ESPN is pulling up stakes from downtown Los Angeles and heading to the NFL’s headquarters at Hollywood Park in Inglewood.
“We look forward to all of ESPN’s L.A. based studio content, originating from a single location, further enhancing creativity and collaboration with expansion possible in the future,” the Walt Disney Co.’s sports media unit said Wednesday in a statement.
ESPN produced “NBA Today” and “WNBA Countdown” out of the L.A. Live location, which opened in 2009. A late night edition of “SportsCenter” was produced there until last year. The productions will move into the NFL’s Los Angeles headquarters near SoFi Stadium.
ESPN’s local radio outlet, KSPN, will continue to broadcast out of the L.A. Live location adjacent to Crypto.com Arena.
The NFL took a 10% equity stake in ESPN last year. As part of the deal, ESPN oversees the NFL Media, including the NFL Network and the RedZone channel, which has its production facilities at the Hollywood Park location that opened in Sept. 2021.
The moves, expected to be completed by early September, come ahead of ESPN producing its first Super Bowl, which will air on ABC in Feb. 2027 from SoFi Stadium.
Although a possible new round of layoffs is reportedly expected at ESPN, a person familiar with the matter who could not comment publicly said that there will be no job cuts related to the move to Hollywood Park.
About 160 employees work at the L.A. Live location. Most will relocate to Hollywood Park while others will move to a Disney location in Glendale.
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