00:00:01
[Music]
00:00:08
[Music]
00:00:19
we are just so pleased to have Bill
00:00:21
Rashon who is the creator founder of
00:00:25
ESPN Bill thank you so much for taking
00:00:27
some time to spend with us thank you
00:00:29
Derek looking forward to do it well the
00:00:31
first question I've got for you is you
00:00:32
know when you created and launched ESPN
00:00:36
what was your vision at the time and and
00:00:38
how close is that Vision to what we see
00:00:41
today what we set out to do was I had
00:00:45
this this feeling that uh people were
00:00:48
really interested in sports cuz I was
00:00:50
you know if I'm interested in Everybody
00:00:51
Must Be Right but it turns out that was
00:00:53
the case but we we had enough evidence
00:00:55
that people were interested in sports
00:00:57
and we thought Sports 24 hours a day
00:01:00
addresses a lot of the problems that I
00:01:01
thought at least the networks were
00:01:03
missing basically in the
00:01:05
1970s um television was New York Centric
00:01:10
they had the news go on at 11:00 because
00:01:12
they figured everybody wouldd go to bed
00:01:13
those that stayed up late could watch
00:01:14
The Late Show but still at 1:00 in the
00:01:16
morning we signed off I was working at a
00:01:19
local NBC station and come 1:00 in the
00:01:22
morning we'd say you've been watching
00:01:23
thank you very much and here's the
00:01:25
national anthem and so on um but there
00:01:28
are a lot of people who work different
00:01:29
shifts they work from 11:00 to 7:00 some
00:01:31
people work overnight some people work
00:01:32
from the middle of the afternoon and
00:01:34
they missed all of the all of the things
00:01:36
like movies and news and the good things
00:01:38
that people would enjoy and sports and
00:01:40
in the late 1970s the three big networks
00:01:44
ABC CBS and NBC only did about 25
00:01:47
football games a year can you imagine
00:01:48
life with only 25 football games
00:01:50
televised in the year and we said well
00:01:52
we're going to do them all the time we
00:01:54
can you know we can just do more
00:01:55
football than
00:01:57
anybody uh as an aside I raised that
00:02:00
question a year ago when I was up at
00:02:01
ESPN for one of their anniversaries and
00:02:04
reminded them when we started that's
00:02:06
what the networks were doing and George
00:02:07
bodenheim and the president looked over
00:02:09
and nodded at somebody because he knew I
00:02:11
was going to say I have no idea how many
00:02:12
you're doing today that particular year
00:02:16
2010 they were doing 4177 on ESPN alone
00:02:20
college football games but we started
00:02:23
off to be uh a sports Source no matter
00:02:26
what time of the day anybody wanted to
00:02:28
tune in whether it was a game or News
00:02:31
sports scores whatever it might be and
00:02:34
the idea being that if you came home at
00:02:35
3: in the morning and if if You' just
00:02:37
been out uh with your neighbors for
00:02:39
dinner at 7:30 and you didn't want to
00:02:42
watch whatever the networks were
00:02:43
offering you could come and find some
00:02:45
sports and so Sports Center of course
00:02:47
filled a great need and Today sports
00:02:50
center is the most uh um repeated there
00:02:54
have been more additions of sports
00:02:55
center than any other show in the
00:02:57
history of Television so people must
00:02:59
like the idea and from then to now I
00:03:02
don't think it's changed really very
00:03:03
much at all what has changed is the
00:03:06
technology to deliver the same message
00:03:08
that we came up with in and that is
00:03:09
sports sports and more Sports well I
00:03:12
tell you it's it's interesting it's uh
00:03:14
you know one of those early questions
00:03:16
that that I remember reading that you
00:03:18
that you got was well who's going to
00:03:21
watch sports 247 right and uh you know
00:03:25
and and I think you just answered it
00:03:27
sort of you know brilliantly from the
00:03:29
perspective of it's just amazing and you
00:03:31
know when we 24/7 then who's that's
00:03:33
8,760 hours a year that's that's a lot
00:03:36
of sports especially when the big three
00:03:39
networks combined were only doing like
00:03:40
1300 hours back in those days but then
00:03:43
when the talk came up of a second ESPN
00:03:46
oh now that's way too much saturation
00:03:47
