ESPN Founder Bill Rasmussen to Discuss the Changing Face of Sports Television Wednesday, July 7th in San Francisco
Philadelphia, PA – June 24, 2010 – Bill Rasmussen, the founder of ESPN, one of the 100 most important people in American sports history and named by Sports Illustrated as one of 40 people who significantly affected the world of sports, is among the prestigious panel of speakers gathering to discuss “The Changing Face of Sports Television” in San Francisco on Wednesday, July 7th.
The panel discussion at the 2010 convention of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) is scheduled for 9 a.m. Pacific Time at the Marriott Marquis. Other panelists include Mike Jaquet, Vice President of Advertising, CBS College Sports, and Ilan Ben-Hanan, ESPN Senior Director, West Coast Programming.
Rasmussen and his fellow panelists will discuss where the television business is going and how it affects CoSIDA members as well as the colleges and universities they represent during the convention’s “Digital Summit Day.”
CoSIDA was founded in 1957 and currently is a 2,400-plus member national organization comprised of the sports public relations, communications and information professionals throughout all levels of collegiate athletics in the United States and Canada.
Rasmussen and his fellow panelists will discuss where the television business is going and how it affects CoSIDA members as well as the colleges and universities they represent during the convention’s “Digital Summit Day.”
CoSIDA was founded in 1957 and currently is a 2,400-plus member national organization comprised of the sports public relations, communications and information professionals throughout all levels of collegiate athletics in the United States and Canada.
Rasmussen has a decades-long relationship with CoSIDA dating back to the early 1960s when he established the University of Massachusetts football radio network and provided play-by-play. The relationship continued with the launch of ESPN, and most recently, with the launch of his newest venture, College Fanz Sports Network, which has been a corporate sponsor of CoSIDA for the past two years.
His bestselling book, “Sports Junkies Rejoice! The Birth of ESPN,” was recently published in its first-ever paperback edition, and is available through his new website, http://www.espnfounder.com/.
On September 7, 1979, ESPN went on the air for the first time. Entrepreneurial daring, irrepressible enthusiasm and a dash of good luck gave the world the first 24-hour television network. Once unleashed upon sports fans, ESPN’s impact forever changed the way we watch television. Rasmussen is the man who had the dream, the founder of ESPN. A life-long entrepreneur and sports fan, Rasmussen’s innovations in advertising, sports and broadcasting are numerous and include the creation of “Sports Center,” wall-to-wall coverage of NCAA regular-season and “March Madness” college basketball, and coverage of the NFL Draft. He broke the advertising barrier to cable television by signing Anheuser Busch to the largest cable TV advertising contract ever.
Rasmussen’s latest innovation, College Fanz Sports Network, is changing the way college sports news and information is delivered to fans worldwide, just as his earlier creation, ESPN, changed the way people watched television. College Fanz is the world’s largest online college sports community for students, alumni, and other fans of college sports and boasts over 22,000 web pages devoted to every team at the more than 1,450 colleges and universities throughout the United States competing in over 225,000 NCAA and NAIA athletic events. Fans interact to support their favorite teams and athletes in a compelling and ever-growing online social network. Rasmussen added live television broadcasts with original programming, enhancing College Fanz to create a truly unique 24/7/365 internet channel.
Rasmussen is a gifted raconteur and a popular public speaker discussing American entrepreneurship and the birth of ESPN. He is also a frequent guest on radio and television shows, and on the pitcher’s mound.
Rasmussen recently returned to Bristol, Connecticut for ESPN’s 30th Anniversary celebrations, and in further recognition of his role as the father of ESPN, Rasmussen threw out the ceremonial first pitch during ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball coverage of the Phillies/Mets contest on September 13, 2009.
His recent tour of college campuses across America included speaking engagements at Princeton University, the University of Florida, the Center for Sports Leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University and the 2010 Maastricht Institute of Entrepreneurship at Missouri Valley College. Rasmussen also recently delivered the keynote address at the Centennial Celebration of Lambda Chi Alpha in Indianapolis. A United States Air Force veteran, Rasmussen received his bachelor’s degree in Economics from DePauw University and his MBA from Rutgers University.
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