The Birth of a Powerhouse

ESPN as whole basically redefined the sports industry or rather the market.  Prior to ESPN there wasn't a major sports network which relayed the sporting world the updates.  ESPN's mission statement is as follows; "To serve sports fans wherever sports are watched, listened to, discussed, debated, read about or played."

 The reason ESPN completely revamped the sports fan market was because prior to ESPN, there really wasn't a sports network that did discuss, debate or replay epic events in sports.  This is crucial because you might have missed your sports because you couldn't get to the radio or TV, at that time period.  Furthermore, there was other sports networks such as NBC, ABC, CBS sports, however, all the sports networks were so bland and distasteful, ESPN itself.  This is why almost every sports fan I know doesn't even think about watching another sports network, due to the fact of ESPN's innovative aspect in sports programming.  ESPN for more than 30 plus years has been, as we say, "pushing the envelop".  Thus, one of the main reasons ESPN is the power house, almost even monopoly for, as I call it the sports fan market.  Few numbers to be aware of; Awareness of ESPN(97%), #1 media brand in sports, Fourth leading name in sports(behind NFL, Nike and the NBA, no othe sports market is in the top 10).  I'd say monopoly fits, but whose complaining?!

For those of you interested, I'll supply you with a little brief history of ESPN, maybe you'll learn something new about our most beloved favorite sports network.  Interesting little fact, ESPN used to go by ESP, the name that was used to incorporate the company, however, changed to ESPN prior to the companies launch.  ESPN, standing for Entertaining and Sports Programming Network was incorporated in June 14, 1978 for only a fee of $91 dollars!  So unreal compared to the fact ESPN profits over $600 million and last evaluation their net worth was around 7 billion dollars!  The creators, Bill and Scott Rasmussen with help from Ed Eagan came up with the idea of creating a monthly cable show that covers Connecticut's sports.  They founders still hadn't found a source to broadcast their network on, but went to Radio Corporation of America, which made ESPN one of the first programs launched via SATCOM(satellite communication) in America.  Broadcasting via SATCOM was a huge accomplishment back then because it allowed them to broadcast ESPN to the whole country! The beginning of their innovative lead in the industry.  Finally, ESPN going through a ton of diversity, finally launched their 24/7 sports broadcasting network September 7, 1979.