you know that's now seriously nobody's
00:03:50
going to watch how many people are going
00:03:51
to watch well today ESPN alone not
00:03:53
counting all of the other people that do
00:03:55
sports ESPN has 52 networks around the
00:03:57
world
00:03:58
247 people like sports well so so take
00:04:02
me back to to the late '70s and with the
00:04:05
with the media landscape the way that it
00:04:07
was in the late '70s what made you think
00:04:10
that you know a there was no 247 Network
00:04:13
at all not Sports there was no 247
00:04:16
Network what made you think that this
00:04:18
could be successful and then also with
00:04:21
respect to competing against the the
00:04:23
sports network Behemoth well the the big
00:04:26
guys basically dominated television for
00:04:29
for 28 years um television sets in those
00:04:34
days and it's hard for a lot of folks to
00:04:35
believe today and remember today only
00:04:38
had 12 channels that's all you could get
00:04:40
there was no set toop box that could
00:04:42
bring magically other things from around
00:04:44
the world and because of the um FCC
00:04:47
regulations of the day many of those 12
00:04:51
channels were occupied by The Big Three
00:04:53
networks because if any of their signal
00:04:55
touched a franchise area the franchise
00:04:57
had to carry it so it was not on common
00:05:00
to see two ABCs three NBCS and two CBS
00:05:03
stations or something all in you could
00:05:04
just go up and down the dial so they
00:05:05
only left five channels for everybody
00:05:08
else and uh basically cable television
00:05:11
at that in that era was really nothing
00:05:13
more than signal enhancement to take a
00:05:15
signal that they could get at a at a
00:05:18
tower someplace and send it off to
00:05:19
people that couldn't get a good picture
00:05:21
of the three major
00:05:22
networks fortunately for us the uh
00:05:25
Powers thatp at the major networks
00:05:27
decided that this was it they had
00:05:30
conquered the world and nothing was ever
00:05:32
going to change their dominance was
00:05:33
there and it was going to be that way
00:05:35
forever well as you and I know Derek
00:05:37
nothing's forever things change and we
00:05:40
challenged them they thought we were
00:05:42
crazy they all said it wouldn't work
00:05:43
who's going to watch all the things that
00:05:44
you just mentioned and uh suddenly we
00:05:48
found and we were tapping into what I
00:05:50
felt then and obviously has been
00:05:52
confirmed over the years the biggest
00:05:55
demographic swath you can imagine it's
00:05:58
not men 25 to 34 it's not women of a
00:06:02
certain age or kids our our demographic
00:06:05
was sports fans at ESPN to this day on
00:06:08
the back of their card their mission
00:06:09
statement is to serve the fan and so we
00:06:12
had a demographic area that doesn't make
00:06:14
any difference north south east west
00:06:16
young old male female Rich poor
00:06:19
whatever uh we were going to go after
00:06:21
that and if you think about it that is
00:06:23
about the biggest demographic you can
00:06:24
find other than being an American for
00:06:26
example we're all Americans okay but
00:06:29
probably 90 some per of us also have a
00:06:31
team we root for and that's and that's
00:06:32
the market that we went after well you
00:06:34
were talking about the uh the big three
00:06:36
networks U Back back in the 70s you why
00:06:40
is it that we could not find ESPN in the
00:06:44
TV Guide in the in the early days well
00:06:47
because of the development of the
00:06:49
network industry The Big Three basically
00:06:50
controlled TV guide and neelsen we
00:06:53
couldn't get neelon to rate uh programs
00:06:57
either they would not go out and audit
00:06:58
you know for
00:07:00
viewership until well into the 80s TV
00:07:03
Guide decided um we kept after him and
00:07:06
kept after him and they said well and
00:07:09
this was a vice president so he
00:07:11
obviously was well up the chain and he
00:07:12
said we won't list you because real
00:07:14
networks only have three letters how's
00:07:16
that for a kind of a jaded view of the
00:07:19
world in other words the people that are
00:07:21
paying our bills are the only ones
00:07:22
account and they all have three letters
00:07:24
when they finally did list us they in
00:07:25
fact listed us as ESN they made us a
00:07:28
three-letter Network for for a short
00:07:29
while but of course that turned into
00:07:31
ESPN eventually they they finally woke
00:07:34
up and SM smell the coffee uh now ESPN
00:07:38
was was not your first entrepreneurial
00:07:40
venture and has not been your last what
00:07:42
is it that you believe that that it
00:07:45
takes to give uh an entrepreneurial
00:07:48
opportunity the the best opportunity to
00:07:51
succeed first of all being in our
00:07:53
country is great nobody we don't have to
00:07:56
go and ask permission to start a uh to
00:07:59
velop a new idea uh my first one was
00:08:02
back in 1959 and it just uh if you're
00:08:06
curious and you ask enough questions
00:08:07
you'll say wow nobody's doing that how
00:08:09
about let's try this problem with let's
00:08:12
try this is sometimes doesn't work most
00:08:14
times it doesn't work but if an
00:08:16
entrepreneur someone wants to be an
00:08:18
entrepreneur and they're not curious and
00:08:20
not passionate about what they want to
00:08:21
do they're not going to succeed and so I
00:08:24
I've been curious my entire life and
00:08:26
asking questions and why doesn't this
00:08:28
work and how does that work and why
00:08:30
can't we do this and the first company
00:08:33
was that uh an advertising service
00:08:35
company that build a better mouse trap
00:08:38
build a better mouse trap as they say um
00:08:41
and passion uh you and I talked about it
00:08:44
if an entrepreneur says gee you know
00:08:46
I've got an idea I think it's I think
00:08:49
it's going to work I think I'll go ask
00:08:50
someone you know I'm going to go see
00:08:52
Derek and see if he'd like to invest in
00:08:54
my idea and Derek well I'm kind of I
00:08:56
think this might work you're probably
00:08:58
not going to be too enthus if I come to
00:08:59
you and say Derek this is just gang this
00:09:02
idea I can't tell you how it's going to
00:09:04
explode upon the landscape you might not
00:09:06
you might say I'm a little over
00:09:08
overreacting a little bit you'll also
00:09:09
see I'm pretty passionate about it so
00:09:11
you might
00:09:12
say I think we're going to take a ride
00:09:14
with this one let's see what happens and
00:09:16
all of a sudden we have a success uh and
00:09:19
I think the culture in which we live
00:09:21
lets that happen it it's it's just um
00:09:25
what it fertilizes good ideas you know
00:09:27
just uh uh come up with an idea go try
00:09:30
it you don't have to know everything
00:09:31
there is to know about that topic you
00:09:33
don't have to know any of the facts
00:09:34
really you can find somebody who knows I
00:09:36
don't know I don't know how television
00:09:37
pictures fly through the air but I've
00:09:39
been fairly successful in television you
00:09:41
know so I don't have to know all that
00:09:42
technical stuff and um it just have to
00:09:45
have the vision and and and the passion
00:09:49
well you you know this this theme of
00:09:50
passion I continue to hear from you and
00:09:52
speaking of passion so ESPN is now seen
00:09:57
essentially all over the world indeed so
00:09:59
when you look 30 plus years after you
00:10:03
created this this baby how does it feel
00:10:06
to you personally to to have created
00:10:10
something that is consumed around the
00:10:12
world and is part of people's daily
00:10:14
lives you know that's an interesting
00:10:16
question and hadn't even had never been
00:10:18
asked until just recently and I I really
00:10:21
don't think about it I mean obviously
00:10:22
I'm proud of it um and it's been kind of
00:10:25
like watching your kids grow up to be
00:10:26
successful lawyers doctors pollsters and
00:10:29
in the case of one of my sons
00:10:32
but it it it's amazing and I I you know
00:10:35
everywhere you go I see it you see it in
00:10:37
the hotels you see it in the restaurants
00:10:39
you see it everywhere and people get all
00:10:41
excited and they're talking about ESPN
00:10:43
and I just you know sit and have my
00:10:45
hamburger and don't say anything and uh
00:10:48
sometimes I think about you they
00:10:49
wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that
00:10:51
but but it I'm just I'm not overwhelmed
00:10:55
I'm just it's kind of incredulous when
00:10:57
you think about it
00:10:59
but I haven't been there every step of
00:11:01
