Fox closing deal for 'ESPN: Those Guys Have All the Fun' (DH)

By Nancy Tartaglione

Deadline reports that Fox is closing a deal for screen rights to the oral history "ESPN: Those Guys Have All the Fun." The project will be developed as a feature about the formation of the sports network and will be produced by Michael De Luca, Trigger Street's Dana Brunetti and Julie Yorn.

James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales' book uses voices of past and present ESPN personalities and producers to tell the story of how a father and son maxed out their credit cards to scrape together the cash to reserve a satellite transponder so they could show sporting events nonstop on a 24-hour station, Deadline explains.

The Amazon synopsis for the book follows:

ESPN began as an outrageous gamble with a lineup that included Australian Rules Football, rodeo, and a rinky-dinky clip show called Sports Center. Today the empire stretches far beyond television into radio, magazines, mobile phones, the internet, video games and more, while ESPN's personalities have become global superstars to rival the sports icons they cover. Chris Berman, Robin Roberts, Keith Olbermann, Hannah Storm, Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Stuart Scott, Erin Andrews, Mike Ditka, Bob Knight, and scores of others speak openly about the games, shows, scandals, gambling addictions, bitter rivalries, and sudden suspensions that make up the network's soaring and stormy history. The result is a wild, smart, effervescent story of triumph, genius, ego, and the rise of an empire unlike any television had ever seen.

According to Deadline, the book created a stir when ICM began shopping it in recent weeks. The story has elements reminiscent of "The Social Network," which counted De Luca and Brunetti among its producers, Deadline notes. Writers and directors are said to be circling.