George Bodenheimer is one of the most successful cable television executives of all time. Throughout his thirty plus year career at ESPN Bodenheimer was faced with many difficult personal and business decisions, his actions toward those decisions have shaped ESPN into one of the most successful sports networks of all time. The first decision that Bodenheimer face in his young career was if he should accept a job at ESPN working in their mailroom making $8,300 a year. At the time Bodenheimer was just trying to break into the sports industry. Bodenheimer’s chance of breaking into the sports world meant that he would have to accept a low wage at a start up 24-hour sports news station. Something that seemed impossible at the time. A starting salary
