Story of the birth of ESPN will be showcased in a documentary on Monday night
ESPN is literally going back to the beginning on Monday night when it debuts a 90-minute documentary about its creation. “Sports Heaven: The Birth of ESPN” will premieres at 8:30 p. m.
EDT. It will air the same night as the championship game of the NCAA Tournament, an event that helped put the network on the map by showing early-round games. The documentary showcases Bill Rasmussen and his son, Scott Rasmussen, as they bring to life the idea of a network that would carry sports around the clock.
“Many people claim to be the founders of ESPN. The founders are most definitely Bill and Scott Rasmussen,” said Rosa Gatti, who was ESPN’s publicist from 1980 through 2013. Bill Rasmussen’s original idea was a cable channel covering only Connecticut sports.
Many cable operators in the state were skeptical, but someone suggested buying satellite time to reach a national audience. The documentary also covers how the Rasmussens secured financial backing from Getty Oil, a rights deal with the NCAA, and built a studio in Bristol, Connecticut, still under construction when ESPN went on the air on Sept. 7, 1979.
The Getty investment and the deal with the NCAA occurred on the same day. “When someone tells you you can’t do something, you want to prove them wrong,” Bill Rasmussen said. “Many, many people told us there wasn’t enough sports to do a 24-hour channel.