Drive-In Hosts World Premier Of ESPN Documentary
- Philip Thibodeau
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
For a few hours Friday evening, Southington stepped into the cinematic limelight as the town's drive-in played host to the world premier of “Intentional Optimism” – a documentary about the creation of the Bristol-based sports network ESPN.
The film centers around the story of Bill Rasmussen and his son Scott, who, the story goes, came up with the idea for a network that would broadcast sports 24/7 while the two were stuck in traffic on I-84 in Waterbury.
The year was 1978. Bill had just been fired from his job as communications director for the New England Whalers. Yet he took this setback in stride, seeing it as an opportunity to set his sights even higher – hence the ‘intentional optimism’ of the title.
Bill and his son knew that at any given moment, there were professional and semi-professional sports events being held all over the world. They also knew there was a massive potential audience of ‘sport junkies’ (a phrase coined by Scott) who would be willing to watch just about anything – from the final game of the NCAA basketball tournament to a slow-pitch softball game in Wisconsin.
The question was: how to connect the two?
The answer turned out to be: by satellite.
ESPN was originally headquartered in a nondescript office building on Cooke Street in Plainville. Plainville’s building code, however, did not allow for the installation of satellite dishes. So the Rasmussens turned their attention to Bristol, where they won approval to purchase and build on a large tract of land described in the documentary as “acres of mud.” The plan was to construct a modest company headquarters with two large satellite dishes out front.
What followed was a mad scramble to get all the people and pieces in place so that the company would be ready to offer continuous sports coverage all day and most of the night starting on September 7, 1979, at 7pm.
The documentary focuses on the heady mix of excitement and uncertainty that characterizes a startup business. Some of the problems seem amusing in retrospect: early broadcasts, for example, had a problem with flies in the studio because installation of the building’s windows was not yet complete. The film is rich in anecdotes shared by the Rasmussens and a dozen other early ESPN employees, including the original mailroom manager, engineer, and camerawoman.
Beyond that, the documentary focuses on ESPN’s need for money – lots of money, up front, to pay a monthly satellite bill of $34,167.
The savior in this story also turns out to be its villain. The only person who bought into the Rasmussens’ dream was Stuart Evey, a Getty Oil executive who convinced his company’s board to invest. Evey drove a hard bargain, with Getty taking an 85 percent stake in the network. He also brought in seasoned broadcast professionals from NBC and elsewhere. The new arrivals made the Rasmussens seem superfluous, and eventually expendable. Both were let go with a payoff “in the low seven figures” – enough to live on comfortably, but nothing compared to the fortune amassed by, say, Ted Turner, who did for news what Rasmussen did for sports.
The film allows the brilliance, determination, and personal warmth of Bill Rasmussen to shine through. It mentions the honors the network now gives to its founder, and offers a glimpse of the 93-year old’s spirited battle against Parkinson’s disease. Yet it ends on a quiet, even tragic note – a still frame indicating that father and son have become estranged.
The documentary was directed by Emmy-award winning Producer Greg DeHart and directed by Garrett Sutton, the founder of Sunn Stream streaming service, under the label Tenero Productions. Tenero will now be looking for a distributor for the film. ESPN will be offered the first chance at the rights.
The two men worked closely with Southington resident and ESPN veteran Mike Soltys, who is the film’s producer. Mike was brought on by Bill Rasmussen as an unpaid intern in 1980 and rose to become head of communications, a role in which he served for 20 years. He is now employed by the network part-time as its historian.
Before the screening the three men sat under the pavilion of the drive-in for a panel discussion. Most of those present had some connection to ESPN; a few were there from the beginning, including George Grande, who hosted the network’s very first broadcast, as well as “Boomer,” the legendary broadcaster Chris Berman.
Running the drive-in is a labor of love on the part of its managing committee, which consists of Mike Fasulo, Dawn Miceli, and Dave Zoni. Dawn commented on the opportunity to host the film's world-premier: “Mike Soltys, who has volunteered at the drive-in for many years, reached out to us about utilizing it for this special showing. We were beyond excited to showcase this unique documentary at our venue. So many of ESPN’s employees are and have been Southington residents – something that makes this event even more rewarding from a hometown perspective.”
