Episode 83: Founding ESPN, the World's Biggest Sports Network

Bil Rasmussen joins Joe and Tom this week for a conversation on the creation of ESPN in September 7, 1979, ESPN was launched. Entrepreneurial daring, irrepressible enthusiasm and a dash of good luck gave the world the first 24-hour television network. Once unleashed upon sports fans, ESPN’s impact forever changed the way we watch television. The man who had the dream, the founder of ESPN, is Bill Rasmussen. A life-long entrepreneur and sports fan, Rasmussen’s innovations in advertising, sports and broadcasting are too numerous to list, but they include the creation of “Sports Center”, wall-to-wall coverage of NCAA regular-season and “March Madness” college basketball, and coverage of the College World Series. He broke the advertising barrier to cable television by signing Anheuser Busch to the largest cable TV advertising contract ever.

Bill talks about all the stories behind ESPN, from the initial pitch meetings all the way to the expansion of the network. Bill also talks about his new entrepreneurial project, Hometown Networks and how that company is disrupting the current Sports TV landscape. Be sure to follow Bill @Bill_ESPN and check out Hometown Networks at http://hometownnetworks.tv/

The Facts

The CUSP Show is a production by the faculty of Sports Management at Columbia University. You can get in touch with the program on Twitter @CU_SPS_Sports Our presenters are Joe Favorito (@Joefav) and Tom Richardson (@convergenceTR)