New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
ESPN moving NY studio
Five years after ESPN opened a South Street Seaport studio in Manhattan to both fanfare and tandem anxiety on the future of jobs at its Bristol campus, the sports broadcaster is closing the facility but relocating productions there several blocks west to Hudson Square.
ESPN is also considering closing a Los Angeles facility, with the possibility of some of that production moving east as it continues cost cuts under its Burbank, Calif.-based parent Walt Disney.
An ESPN spokesperson declined comment Wednesday in response to a CT Insider query on the two studios, after a Friday report by Puck. ESPN has about 5,000 employees Wednesday, including 4,000 at its flagship campus in Bristol which was hit earlier this year by mass layoffs at Disney. ESPN and Disney currently list about 50 openings in Bristol.
The restructuring carved out the entirety of ESPN as a standalone division in Disney alongside its screen entertainment and theme park businesses, prompting speculation the entertainment conglomerate was contemplating a spinoff or sale. But CEO Bob Iger has emphasized Disney’s commitment to ESPN as it expands its streaming platform and explores opportunities in wagering. Hearst owns a minority share of ESPN.
ESPN has continued to invest in its 1.3-million-squarefoot campus in Bristol, including its new “Catalyst” stage that integrates virtual technologies with physical space, applying techniques used to produce the Disney+ series The Mandalorian.
A few months after ESPN opened at the Seaport, Disney laid the foundation for a new Tribeca building for its ABC operations located currently on West 66th Street in New York City, which date back to 1948.
ESPN moved its three-hour Sunday NFL Countdown program this year to Bristol from the Seaport, while continuing to produce First Take, Around the Horn, NBA Countdown and Get Up in New York. Last month, ESPN announced it would move its “Daily Wager” production to Bristol from a small studio in Las Vegas it slated for closure.
The Los Angeles studio center has four studios and supporting offices that total 130,000 square feet of space, in the L.A. Live complex a block from the Crypto.com Arena that is home to the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers, as well as the WNBA’s Sparks and the Los Angeles Kings NHL franchise. The studio produces programming for SportsCenter, NBA Today,
NBA Countdown, In the Crease, ESPN FC and Ahora O Nunca on ESPN Deportes.
ESPN also has studios in Charlotte, N.C., Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas.