What We’re Reading: ‘The Early Days of ESPN’

“Do you think all-sports television will work?”

It’s a question that seems laughable to ask in today’s world, but it was one that was posed many times in the late 1970s as the cable industry grew. It’s surreal to fathom how a network born in the offices and attic of a United Cable branch in Plainville, Connecticut, would go on to change the trajectory of sports and television as a whole. But it’s an idea that never wavered in the minds of Bill and Scott Rasmussen, Ed Egan and the many ‘SPNauts who got the ESPN ship off the ground.

“The Early Days of ESPN: 300 Daydreams and Nightmares,” eloquently written by ESPN founding Executive Producer Peter Fox, is set to be released Tuesday, recounting the stories of how the sports juggernaut came to be and the tribulations endured to make it happen. There are tales of the unspoken network icons, such as Bill’s brother Don Rasmussen obtaining the money to make a down payment on a transponder that would enable ESPN to broadcast via satellite. From scraping funds in order to keep the ESPN dream alive to spending billions on media deals nearly 50 years later, it’s safe to say those investments have paid off.

One of the more unspoken catalysts in ESPN’s early days had nothing to do with media. It was Getty Oil, a company that was “flush with cash” in 1978 when it decided to invest in a venture capital project centered on creating an all-sports TV network. The company’s Board of Directors was never fully on board with the hubbub ESPN was creating instead of its own oil business, but Getty Oil continued to invest. “I could have killed that whole thing (funding ESPN) but I liked the idea,” Sidney Petersen, then-Chairman/CEO of Getty Oil, said in an interview included in the book.

It’s clear from the book that doubters of ESPN’s vision were quickly turned into believers. There’s an account about how Ted Turner approached the ESPN booth at the 1979 National Cable Television Association Show in Las Vegas, and he was curious about the way ESPN would broadcast an interview with him. Despite having trepidations about climbing a ladder on top of a production truck, Turner was convinced to do an interview because “this broadcast will be going around the world, and will be good for the news network you are going to launch,” as finance manager George Conner details. That news network, CNN, would launch a year later in June 1980.

All giants have humble beginnings, and ESPN isn’t a stranger to that. The Early Days of ESPN encapsulates what the network is rooted in—quenching the thirst of sports-crazed fans, and it all started with fellow fanatics who simply believed. – Noah Ziegler