Who Profited From The New York Yankees Under Steinbrenner Dynasty In 1990s?

(Before the Steinbrenner Dynasty apparently formed its Yes Network in partnership with Goldman Sachs in 1997 to restructure the New York Yankees' ownership arrangement, the following column item appeared in the now-defunct Lower East Side alternative newsweekly, Downtown, on 6/29/94)

As Baseball and Billions: A Probing Look Inside The Big Business Of Our National Pasttime noted in 1992, "anyone who has tried to inquire into the business of baseball knows that the industry is run like covert operations at the CIA, or perhaps as the CIA would like them to be run" and "almost all the franchises are privately held and do not publicly issue income statements or other financial reports..." The same book also estimated that in the early 1990s the Yankees were worth over $250 million and earned over $50 million a year in local media rights. In reference to [the now-deceased] New York Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner, Baseball and Billions revealed the following:

"According to one account related to the author, Steinbrenner actually invested up front less than $100,000 of his money. More recently, it has been claimed that Steinbrenner and his minority partners pocketed $100 million (presumably coming as a signing bonus) of the roughly $500 million provided in the 12-year cable contract between the team and MSG network, rather than reinvesting it in baseball operation...Another story reaffirms that Steinbrenner and his partners walked off with a $100 million of the cable contract and claims that Steinbrenner was motivated to do this in order to bail out his troubled American Ship Building company."

(Downtown 6/29/94)