ESPN: The No-Holds-Barred Story of Power, Ego, Money, and Vision That Transformed a Culture

Rating:
Summary: Deeper understanding of the miracle creation of ESPN
Review: This is a wonderful read for not only any sports fan but any fan of the creative enterprising spirit! Not only is this book an "easy" read, but it also deepens one's understanding of the miraculous creation of ESPN, by probing into both the forgotten first five years of it's existence AND the personal history of the man behind the money that started ESPN--- Stu Evey of the Getty Oil Company.

As an extra bonus because of the personal nature of this book, reading it helped me understand my father better--- and the men of "The World's Greatest Generation" to borrow the title from Tom Brokaw's book.

Truly a remarkable story and book! Highly recommended.



Rating:
Summary: A "Must Read" for Sports Fans and Getty Oil Historians
Review: Evey's "play-by-play" of the events leading up to, during, and after the establishment of ESPN, 25 years ago, is a "must" read for sports fans of all ages, as well as historians interested in how Getty Oil got involved with the development of an all-sports network.

Rating:
Summary: A great book for the budding business man
Review: I think this book is a great, real-world, case study about what it takes to make an idea a reality. Before reading the book, I took for granted what it took to

Rating:
Summary: aka: my ego--love it or leave it
Review: I was extremely disapointed in this book. I was expecting from the title and description an inside account of the founding of ESPN and perhaps some insight as to how/why it became as successful as it has. Instead, I was treated to nearly 300 pages of Stuart Evey massaging his ego and telling us all the wonderful things he accomplished. It seems that Mr. Evey's main accomplishments were hobnobing with enough rich and famous people to know who to call when he needed someone for a job. His position in the growth of Espn it turns out was just as the money man. ESPN was not his idea, and after the station started, it appears he had minimal creative input that he was able to tell us about. His most important function it seems with ESPN was firing Mr Rasmussen--the originator of the idea, the person who pitched the idea to Evey, the person who put up all the money he had to start the venture, and the person who had the foresight to lease time on the satelite that was ESPN's greatest asset as the beginning. Stuart Evey should get credit for convincing Getty to put up the money for ESPN at the beginning, but any credit for the growth of Espn into the giant it is today is far removed for him--despite what the book jacket might lead you to believe. My only recommendation of this book would be to someone who like the concept of People magazine--toss a lot of famous names around, dish a little dirt, but don't say anything in depth.

Rating:
Summary: Great insight about what really happened!
Review: Mr. Evey did a wonderful job on this book! He prefaced the beginning of the book with his work at Getty Oil and described his important role with the company and how it lead to the start of ESPN. If it were not for Stu Evey, this deal possibly would not have transpired! I believe all sports enthusiasts will find this book of great value as it details an important part of history with the rise and success of ESPN. Wonderfull job Mr. Evey!

Rating:
Summary: Never judge a book by its cover!
Review: One of the most misleading book titles and jacket blurbs I have ever encountered.

A disjointed first-person narrative that was in desperate need of a ghost writer and clearly was rushed to coincide with ESPN's 25th anniversary.

ESPN is merely a subtopic in this autobiography by Stuart Evey. Evey was the financier of ESPN while serving as an executive at Getty Oil. Evey's basic theme is that he is given little credit for the success of ESPN, although his book gives little reason why the reader should believe the contrary.

In new business formation, there are three primary roles: the entrepreneur (the person with the raw idea), the first CEO, and the financier (or venture capitalist.) ESPN is no exception. Evey, in his role as financier, discusses his role in obtaining the necessary financing from the Getty Board of Directors and in eventually negotiating the sale of ESPN to ABC. These sections of the book are quite good, and excellently illustrate how business deals are closed at a very high level.

