Bill Rasmussen

The founder of ESPN, Rasmussen changed the nature of the relationship between television and sports. He founded the network in the summer of 1978 and by the following year he had found an investor and had the network on air. A life-long entrepreneur and sports fan, Rasmussen’s innovations in advertising, sports and broadcasting are numerous and include not only the creation of ESPN, but also the concept for SportsCenter, 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. Rasmussen’s entrepreneurial daring, his 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. While Rasmussen’s time at ESPN was relatively short lived, his vision and impact will live on forever.