ESPN, ‘Sports Heaven’ & the birth of the greatest media success story ever told

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.andrewmarchand.comIn the 39-minute sports media podcast, legendary ESPN PR man, Mike Soltys, goes deep about the first days of ESPN, “the believers vs. the crazy idea” folks, a young Chris Berman, top executives shaping the network and how the greatest sports media PR quote in history came to be. Soltys is one of the producers on “Sports Heaven: The Birth of ESPN,” that debuts on Monday, April 6th. It’s also an audiobook. For access to our twice-a-week podcasts sign-up as a free or paid subscriber at AndrewMarchand.comFULL RUNDOWN …* ESPN, ‘Sports Heaven’ & the greatest media success story ever told* What was the feeling around ESPN in 1979 when it launched* The “believers” vs. the “crazy idea” square-off* Bill Rasmussen, who founded ESPN, got fired and …* Why Bristol, CT as ESPN’s headquarters & the advantage of the location* George Bodenheimer & culture* The odd office Soltys started his career in* The story behind how SportsCenter became SportsCenter* The alternative names for SportsCenter* How Rasmussen’s first idea was just to only do Connecticut sports* And then an RCA satellite salesman came by and …* Technical difficulties …* What was Chris Berman like in the early years* Running to the banks to deposit checks to make sure they worked* The NFL and MLB made it feel like ESPN had arrived* George Brett bringing back Chris Berman’s nicknames after an executive killed them* How SC Top 10 is still a big deal* The $51M NFL deal for the Sunday Night package in 1987* Who are the three most important people in ESPN’s history* The Bodenheimer-Jimmy Pitaro comparison* John Skipper was the most fun top exec — and Cuba* Steve Bornstein fought to keep SportsCenter going* The credibility of Chet Simmons as ESPN president* ESPN tried putting business news into its programs, and Soltys wasn’t a fan of it* Richard Branson and the spirit of just trying stuff* The ESPN-ABC Sports war* Rudy Martzke, Phil Mushnick, Richard Sandomir, et. al. …* How Mark Shapiro brought the media attention to another level* All the major newspapers had a sports media columnist and “the straws that stir the drink.”* Martzke’s Sunday greeting to Soltys after church* Soltys, Keith Olbermann and the greatest sports PR quote in history* Soltys liked working with Olbermann* The quote was buried in the USA Today column* “He didn’t burn bridges here, he napalmed them”* The media relations game and Martzke* What’s next for the documentary* The 1979 culture of ESPN is still alive in 2026* “I’ll work for free,” were the magic wordsSome Related Podcasts (there are more)* Chris LaPlaca, Mark Shapiro, Adam Schefter, Greg Hughes, Traug Keller* Off The Record with MLS Commissioner Don Garber Sign-Up on Thursday, April 23rd* Subscribe at AndrewMarchand.com* On Deck: Marchand & Meterparel