Bill Rasmussen Biography

It is safe to say that Bill Rasmussen changed the face of sports and the face of television. His brainstorm for a 24-hour cable sports television station born out of adversity has become the Worldwide Leader in Sports—ESPN. Bill is the man with that dream. He founded ESPN in the summer of 1978 and had his innovative brainstorm for an all-sports cable TV network within days of his firing by the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association on Memorial Day weekend. His idea for an all-sports cable TV network captured his imagination and he incorporated the fledgling network on July 14 1978. He had already begun to seek out cable television companies sponsors investors and partners. With an idea that was truly ahead of its time and running out of cash Bill found one investor who believed in the concept in February 1979 and by September 7 1979 ESPN was on the air for the first time—just 14 months after his moment of inspiration.
A lifelong entrepreneur and sports fan Bill's innovations in advertising sports and broadcasting are numerous and include not only the creation of ESPN but also the concept for Sports Center which provides wall-to-wall coverage of NCAA regular-season and March Madness college basketball as well as 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.

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