters will consistently be reported as ending on March 31, June 30 and September 30, respectively. It has been the practice to establish actual quarterly closing dates using a predetermined “fiscal” calendar, which requires closing the books on a Saturday in order to minimize the potentially disruptive effects of quarterly closing on business processes. The effects of this practice are generally not significant to reported results for any quarter and only exist within a reporting year. In the event that differences in actual closing dates are material to year-over-year comparisons of quarterly or year-to-date results, appropriate disclosures are provided. The actual closing dates for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012 were March 30, 2013 and March 31, 2012, respectively.

Note 1 - Description and Basis of Presentation

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2013

Business Description and Basis of Presentation [Text Block]

1. Description and Basis of Presentation

Description

Steel Excel Inc. (“Steel Excel” or the “Company”) currently operates in two reporting segments: Steel Sports and Steel Energy, while continuing to identify additional new business acquisition opportunities. The Company also reports certain other equity investments, investment activity and unallocated corporate expenses within its Corporate segment.

Steel Sports: Focuses on sports and health-related businesses. Services include marketing and providing baseball facility services, including training camps, summer camps, leagues and tournaments, concession and catering events and other events and related websites. In addition, the Company provides strength and conditioning services and products and obstacle course race events.

Steel Energy: Focuses on providing services to oil and gas companies, utilizing technological advances in supporting horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Services include snubbing services (controlled installation and removal of all tubulars - drill strings and production strings) in and out of the wellbore with the well under full pressure, flowtesting, and hydraulic work over/simultaneous operations (allows customers to perform multiple tasks on multiple wells on one pad at the same time).

For a complete discussion of the Company’s reporting segments, please refer to Notes 3 and 17 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012

Basis of Presentation

In the opinion of management, the accompanying Condensed and Consolidated Financial Statements (“Condensed Financial Statements”) of Steel Excel and its wholly-owned subsidiaries have been prepared on a consistent basis with the December 31, 2012 audited financial statements. The Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with the regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and, therefore, omit certain information and footnote disclosures necessary to present the statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America and are considered unaudited and condensed. The December 31, 2012 Condensed Balance Sheet was derived from audited financial statements. These financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited financial statements and notes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012, which was filed with the SEC on March 11, 2013.

The Company’s Condensed Financial Statements include the accounts of Steel Excel and its subsidiaries. All significant intercompany accounts have been eliminated in consolidation.

The Company is reporting its quarterly financial information using a calendar convention; that is, the first, second and third quarters will consistently be reported as ending on March 31, June 30 and September 30, respectively. It has been the practice to establish actual quarterly closing dates using a predetermined “fiscal” calendar, which requires closing the books on a Saturday in order to minimize the potentially disruptive effects of quarterly closing on business processes. The effects of this practice are generally not significant to reported results for any quarter and only exist within a reporting year. In the event that differences in actual closing dates are material to year-over-year comparisons of quarterly or year-to-date results, appropriate disclosures are provided. The actual closing dates for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012 were March 30, 2013 and March 31, 2012, respectively.