Bill Rasmussen, ESPN founder, dies at 93 in Florida

Bill Rasmussen, the visionary founder of ESPN, died on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, at his home in Florida. He was 93 years old. His death was attributed to the effects of Parkinson's disease, a condition he had publicly disclosed in 2019.

Rasmussen's legacy is defined by a single, transformative idea conceived during a traffic jam in August 1978. While driving on Interstate 84 in Connecticut with his son Scott, Rasmussen, who had recently been fired from his job with the New England Whalers, began discussing the potential of a newly acquired satellite transponder. The conversation sparked the concept for a 24-hour cable network devoted entirely to sports. This idea evolved from a local Connecticut venture into a national ambition.

Securing funding and belief in the concept proved challenging. Rasmussen used a $9,000 credit card advance to acquire satellite space and faced skepticism from cable operators. The breakthrough came with crucial financial backing from Getty Oil and a landmark advertising deal with Anheuser-Busch. ESPN officially launched at 7 p.m. on September 7, 1979, reaching approximately 1.4 million homes. Its first program was SportsCenter, hosted by Lee Leonard and...