ESPN, Inc.: 1985 in Review

AnnouncementsYear in Review

ESPN, Inc.: 1985 in Review

Photo of Dave Nagle Dave Nagle Follow on Twitter January 2, 1986

1985: BANNER YEAR FOR ESPN

ESPN, America’s largest cable network, completed several major programming acquisitions in 1985 and, for the first year, became profitable on an operating basis.

ESPN President and Chief Executive Officer J. William Grimes said, “In 1985, we further enhanced our reputation as THE network for sports coverage in auto racing, college basketball, golf, hockey and tennis.  And, just this month, we announced a horse racing series for 1986 which will solidify our position as the network of record in that sport as well.

“From both a programming and a corporate standpoint, 1985 was a banner year, ending in profitability for ESPN,” he added.  “We are looking forward to even greater opportunities in 1986.”

NEW PROGRAMMING DEVELOPMENTS        CORPORATE ANNOUNCEMENTS

Auto Racing — live Formula One                          New logo & corporate name

CFA — new two-year contract                                Affiliate fee increase to 19 cents/month

U. S. Olympic Festival — three-year deal             Record rating — 8.0 for Georgetown at

Bowling — PBA Summer Tour                                   St. John’s basketball

ACC Basketball — five-year deal                           “Nation’s Business Today” — morning

“Spirit of Excellence” — Olympic retrospective        business program premieres

ESPN Theatre — “The Babe” & “Lombardi”          Anheuser-Busch renews major

Jersey Derby — $2 million bonus                              sponsorship

NHL — three-year contract                                      Organizational realignment — Werner,

:28:58 — innovative score service                             Bornstein promoted

America’s Cup — exclusive network in ‘87          36.9 million subscriber homes

Horse racing — 18 top races in ‘86

A summary of 1985’s key developments follows:

January

  • ESPN increases standard affiliate fee to 19 cents/month per subscriber.
  • ESPN introduces its new logo and adopts new corporate name, ESPN, Inc., replacing Entertainment and Sports Programming Network.

February

  • ESPN basketball telecast of eventual Final Four participants St. John’s and Georgetown — ranked #1 and #2 — achieves an 8.0 rating (2.9 million households) making it the highest-rated and most-watched telecast in ESPN history.

June

  • ESPN signs its 10,000th affiliate — Continental Cablevision of W. Bloomfield, Mich.
  • ESPN begins marketing its service to home earth station owners by authorizing the reception of ESPN’s signal through a home receiver licensing package.

July

  • :28:58 debuts, a unique system to provide score updates every half-hour during prime time without interrupting the telecast of a live event.
  • ESPN’s 10 days of National Sports Festival coverage becomes the largest production and technical undertaking in the network’s history.
  • ESPN and the National Hockey League sign three-year agreement for exclusive national cable rights to NHL games beginning in 1985.

September

  • Auto Racing ‘85 provides live coverage of NASCAR’s Southern 500 and Bill Elliott’s successful drive to the “Winston Million.”

November

  • ESPN realigns its executive management structure, promoting Roger L. Werner to Executive Vice President, ESPN and Steven M. Bornstein to Senior Vice President, Programming and Production.

December

  • ESPN remains America’s largest cable network, received in more than 36.9 million households nationwide.

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Photo of Dave Nagle Dave Nagle Follow on Twitter January 2, 1986
Photo of Dave Nagle

Dave Nagle

As I write this on 11-11-21, it's now 35 years for me at ESPN, the only real job I’ve ever had. I joined merely to help with the upcoming America’s Cup in Australia. I was told it would be for three months at all of $5.50 per hour. I like to say I simply kept showing up. I’ve worked on almost every sport, plus answered viewer calls and letters (people used to write!), given tours, written the company newsletter and once drove NASCAR’s Jeff Gordon to the local airport. My travels have been varied…I’ve been to Martinsville, Darlington, Indy and Super Bowls; the America’s Cup (all 3) in San Diego and College GameDay in the sport’s meccas such as Eugene, Auburn, Lubbock, Stillwater and more; the NBA Finals, Wimbledon (16 times and counting) and the “other Bristol,” the one with a race track in Tennessee. These days, my main areas are tennis, UFC, boxing, network-wide ratings (by month/quarter/year), and corporate communications documents, including fact sheets, chronologies, lists and nearly 35 of the Year in Review press releases. UPDATE EXACTLY ONE YEAR LATER: Today, November 11, 2022, I am retiring from ESPN -- 36 years to the day I began. As I ride off into the sunset – top down and E Street Radio blaring – I do so with so many wonderful memories, proud of my contributions and a heart full of gratitude for the opportunity. 
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