"Created the business model for all professional sports, a shrewd promoter who sold the rights to the Super Bowl, making networks pay for the privilege of seeing the game. The commissioner who counted, he got the teams to share the revenue so all would benefit, thereby making the NFL far more profitable than any other sport."

"The vision to take his Notre Dame team to play USC not only converted college football from a regional to intersectional sport but acknowledged the West Coast as a colossus in the making."