With more than 200 Million viewers worldwide and boasting multiple sports channels, a sports magazine with a circulation of over two million, a network of radio stations and a successful chain of themed restaurants, to say nothing of an estimated net worth of over$30 billion, ESPN is a veritable media empire and one of the most instantly recognizable brands in the world.

But in 1978, when Stuart Evey, then a top executive for Getty Oil, heard the pitch for funding a new cable network,he had good reason to be skeptical. An all sports network whose programming would consist of events like slow pitch softball, Australian Rules Rugby, and day-old college football games that couldn't make it on to the major networks? It shouldn't have been a tough call. Eight other companies had already said no.

There were schemes to merge ESPN with CNN, create a cable movie channel that would have put HBO out of business, and co promote pay-per-view boxing events with Don King. Make or break decisions were made on a seemingly daily basis, and involved a cast of characters including Howard Cosell, Ted Turner, Roone Arledge, Don King and Peter Ueberroth.