In the light of recent drastic changes to its production, ESPN is issuing an ultimatum to its staff in one of their satellite studios amid a scaleback.
On Wednesday, ESPN announced they would be ending its production of SportsCenter from Los Angeles for the first time in 15 years. In addition, all of ESPN’s soccer shows produced out in LA will be ended as well.
All of those shows will be moved back to the company’s headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut.
According to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, employees working in Los Angeles will be offered similar jobs in Bristol.
However, if those employees choose not to re-locate, they will have their positions within the company terminated. Employees would be eligible for severance and shows will be produced until late May.
ESPN has been broadcasting a 1:00am SportsCenter show from Los Angeles since 2009.
ESPN will be moving SportsCenter and soccer production based in Los Angeles back to Bristol
The broadcaster built the LA Production Center back in the late 2000s (seen mid-construction)
Per Mollie Cahillane of Sports Business Journal, this move will impact 35 of the 229 Disney and ESPN people working at the network’s LA Production Center (LAPC).
The studio in Los Angeles will continue to produce content for ESPN – with Marchand reporting that the ‘Worldwide Leader’s’ NBA shows, such as NBA Today, continuing to remain out West.
ESPN’s LA studio was responsible for producing the 1:00am Eastern Time edition of SportsCenter. It aired off the back of Scott Van Pelt’s late-night SportsCenter show aired from a studio in Washington, DC.
It’s not clear if the 1:00am slot will be replaced with anything else, or if the slot of SportsCenter will remain in place and just broadcast from a different location than it currently is.
ESPN has been rumored to be interested in acquiring NFL Media, which is based in Inglewood, California in the Los Angeles area.
Rumors from back in 2023 suggested that the LAPC and the company’s Seaport Studio overlooking the East River in New York City would both be shut down in 2025.
It’s not clear if the Seaport facility – which produces ‘First Take’, ‘Get Up’, ‘Around the Horn’, and ‘NBA Countdown’ – is still headed for shutting down.
