Bill Rasmussen founded ESPN after being fired from the New England Whalers. Through his work, the sports network has become one of most influential in the country.
1978: ESPN is founded.
1979: ESPN’s flagship show, SportsCenter, airs its first episode.
1980: ESPN starts broadcasting 24/7.
1987: Sunday Night Football comes to ESPN.
2003: ESPN HD begins operating.
2005: ESPN acquires Monday Night Football.
Source: ESPN
For the founder of ESPN, being laid off was the fuel it took to create the first 24-hour sports network.
Bill Rasmussen was fired from his job as communications manager for the New England Whalers on Memorial Day weekend in 1978, after the team failed to qualify for the playoffs. Months later, he created ESPN.
Rasmussen spoke Monday evening at John R. Emens Auditorium as a part of the Excellence in Leadership Speaker Series. He packed the house with his presentation, “Building the Worldwide Leader: Leadership Lessons from the Founder of ESPN.”
He attributed the creation of ESPN to finances, advertisement, content, technology and subscribers. The most difficult to acquire, he said, were subscribers.
This was not a problem ESPN battled for long. Today, the network receives roughly $500 million dollars per month from cable subscribers, Rasmussen said. This generates a net worth for the company of about $66 billion as of November 2012, according to Bernstein Research.
Rasmussen compared his idea of a 24-hour sports network to a simmering crockpot, which was put into action after he lost his job. He was a long-time sports fan, frustrated by the lack of coverage on TV and was curious about satellites.
These three things led to his creation of the first 24-hour network. Networks had to sign off at 1 a.m. and did not come back on the air until 7 a.m., Rasmussen said. ESPN was the first of its kind, followed by CNN, MTV and TWC in the years following.
ABC, CBS and NBC were the “big three” networks and played around 25 football games a year in the 1970s.
“Sports fans wanted more,” Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen said ESPN drew an audience away from the big three networks because they did sports better.
“CBS still hasn’t figured out how to do it as well as ESPN in the ’80s,” he said. “Networks were lazy and complacent. When someone isn’t moving forward, you can move past them.”
Tucker Hale, a senior chemistry major, said he learned “there is always a solution to the problem, you just have to continue thinking outside of the box.”
Jarrett James, a junior accounting major, knew the most important aspect of starting a company was finance.
“I was not surprised to hear that the first step he took to build ESPN was financing,” James said. “You need finance to begin any venture you take on.”
ESPN was born out of adversity and did not have time for a business plan, Rasmussen said. He talked to people and asked questions in place of having a plan.
The most important people involved in the creation of ESPN, he said, are the viewers.
“Without the viewers, it would be dead as dust,” Rasmussen said. “ESPN lives to serve sports fans — anytime, anywhere.”
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