I picked up this book expecting to see the origins of ESPN, and while I did find some things and tidbits interesting, I felt like a slog and dry presentation overall. It felt like certain things were being repeated over and over, especially in the first half of the book, along with jargon and other things that would fly over most people's heads, including mine. I did find some of the pictures and diagrams fascinating, and things picked up in the second half, and I did think the final chapter was an interesting look of what ESPN and sports could look like in the future. It doesn't help that only a handful of names in the book would be familiar to the regular person. I would probably only recommend it to people super interested in how ESPN got it's start or who enjoy the inside baseball of TV and media programming.

As a former sport journalist I was so excited to learn more about the early days of ESPN, to hear the stories from the golden era. But I ended up disappointed. This wasn't a good book... or much of a book at all. I struggled to finish it at all. It's clear this wasn't written by a writer, it's also clear no editor went anywhere near it.

I wish this was better but it isn't.

This review published on my blog at: https://www.equinoxx.info/2024/06/early-days-of-espn-fox.html

There is a new book coming out in the US tomorrow which might be of interest to those keen to learn about the birth of ESPN.

The Early Days of ESPN: 300 Daydreams and Nightmares is written by Peter Fox, who was there in the late 1970s when what would become one of the biggest sports channels in the World was born.

Fox's book recalls nearly all of the people - both behind the scenes and in front of the camera - there at the start of ESPN's life. The author affectionately refers to those pioneers as 'SPNauts.

I was drawn to the book when I was looking through a list of titles I could request advance copies of from Net Galley.

As a fan of American sports, it felt like I was a perfect person to learn about the brand's early days. I have obviously been aware of ESPN for many years. I listen to ESPN radio affiliates on my radios throughout American football season and - from the early 2000s right through to last August - I watched ESPN programming on cable television before Disney decided to move its sports brand away from Europe.

Speaking of Disney - one of the first things I first learned, through reading Fox's book, is that Disney was not involved with ESPN at the start. ESPN's main investor at the time of launch was Getty Oil which bankrolled the brand until close to the mid-1980s when it sold out to ABC.

Fox runs through almost every person he would have known and worked with at the time. As I wasn't a follower of ESPN back then and obviously not clued in on names of back of house staff, plus: with no proper knowledge of its early history, all but one of those names were foreign to me.

The only person I am aware of is Chris Berman who hosted one of the NFL shows I used to watch on ESPN America when it was a channel here in the UK.

I didn't get to learn much about the individuals Fox writes about. However, a handful of those people shared some of their own personal memories with the author for this book.

Through reading Fox's words - and those from his friends and colleagues - I sense there was a lot camaraderie back then between each employee. There must be some sort of pride they all equally share to see what they made when they consider the juggernaut that has become of ESPN almost close to forty-five years later.

One of the most interesting things included with Fox's insight and tales were diagrams of the run sheets that were used by the production staff. Fox was also able to find early press releases which were sent out by ESPN in that period of time.

It's time capsule stuff. As was one of the stories about how they filmed a tennis tournament in Monaco and had to carry the film back-and-forth between France and the USA via Concorde daily.

Oh, how the digital age has made things easier. Especially now that Concorde is no longer with us!

I felt the book lost its way near its end. The closing chapter saw Fox ask Google Bard about the future of TV and - even though he was making a point about future technology and how we'll view sports - it was lost on me why it was being asked here considering the focus should have been on ESPN's 'Early Days'. It is the title after all.

Considering I am not American and know very little about that country's TV history, I conclude I was not the proper target demographic for this title after all.

This book would best be suited for followers of the American version of ESPN (a bonus if you were a fan from its early days), those with a strong interest in start-up American business - especially in the TV landscape - and could go so far as to say the most obvious audience for this book are the original 'SPNauts who pioneered this project from day one and into its early childhood.

⭐⭐/5

Thanks to Net Galley and Globe Pequot for the advance reading copy.

As an avid sports fan (LG Yankees! LG Islanders! LG Jets! LG Knicks!) and someone who has ESPN on the TV 24/7, this was a great read. Since the start of ESPN was way before time (96 baby here!) it was extremely detailed. It's amazing what a son a father were able to do with a dream and how it changed the sports world forever.

I wish there were anecdotes from other people, but overall I don't think you need to be a sports fan to enjoy this book!

As an avid sports fan, I found this to be a quick, interesting read, about the early days of ESPN. Its hard to believe something that has become so well known, like Sports Center, was not too long ago just an idea in someone's mind.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Lyons Press and NetGalley for the eARC of this book; I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I worked in the television industry for some years, and I've read a lot of histories and remembrances from people who worked in the business. And while I admit I'm not the greatest sports fan (casually followed the Brewers growing up, love watching Olympic sports, NFL Football on every weekend,) I did get into SportsCenter in the early 1990s when I was working in the biz and met my now husband, who watched the highlights show religiously.

Peter Fox is not a writer. Whomever at Lyons Press was the editor is not a good editor. The first two chapters are a list of names of everyone who was a part of the beginning of ESPN with the author's descriptions of what they did and where they came from with no funny anecdotes or stories. I did not recognize any of the names of the people mentioned.

Instead of writing a narrative and including quotes from his former colleagues, the author just puts down a page or two of a whole interview, which really aren't interviews, but streams of consciousness from those involved.

The only redeeming parts of this book are the pictures and the section devoted to the women who worked at ESPN at a time when very few women were allowed into the television sports world.

I had high hopes for this book being a sports fanatic and weekly ESPN watcher. It did leave me disappointed and wanting more, but there was enough good stories and cozy moments that would have me buying this for an ESPN fanatic.

Would recommend for those who like to read a little bit at a time and not just dive into a nonfiction book, gobbling it up in a short period of time.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Lyons Press for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for my honest and fair opinion.

Thank you to the publisher and for NetGalley, which provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

I just finished The Early Days Of ESPN: 300 Daydreams And Nightmares, by Peter Fox.

I remember when ESPN was worth watching. That was back in the days when they would provide much needed coverage of baseball. But, that time passed, the more that baseball became an afterthought for them, with the decline in their coverage starting as soon as the first NFL training camp opened. Once MLB Network came along, for me, ESPN had lost his usefulness. I only watch it these days for their live baseball games.

But I was initially excited to see there was a book about the early days of ESPN. I thought that reading about the good old days of the network would be enjoyable and I know that there’s a lot of interesting things going on behind the scenes at a TV network.

Unfortunately, this book disappointed. There just wasn’t enough good stories to go around. There were several times when I considered giving up, but continued to the end. It did get a little better about half-way through, when there started to be more discussion of on-air talent. But even that wasn’t enough,

I am disappointed to say that I have to give this one a C. I prefer grading on a letter scale, but Goodreads and NetGalley require grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, a C equates to 2 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).

The Early Days of ESPN is a detailed look at the extremely early days of ESPN. It touches on the all the groundwork it took to get the 24 hour cable sports network off the ground, from the conception of the idea, through the first couple years before its meteoric rise to a network giant.

I expected more stories about the personalities and anchors that are usually tied to the early life of ESPN, but was pleasantly surprised when I discovered stories about more of the “behind the scenes” teammates that are not usually associated when talking about ESPN in the early 80s.

One thing I enjoyed about this book was that you don’t necessarily need to be a sports fan to get a feel for how quickly ESPN skyrocketed to what it became. I would say that a non sports fan would be able to enjoy this book just as much a sports fanatic.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Lyons Press for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for my honest and fair opinion.