Mr. Evey also discusses the termination of the original entrepreneur (Bill Rasmussen), once again a common occurance in new business formation. Rasmussen is an interesting character who has written his own tome on ESPN, that according to Evey is in substantive error concerning Evey's role. If you grew up in Springfield Massachusetts in the 1960's, Rasmussen was the back-up sportscaster on WWLP-TV. If you lived in Hartford Connecticut in the early 1970's Rasmussen was the voice of the Hartford Whalers. In any event, Rasmussen is dismissed by the Whalers and dreams up the one great idea, ESPN, but lacks the horsepower to fulfill his dream. Evey documents how Rasmussen ended up with about $1.2 million (and well below $1 million on an after-tax basis) on an idea that is now worth an estimated $16 billion. His explanation of why Rasmussen is dismissed, however, is quite shallow.

Finally, the founding CEO was Chet Simmons, who also has written a book about ESPN (that once again according to Evey, does not give him sufficient credit). Someone interested in new business formation, might do well to read all three books to understand the perspectives of the main actors in this case; their perspectives are very typical of those found in most new business start-ups.

With ESPN relegated to subtopic status, the majority of the book concerns Stuart Evey, and the opening 70 pages of the book are an excellent account of what it was like to be the "right hand man" of the eccentric, tragic, super wealthy Getty family.
However after 120 somewhat disjointed pages about ESPN, frequently with a shifting and inconsistent timeline, the book returns its focus to Stuart Evey, sort of. The next chapter, 13 pages, is a verbatim transcript of an interview (not conducted by the author)with ESPN announcer Jim Simpson, the purpose for the inclusion apparently being a two paragraph mention that Mr. Evey recruited him to ESPN.

The final chapter of the book concerns Mr. Evey's admittance to the Betty Ford Center for treatment of his alcoholism in apparently 1985. Mr. Evey implies that he had been dismissed from ESPN, Getty and Texaco (Getty was acquired by Texaco), but never explains why. He also notes that due to divorce settlements, income tax and his being over the age of 50 that his future was uncertain. The next page of the book is the epilogue set in 2004 that describes ESPN's present size! So absolutely missing is what happened in the intervening 19 years.

Consequently, the reader is left with a work that fails on two accounts: (1) a superficial understanding of the launch of ESPN and (2) a disjointed autobiography that is missing a large component of the author's life.



Rating:
Summary: ESPN..a "wildcat" story
Review: The ESPN company was created in the tradition of Texas oil "wildcat" entrepreneurship. Mr. Evey, the Getty Oil executive who authors the story, ESPN Creating An Empire, describes his role as starting quarterback, coach and general manager of this far fetched idea and fledgling television endeavor. How ESPN gets "off the ground" and into outer space is one of the great dramas in the growth of American media and entertainment history. The story is told well in the first person, but credit is apportioned generously to the shakers and makers of what has become the household icon of sports entertainment. Ambitious and visionary entrepreneurs would do well to study the management of risks and opportunities described in Mr. Evey's book.

Rating:
Summary: Creating An Wire Transfer -EVEY
Review: This book has little to do with the history of ESPN. It is mostly Stuart Evey's historical account of his own carrer at Getty Oil, with a bit of nasty gossip thrown in. ESPN is emphasised in the title to capitalize on their 25th year aniversary. Evey was a company man for Getty, and not one of the entrepenuers that risked everything to create the all sports network. ESPN was Bill Rasmussen (who thought up the idea) and Chet Simmons (who put it all togeather and made it work). Evey was the guy that listened to Rasmussens pitch then figured out a way to screw him out of 85% of ESPN in exchange for $10 million dollars in seed money. Rasmussen, whos lease on a satelite expired in less than 30 days, figured 15% of something is better than 100% of nothing, so he took the deal. Evey didn't put up a dime of his own money. The extent of his creative contribution was hiring John Forsyth (I am still scratching my head on that choice?) to do a segment explaining how cable and satelites work. What a genius! I'm am sure it was one of the worst peices ESPN has ever produced. As a fan of ESPN, I am thankful Evey didn't have more control, otherwise the network would have never made it.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing Story
Review: This book is a must read if you are interested in business or sports. Evey presents this story of the creation of an empire in an easy-to-read fashion. Not only does the book cover the founding of ESPN, it provides an important background that is crucial to the understanding of how ESPN was formed. Again, if you are interested in business you must read this book.