• Variety, Wednesday, July 14, 2010 11:25 PM

Following his death Tuesday at the age of 80, George Steinbrenner will be remembered by many as the bullying team owner parodied so brilliantly by Larry David on "Seinfeld," but the Boss' legacy in media and entertainment will extend well beyond those Thursday nights on NBC.

In taking a team he paid $10 million for in 1973 and turning it into a $1.6 billion sports juggernaut, Steinbrenner, a shipbuilding heir from Cleveland, had a surprising understanding of media. That savvy enabled his Yankees to be at the forefront over nearly four decades of brand marketing, team rights, TV distribution and more recently new technologies. Perhaps his most significant achievement was taking greater control over the distribution of Yankees games by creating the YES Network, the first sports network launched by a professional sports team.

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