Every Town Is a Sports Town: Business Leadership at ESPN, from the Mailroom to the Boardroom Audible – Unabridged

Definitely worth reading if you are interested in ESPN, and how a good business was built up. Bodenheimer walks through the very beginnings of ESPN, through some interesting times (such as flipping the revenue model so that cable operators would pay ESPN instead of the other way around), and to today. There are some very good business lessons in the book that are worth reading by anyone interested in business, and in applying them. And the early history of ESPN and how it got off the ground is very interesting.

I'm removing one star because the writing was meandering in a few cases, I felt some areas such as their negotiations with sports leagues could have been tackled with more depth, and in a few places the book read like a commercial for ESPN. But these are small flaws in an otherwise excellent book. Sports fans and ESPN devotees will find it a worthwhile read.

A good read that combines two of my favorite things...sports and business. Just enough of both to keep you interested. Of course it is about one of my favorite stations...ESPN. Here's to the next 36 years!

George Bodenheimer’s Every Town Is a Sports Town, our choice for this year’s best book on leadership, falls squarely in the memoir category. It begins with the author’s first day at the fledgling network in 1979 (where he literally worked in the mailroom), then takes us through the development of all phases of the business over the next 35 years, ending with his retirement as cochairman of Disney Media Networks. Refreshingly, Bodenheimer doesn’t presume to be an authority on leadership; he never succumbs to telling others how they ought to lead. Instead, he simply and clearly describes what he and his colleagues did over the years, the good, bad, and — hey, ESPN is in the entertainment business! — even the silly of leadership. Because every action Bodenheimer takes, and every decision he makes, is in the context of leading ESPN, readers can see clearly — and assess for themselves — the practical value and validity of what he describes.

This is good overall look at one college kid's start at ESPN as it began to his rise to become president of the sports network. The early days are total fascinating but I felt there was not enough good self-analysis of the actual programs on ESPN. Sorry, but I couldn't disagree more about Sportscenter. I find ESPN's way to do highlights all over the map with way too many talking heads segments now and many of the anchors trying to be the show (sorry, only Olbermann and Patrick really stand out, guys) is the worse especially compared with how well Canada's sports networks do their nightly highlight shows from Sportsnet 360's Final Score to the regular TSN Sportscenter. Heck, even Vancouver's local CKVU Sports Page kicked ESPN's butt as far as how to do highlights.

I also didn't get how he thought Chris "Pee Wee" Berman's obsession with nicknames was any good. Berman gave it the good old Ivy League college try but no matter how many Bert "Be Home" Blyleven creative puns he came up with, none of the nicknames he came up with ever stuck. Then there's the actual game coverage. I can't speak for college but I will say Monday Night Football and its previous Sunday Night Football on ESPN was "must-miss" TV because of how bad the announcing crews are/were. Their NHL coverage was the same. It's so much better now on the NBC Sports Network. Props though to its NBA and NCAA basketball broadcasts (even with the annoyingly noisy Dick Vitale) so it's not all bad.

So, yeah, overall, I'd like to have seen a bit more critical analysis of the network and its "personalities." As far as Bodenheimer's own path at ESPN that I found totally enthralling and it's not like the book is one whole luv letter to ESPN.

Given the oral history of the network (Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN) came out awhile ago and basically covered much of this ground already, this book is more the cherry on top of that sports pie.

George Bodenheimer gives a fascinating insider view of the makings of ESPN. I lived the history, but learned new insights. The second half of the book is devoted to his management style of a major corporation and cultural influencer. It's worth a read, especially since the proceeds go to the Jimmy V Fund.

Great book. I read it and gave it to my son who is majoring in sports management. It puts you in the ESPN offices and tells you what you want to know about them.

Lots of great lessons about the right way to do things whether you work for a startup, a big company, or own your own business. Focus on pleasing your customer (sports fan) above all else.

Basically a memoir of Bodenheimer's history with ESPN, with pats on the back all around, nothing negative, good fellows and ladies all working together for the good of sports. A sort of infomercial. The tone of the book is so highly positive that one wishes for more candor; surely there's much more to be told. When the positive dominates in this manner, there's a ring of untruth lurking beneath the surface.