the way it was an idea it's you know um
00:11:04
be kind of like asking Edison when you
00:11:06
walked into a place with a lot of light
00:11:08
bulbs you know what do you think when
00:11:09
you look around here and you're the guy
00:11:11
that invented the light bulb I I don't
00:11:12
know what he would say so I don't really
00:11:14
know what to say but I am proud of it
00:11:18
that's great uh you know I was watching
00:11:20
ESPN last week as a matter of fact as as
00:11:23
I do every day and uh and there was a
00:11:27
press conference with with pton Manning
00:11:29
mhm uh and this was to announce that he
00:11:31
was no longer going to be part of the uh
00:11:34
the Indianapolis Colts organization
00:11:36
right and a reporter asked him why are
00:11:39
you still going to continue to play do
00:11:41
you feel that you have something to
00:11:43
prove and uh and Payton's response was
00:11:47
something to the effect of well I still
00:11:49
like to play and no I don't have
00:11:51
anything to prove so you're still an
00:11:55
entrepreneur you're still involved in
00:11:56
new Ventures why don't you just
00:12:00
retire well I tried it once and
00:12:03
retirement is not much
00:12:04
fun actually I did did try it and I
00:12:07
played golf every day for 21 days and
00:12:09
was bored silly and within a month had
00:12:10
another company going I think uh if you
00:12:13
stop exercising your brain and you stop
00:12:16
doing what you've been doing along along
00:12:18
life's
00:12:19
Road uh you're you're probably going to
00:12:22
I don't know whe you'll just die
00:12:23
instantly but I'm just curious I I
00:12:26
suspect I'm going to be curious about
00:12:27
things until I do die I'm uh I'm
00:12:30
fascinated and I love to see young
00:12:34
enthusiastic uh men and women getting
00:12:37
involved in whatever it is one of the
00:12:38
things that I enjoy is speaking to
00:12:41
groups like here at at the Wharton
00:12:43
School meeting
00:12:45
the young men and women and their
00:12:49
enthusiasm that that's inspiring to me
00:12:52
so I guess I'll just keep on doing it I
00:12:55
can't really tell you why well I've
00:12:57
taken you forward now I'm going to take
00:12:58
you back to you know to early days in in
00:13:02
high school were you passionate about
00:13:05
sports as a as a youth and and what
00:13:08
passion long before high school long
00:13:10
before even in grade school I was
00:13:11
passionate about sports and I was so
00:13:14
pleased I could as I mentioned earlier I
00:13:16
could really run for some reason I was
00:13:17
fast don't look so fast these days but I
00:13:19
was those
00:13:20
days and uh when uh the eighth grade
00:13:24
team asked me as a fifth grader to play
00:13:26
Left Field because I could run and and C
00:13:29
and I had an aptitude for baseball and
00:13:32
softball in those days I was really
00:13:34
excited about that and I used to follow
00:13:36
the white socks in the Cubs my
00:13:39
grandfather saw every game of the 1906
00:13:42
Chicago World Series white socks and
00:13:44
cubs the only time they've ever played
00:13:46
and uh he he indoctrinate indoctrinated
00:13:49
me early on about baseball and I saw Bob
00:13:53
Feller pitch on opening day in 1940 and
00:13:55
those were those were exciting things so
00:13:57
I was really I was into uh Sports early
00:14:01
in grade school and by the time I got to
00:14:03
high school it was it had become long
00:14:06
sense of passion I could I could tell
00:14:08
you about Major League rosters and why
00:14:11
the Cubs were hated in the white socks
00:14:12
because I lived on the south side of
00:14:14
Chicago where the where the team of
00:14:16
choice um by the time I was in the
00:14:18
fourth third and fourth grade I was um
00:14:21
reciting statistics and so on and Luke
00:14:24
Appling batted 388 in 1936 and won the
00:14:26
title you probably didn't realize that
00:14:28
batting title in the American League but
00:14:29
things like that they stick I don't know
00:14:32
why but in high school I um I got to
00:14:35
play baseball and uh and just really
00:14:38
really enjoyed it and then we played
00:14:40
summer leagues and fall leagues and any
00:14:42
time that we weren't in school we were
00:14:43
playing and right through American
00:14:45
Legion and and everything
00:14:47
and uh and even then though we were and
00:14:50
