Rasmussen embraces new technology in helping ESPN to keep industry lead

Thursday, November 9, 2017
DePauw graduate Bill Rasmussen makes a point about the founding of ESPN to DePauw students at a lecture on Wednesday night as moderator Ken Owen looks on from his seat on the stage.
Banner Graphic/JOEY BENNETT

Although ESPN celebrated just its 38th anniversary a couple of months ago, the cable television leader in televised sports programming has undergone many changes during that brief tenure.

Bill Rasmussen, a 1954 DePauw graduate, has been on campus all week speaking to several different student groups and making other appearances during Monon Bell Classic week.

One of those appearances was Wednesday night during the most recent installment of the Ubben Lecture series, when he described the origin of the 24-hour sports programming network.

Rasmussen spoke for about an hour, and answered questions from several audience members after encouraging the largely student-based audience to “always be curious” and to “always ask questions” no matter what they do in life.

“The ability to do things now online [through streaming and podcasts] has spread the ESPN ability to dispense sports,” he said. “Some of the things that we thought were great have been improved. We started with one SportsCenter a night, and now there are 10.”

Rasmussen also shared an anecdote about a legal proceeding involving the company.

“We were named in a divorce lawsuit one time as one of the causes of the breakup,” he said. “ESPN was taking he husband’s time from her, and she wanted out.”

One of the other Q&A topics brought up was about the increase in coverage of the dissipating line between sports and social issues.

Rasmussen had no opinion on the topic.

“First of all, I am interested in sports,” he said. “The rest of it, I just stay away from. When you get to my age, sports to me are the entertainment and I don’t get involved in the rest of it.

“Sports are the only really true reality television there is,” Rasmussen added. “A few years ago, the Cardinals were one pitch away from losing the World Series and they came back and won. That’s reality TV.”

Rasmussen also recalled a time early in ESPN’s history when producers thought the network should broadcast non-sports news for two hours each morning.

“That lasted about three months,” he said. “People wanted sports at 7:00 in the morning.”

Rasmussen was also asked to name the most challenging sport to produce for a live sports broadcast, and he quickly replied it was the America’s Cup sailing race.

“It’s a triple satellite loop,” he said. “I think that’s really tough, but I have no idea exactly what that means. The first time we did it they were writing about it in technical magazines, but it’s pretty common.”

Rasmussen related several stories about how the various contracts were reached to produce the content the network now runs, and recalled meeting with then-NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle.

“He listened to what we had to say,” Rasmussen recalled. “He said they couldn’t do business with us [today], but someday.”

Someday obviously arrived.

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