ESPN Co-Founder Bill Rasmussen Dies at 93

Bill Rasmussen, who co-founded ESPN in 1979 after being fired from a public relations job in the World Hockey Association, died Tuesday at his home in Florida. He was 93.

ESPN historian Mike Soltys said Rasmussen died from the effects of Parkinson's disease. He had announced in 2019 that he was diagnosed with the degenerative condition in 2014.

"Bill was a remarkable man — a visionary and an innovator who conceived the idea of a network entirely devoted to sports," ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement. "Quite simply, none of us would be here today if it wasn't for Bill's passion and all the hard work and entrepreneurial spirit he put into building ESPN in the late 1970s."

Rasmussen originally envisioned a cable channel covering only Connecticut sports, but after skepticism from cable operators, he was persuaded to buy satellite time to reach a national audience instead. ESPN launched on September 7, 1979, with George Grande introducing the first "SportsCenter" broadcast, followed by the network's first live event, a slow-pitch softball game between the Kentucky Bourbons and the Milwaukee Schlitz.

Rasmussen and his son Scott secured financial backing from Getty Oil and a rights deal with the NCAA on the same day, and built a studio in Bristol, Connecticut. But the pair were forced out of the company they created after only a year, when Getty Oil, which owned 85% of ESPN, pushed them out. Texaco later acquired Getty and sold its ESPN stake to ABC in 1984.

"When someone tells you you can't do something, you want to prove them wrong," Rasmussen once said. "Many, many people told us there wasn't enough sports to do a 24-hour channel. I didn't argue with anybody. I just thought they were wrong and I was right."

Rasmussen and ESPN were estranged until 1999, when he was invited back for the network's 20th anniversary. He later toured the country for the 40th anniversary in 2019 and was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2025.

Born in Chicago, Rasmussen earned degrees from DePauw University and Rutgers University and served in the Air Force before working in radio, television and advertising. He was predeceased by his wife of 56 years, Lois, in 2011, and is survived by three children, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.