I was with I think people that were
00:14:52
involved in sports were very very active
00:14:56
alive and they all went on to do great
00:14:57
things and uh great things not
00:15:00
necessarily like ESPN that even still
00:15:03
boggles my mind as you know but um I
00:15:07
think Sports spawns competitiveness and
00:15:11
makes people want to do things a little
00:15:13
bit better and uh in some Cas it's a lot
00:15:15
better and they make it all the way the
00:15:16
major leagues well so we're talking
00:15:19
about uh you know where you you started
00:15:22
with your passion Sports as a as a
00:15:24
player as a participant and between that
00:15:27
time and when you found
00:15:30
ESPN you were involved in in sports from
00:15:32
a from a business perspective how is it
00:15:35
that you became involved in the business
00:15:37
of sports and how did that lead
00:15:39
ultimately to well as I wanted to play
00:15:42
baseball and I had an opportunity at uh
00:15:45
at the end of high school but it was the
00:15:47
very day we graduated from high school
00:15:49
of Korean North Koreans went across the
00:15:51
37th parallel and created a situation
00:15:54
where anybody with a college deferment
00:15:57
ought to take their college deferment or
00:15:59
they would be going into the army uh I
00:16:02
wanted to play
00:16:03
baseball uh went to college played some
00:16:05
more went to the Air Force when I got
00:16:07
out played some more and by the time I
00:16:09
got out of the Air
00:16:11
Force um age starts to catch up with you
00:16:14
and the fact that curve balls are tough
00:16:16
enough to hit when you're young became a
00:16:18
factor so I said well I'm going to I
00:16:20
want to be a
00:16:21
broadcaster um I couldn't do that
00:16:23
instantly because in the middle
00:16:26
1950s radio and television weren't very
00:16:28
much I mean it was uh each team had
00:16:30
their own radio station New York had uh
00:16:33
three stations one each with the Giants
00:16:36
Yankees and Brooklyn
00:16:38
Dodgers um so there was no opportunity
00:16:41
there so I said well we'll we'll do
00:16:44
something I'm going to do something in
00:16:45
sports before this life passes Me by and
00:16:48
on my 30th birthday I retired from the
00:16:50
first company retired is a bad word I
00:16:52
just left the first company by
00:16:54
agreement uh with enough money uh to to
00:16:59
a broadcasting career and that was one
00:17:01
of my first Brash steps in in the
00:17:04
broadcasting business I looked in
00:17:07
broadcasting magazine they had these
00:17:08
little little uh basically classified
00:17:11
ads station needs sports caster called
00:17:14
such and such or newscaster whatever it
00:17:16
was and I found one nearby in Westerly
00:17:18
Rhode Island and the guy said sure come
00:17:20
on up he was looking for a sports
00:17:21
director for a new
00:17:22
station so I went up and he said well
00:17:25
tell me what station youve been at I
00:17:26
said I haven't he said well what about
00:17:27
your background in in I said I have none
00:17:30
he said and what makes you think you can
00:17:32
be a sports caster and why should I hire
00:17:34
you and I said because I can and and
00:17:36
I'll be a really really good one for you
00:17:38
and I'm he said you know what I'm going
00:17:39
to hire you so you have to go ask the
00:17:42
question so he asked and I started in
00:17:44
radio and that led within about uh 15 or
00:17:46
18 months to television and on and on
00:17:50
one thing led to another and we did
00:17:51
Radio Networks and a lot of uh TV
00:17:53
broadcasting and and then hockey
00:17:56
broadcasting and each step along the way
00:17:58
I was doing independent little networks
00:18:01
trying to figure out how it worked and I
00:18:03
didn't realize that that this wasn't
00:18:06
what everybody did you know it it just
00:18:08
seemed that had to be done so I went and
00:18:10
did it so it's interesting so you know
00:18:12
these days uh there's not a lot of uh
00:18:15
mixing between uh you know on air
00:18:20
personality and Suits right the
00:18:22
executives you know sort of behind
00:18:25
behind the business but you made a
00:18:27
transition and not a small transition
00:18:30
from on camera or on air yep to you know
00:18:35
again as we know founding a a pretty
00:18:38
sizable and successful business what's
00:18:41
