Bill Rasmussen and ESPN: Changing Sports Viewing Forever

Sports shown on television twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. That was the dream of Bill Rasmussen, the creator of the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN). As one might imagine, when it first started, people thought Rasmussen was crazy and that all the money he and his confidants spent to secure a television deal was just going to go to waste. From the beginning, Mr. Rasmussen was willing to cover any sport that would let them. Since the network was not a large company at the time and did not have the funding to bid on major leagues such as the NFL or NBA, they covered events such as international ping pong and racquetball. They have now become such a power, that they have been able to save some leagues such as the National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, and the Women’s Basketball Association by the amount of money they dole out to cover their league’s games on television when those unpopular leagues are unable to sell their product to other channels. In addition to being a helping force in professional sports, they have grown into a national power that has some bloggers referring to them as the “evil four letter network.” They have exclusive rights with just about every network on television to show highlights from games that are not actually shown on one of ESPN’s nearly twenty channels. Without Bill Rasmussen’s dedication to follow his dream, sports may still be seen as they were nearly thirty years ago with games splattered across a few channels now and then. Through the examination of Bill Rasmussen’s journey to create an all-sports network, the fact that he has had a great impact on the entire sporting culture becomes evident.

Rasmussen’s love for all sports first stemmed from his love for America’s pastime: baseball, which he would listen to as much as possible as a child. His main idea was to basically take the sports segment that was at the end of everyone’s local newscast and have it run all day with all sports from all over the country. This was the first real way for fans who were for a team from another city to stay up on their team while living away from that town. In the beginning, his idea was considered, “revolutionary and patently foolish” (Freeman 5).  Rasmussen has created an empire to which many people now schedule their days around. Not only are they broadcasting live sports to the masses, they are also televising things such as poker and, at one time, the national spelling bee. The innovation that is really pertinent to keeping a channel like ESPN going are the shows that fill the gaps between live broadcasts. These shows have become so popular, and have helped the network gain so much ground that people who used to watch their nightly local news program are instead tuning into an ESPN channel to get their sports news and are essentially skipping any other type of news. Even though these types of shows have now been on the air for about thirty years, their ratings continue to grow each season (Consoli 7).

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?