Creating an Empire: ESPN, the No-Holds-Barred Story of Power, Ego, Money, and Vision that Transformed A Culture, by Stuart Evey (HC, 2004, $2.75)
Now everyone knows about ESPN, and its four sports channels, and over 200 million viewers, but back in 1978 no one wanted it. Bill Rasmussen had a dream but no one would listen. Eight companies had turned him down, perhaps because he was only a former play-by-play announcer for a minor league hockey team. Still, Getty Oil took a chance on him, and the rest, as they say, is history. Read all the juicy stuff here.
Look for this book on the new non-fiction table, avail. 12/28. (Later: econ)
Note: The author of Harry Potter had been rejected by 99 publishers before Scholastic agreed to take a risk. Sometimes "Try, try again" really works.