what's what's the secret to being able
00:18:42
to make that type of a transition you
00:18:44
know that's a good question I uh it just
00:18:47
seemed very natural to me but people
00:18:50
say ask that question
00:18:53
like why why' you do that or how I don't
00:18:56
know how I did it I it just I was a
00:18:58
broadcaster and I wanted to get a
00:19:00
network put together that would get the
00:19:02
message out to more people than I could
00:19:03
do at a local station well best way to
00:19:07
do it is to go hook up some more
00:19:08
stations so I had to figure out how you
00:19:10
do that and that became kind of a a
00:19:12
background and so by the time I was
00:19:15
fired from my job at the Whalers to
00:19:17
start ESPN I knew about phone lines and
00:19:21
local connections and AT&T and all that
00:19:23
and and at the same time RCA marcom had
00:19:27
developed and launched the first
00:19:29
communication satellite not very many
00:19:31
people knew about it and we just almost
00:19:34
fell into the idea that we could do
00:19:37
something across all of North America
00:19:39
with one signal to one point and not
00:19:41
have to go through all this television
00:19:43
long lines business with
00:19:46
AT&T and back in the 60s when I was
00:19:49
starting radio and broadcasting and
00:19:50
putting networks together that I had
00:19:52
learned all that stuff about AT&T so
00:19:55
here was something else to learn what
00:19:56
about the satellite business I didn't
00:19:57
even know you called them transponder
00:19:58
when we started talking about it but it
00:20:01
doesn't make any difference as long as
00:20:02
you know what it is that just you know
00:20:04
you sound it sounds like you're going to
00:20:06
be embarrassed talking about something
00:20:08
you don't know anything about but you
00:20:10
have to ask the questions and when
00:20:11
you're passionate and they're telling
00:20:12
you yeah you can do this okay we'll do
00:20:14
it oh by the way it's going to cost a
00:20:16
little money well we'll figure that out
00:20:18
later so that's just the way it's been
00:20:20
all my life and I guess I should start
00:20:24
to slow down but uh I don't know it's
00:20:26
too much fun yeah don't do that please
00:20:29
pleas uh so going back to your going
00:20:32
back to your passions what is your
00:20:34
favorite sport and why baseball only
00:20:36
because I've I've played it forever and
00:20:39
ESPN has a great show baseball tonight
00:20:41
where and Peter Gamin who I've known for
00:20:43
40 years uh I just think he does a great
00:20:46
job had has for 40 years first in in the
00:20:49
newspaper in the Boston area and on
00:20:52
ESPN now uh let's talk about mentors
00:20:55
have you had any real mentors in your
00:20:57
career and is there any particular
00:21:00
advice that uh they've been able to give
00:21:02
to to help you if so I I think back in
00:21:05
my undergraduate days there were a
00:21:08
couple of professors who were unique and
00:21:10
standout and oddly enough one of them is
00:21:12
an American history
00:21:13
professor and it was his passion for the
00:21:17
Civil War believe it or not that led him
00:21:20
once a year to hold a
00:21:23
tonight um class for want of a better
00:21:26
word where he would would do the Battle
00:21:29
of Gettysburg on two huge relief tables
00:21:33
basically I mean everything in proper
00:21:36
relief and to scale um and these tables
00:21:39
were like you know 14 15 ft long and he
00:21:42
would walk around and his white hair
00:21:44
would be flowing and you could see his
00:21:47
his passion just oozed everywhere and he
00:21:50
knew everything there was to know about
00:21:51
it and they were turning kids away you
00:21:54
couldn't he had to do it for two nights
00:21:56
because everybody wanted to hear him and
00:21:58
is a history Professor but and I had him
00:22:01
in class and he was just he was
00:22:03
absolutely inspiring and the other one
00:22:05
was a financial organization and
00:22:07
investment economics professor how's
00:22:09
that for an Inspire
00:22:11
inspiration and and he had the same kind
00:22:13
of passion and in those days we didn't
00:22:16
have computers and laptops and all of
00:22:17
those things we didn't have you know
00:22:19
whiteboards and grease pencils and so on
00:22:22
we had old fashioned blackboards in
00:22:23
