Bill Rasmussen, the co-founder of ESPN, died at 93 on Aug. 18, 2026, at his Florida home from the effects of Parkinson’s disease, The Associated Press reported.
In 1962, WTTT-AM in Amherst, Massachusetts, hired Rasmussen as a sports broadcaster. While at the station, he created a radio network for University of Massachusetts football and basketball games. In 1965, he moved to WWLP-TV in Springfield, where he worked first as sports director and later as news director.
Rasmussen left WWLP-TV in 1974 to become communications director for the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association. After the team dismissed its front office in 1978, he and his son Scott developed the idea for a national, around-the-clock sports network.
That concept became ESPN on Sept. 7, 1979, when Rasmussen and his son launched the network with SportsCenter and a live slow-pitch softball game. That year, ESPN and Rasmussen also secured an agreement with the National Collegiate Athletic Association for exclusive rights to televise selected events.
Rasmussen left an active role at ESPN in October 1980 and later worked as a consultant to sports-rights holders and media companies while pursuing other sports-media ventures. He also documented ESPN’s creation in books, including ESPN: One Giant Leap for Fankind, published in 2023.
