{"id":5571,"date":"2026-08-19T07:05:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T07:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=5571"},"modified":"2026-08-19T07:05:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T07:05:35","slug":"bill-rasmussen-founded-espn-and-left-a-year-later-it-was-long-enough-to-change-tv-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=5571","title":{"rendered":"Bill Rasmussen Founded ESPN and Left a Year Later. It Was Long Enough to Change TV Forever"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nBill Rasmussen set out to create a local sports channel in his home state of Connecticut. Instead, he changed the global television landscape.<\/p>\n

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\n\tRasmussen, the founder of ESPN (Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) died following a lengthy illness on Tuesday. He was 93. When asked about the legacy of his long-ago boss, Bob Ley, SportsCenter<\/em>\u2018s first full-time anchor, opened with a very recent anecdote to describe the last 47 years of sports media: \u201cThe Lakers wouldn\u2019t be worth $12 billion rather for Bill Rasmussen,\u201d Ley told The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\tTalk about a full-circle moment. Rasmussen was a pioneer of the satellite television delivery system when he launched ESPN in 1979 \u2014 it was just last week when the former CEO (twice!) of ESPN\u2019s current parent company, Disney, purchased the Los Angeles Lakers for a record-shattering sum. (OK, so Bob Iger had some financial help.) It was Rasmussen and ESPN that brought the nation the \u201cShowtime\u201d Lakers, also born in \u201979. There are very few coincidences. At the time, Iger was a low-level ABC Sports executive; Disney would not own ABC (much less ESPN) for another 16 years.<\/p>\n

\n\tHow early was Rasmussen\u2019s big bet? ESPN went live nine months ahead of CNN, the first 24\/7 news channel. Ted Turner was the Cable Cowboy, but Bill Rasmussen\u2019s cart was before his horse.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Sept. 7, 1979, ESPN went live with a total reach of 1.4 million U.S. homes. In 2010, the cable channel reached 111 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tUltimately, Rasmussen would not be with his baby all that long \u2014 he\u2019d leave ESPN in 1980 \u2014 but boy did he bring it into this world through some serious labor. Rasmussen literally carried the earliest days of ESPN on his personal credits cards \u2014 fortunately, he was such a charmer that ESPN went from Rasmussen\u2019s Visa to literal oil money.<\/p>\n

\n\tLey describes Rasmussen as \u201can ebullient guy,\u201d a \u201cpositive thinker,\u201d and a \u201csalesman\u201d who \u201cowned the room.\u201d It was Rasmussen\u2019s idea that intrigued Getty Oil; his personality secured its crucial investment.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201cHe stood that company up,\u201d Ley, who very much also stood the company up, said. Rasmussen \u201cblew air into it like a campfire.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRasmussen, who would return to his entrepreneurial roots, lived the American Dream when there still was one. So it is fitting that in 2010, the lone flagpole on ESPN\u2019s sprawling Bristol, Connecticut campus that flies the American flag was dedicated to its founder, which Rasmussen was \u201cso, so proud of,\u201d Ley said.<\/p>\n

\n\tESPN today does not look much like the ESPN of Rasmussen\u2019s day. Hell, it barely resembles the ESPN of Ley\u2019s day (Ley retired in 2019, the same year Rasmussen revealed a Parkinson\u2019s Disease diagnosis). Today, satellite television barely exists \u2014 even cable is antiquated. You cannot stop progress, and the result is a $29.99-per-month ESPN streaming app. (Some might not call that \u201cprogress.\u201d) <\/p>\n

\n\tBut look closely enough and you can still see Rasmussen\u2019s fingerprints on all of it.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHis concept was an acorn, and now the forest of the sports culture is the flower of that,\u201d Ley said.<\/p>\n

Read more Inside the Fake Celebrity Podcast Scam Fooling Hollywood<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How Bill Rasmussen, the late ESPN founder, changed TV forever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3526,552],"class_list":["post-5571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting","tag-bill-rasmussen","tag-espn"],"yoast_head":"\nBill Rasmussen Founded ESPN and Left a Year Later. It Was Long Enough to Change TV Forever - US Property Moves<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=5571\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bill Rasmussen Founded ESPN and Left a Year Later. 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