chalk and he'd start by the windows on
00:22:26
the Blackboard and he'd be going along
00:22:27
and he'd ask questions over his children
00:22:28
if he didn't hear an answer from someone
00:22:30
that he had asked you know he'd say
00:22:32
Derek what about you know and he's
00:22:33
writing and talking and if you didn't
00:22:35
turn around he'd and he was left-handed
00:22:37
he'd turn on he'd fire one of those uh
00:22:39
erasers those felt erasers he'd hit kids
00:22:42
in the shoulder and in the forehead and
00:22:43
so on pay attention pay
00:22:45
attention so wow this if this guy is
00:22:49
this passionate about numbers and
00:22:51
economics and there must be something to
00:22:53
this business of business and so those
00:22:56
two guys I don't know you should call
00:22:58
them men but they were sure two imp two
00:23:00
professors who made monstrous
00:23:02
impressions well they clearly made an
00:23:04
made an impression on you and and the
00:23:07
passion is what what certainly comes
00:23:08
through and uh translates what um what's
00:23:12
your advice for young people who who may
00:23:14
be considering a career either in sports
00:23:16
broadcasting or or more generally in the
00:23:18
business of
00:23:19
sports first of all they they have to
00:23:23
obviously Sports has to be a passion
00:23:25
they wouldn't even be thinking about
00:23:26
that they whether it's it's just they're
00:23:28
curious about being a television
00:23:30
producer or announcer or a lawyer at the
00:23:34
you know at the one of the major
00:23:36
networks or whatever it might be but I
00:23:38
think what they have to do is understand
00:23:41
and the best way to understand how
00:23:42
Sports begins is it doesn't hurt to
00:23:45
start small go and be a production
00:23:46
assistant someplace go to a small radio
00:23:48
station learn all you can learn ask all
00:23:50
the questions you can ask and when
00:23:52
somebody's kind of you know brushing you
00:23:54
off and saying yeah don't bother me kid
00:23:56
you know just say well I'm not I don't
00:23:58
to BU you I I really want to know you I
00:24:00
I have a passion to learn this business
00:24:03
and I want to be you know doing what
00:24:05
you're doing or I want to do fill in the
00:24:08
blank whatever they might want to do uh
00:24:11
and and carry that passion into every
00:24:13
interview and be
00:24:14
prepared uh if you're going to ESPN you
00:24:17
know you don't want to talk about things
00:24:19
that the Cooking Channel has been doing
00:24:21
and I'm not putting down the Cooking
00:24:23
Channel you if you're going to the
00:24:24
Cooking Channel you don't want to be a
00:24:25
sports fan you want to you better know
00:24:27
what you're talking about there
00:24:28
but um I I've just always beli that that
00:24:32
paying attention learn as much as you
00:24:33
can beforehand but all the facts are not
00:24:36
necessary you'll you'll you'll learn the
00:24:39
facts you'll learn the specifics of the
00:24:40
business but whoever it is that you're
00:24:43
applying to has to has to see the the
00:24:46
passion see the desire to be successful
00:24:50
and I see I'm fortunate in that I see a
00:24:53
lot of those you just know they're going
00:24:55
to be successful kids folks here at
00:24:57
Wharton and
00:24:58
schools across the country and then you
00:25:00
see others who you know they don't even
00:25:03
want to walk across the street unless
00:25:05
it's required and U and I don't mean to
00:25:09
be putting anybody down but the people
00:25:11
with the passion the people who ask the
00:25:12
questions the people who are willing and
00:25:14
anxious I guess would be a better word
00:25:16
anxious to learn all there is they're
00:25:18
the ones who are going to succeed and
00:25:21
you know it's amazing you can pick
00:25:22
almost any field and and if the
00:25:26
youngster has that that passion they can
00:25:29
learn anything it doesn't have to be
00:25:30
Sports it can be Wall Street it can be
00:25:34
the Cooking Channel it can be anything
00:25:37
Um passion enthusiasm and never be
00:25:41
afraid to ask
00:25:43
question well that is a great note for
00:25:45
us to finish up on on behalf of the
00:25:47
Wharton School and the Wharton Sports
00:25:49
business initiative thank you so much
00:25:51
Bill thank you Derek enjoyed it very
00:25:53
much
00:25:57
[Music]
