THE LITTLE SPORTS NETWORK THAT
COULDCELEBRATES 25 YEARS OF PHENOMENAL SUCCESS.
I came here because it was sports 24 hours a day, [and] that's the
way I lived, so it seemed like the best place for me," says Dan
Patrick, veteran ESPN anchor. "It went from joining a fraternity to
being a part of Americana, something I didn't envision." Thing is,
25 years ago when ESPN began, not many could envision what was to
come of the little cable-TV enterprise that flipped the "on" switch
September 7, 1979.
Since then, ESPN has become the worldwide leader in sports media,
with more than 90 million people being exposed to some form of ESPN
weekly (
SportsCenter alone is seen by 88 million people
monthly). And the network's marketers are happy: 97 percent of
Americans know the ESPN brand.
Headquartered in tiny
Bristol,
Connecticut, ESPN Inc., which is
celebrating its silver anniversary with an extravaganza of
retrospective "ESPN25" programming, now has more than 40 business
entities, including networks such as ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, and ESPN
Deportes; 25 international networks; a publishing arm with
ESPN
The Magazine and ESPN Books; radio, online, and wireless
entities; and management of events such as the X Games and ESPY
Awards. As ESPN original
Dick Vitale would say, "Awesome,
baby!"
ESPN's signature
SportsCenter revolutionized how we get our
sports - in tight, dramatic highlight-reel packages. It has changed
the role of anchors, making them stars, while giving athletes an
even bigger platform on which to perform and sometimes strut
outrageously. It has also created a national and international
sports community, a gathering place that we're all part of.
Which begs the question - what did we do before ESPN?
American Way turns the tables and the microphone on some of
the personalities, past and present, who have made ESPN into a
media phenomenon, including anchors Dan Patrick, Linda Cohn, and
ESPN vets
Chris Berman and Dick Vitale; and John Walsh, ESPN senior
vice president and executive editor, who's responsible for studio
news and informational programming and oversaw
SportsCenter's rise to superstar status in the early
'90s.