ESPN is consolidating its West Coast production to the NFL Network facility in Inglewood; the Philadelphia Phillies have reportedly done groundwork on what would be required to launch their own network; and select PGA Tour events will air on the ESPN linear network next month. Plus news on the Emirates NBA Cup, Elle Duncan, Jonathan Jones and ESPN.
ESPN shuttering L.A. Live studio, moving West Coast production to NFL Network building
ESPN will close its current Los Angeles studio space at L.A. Live and consolidate its West Coast production within the NFL Network facility in nearby Inglewood, as first reported by Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal. The approximately 160 employees who still worked at the L.A. Live facility will shift to new locations without planned layoffs. The move is expected to take place by early September.
“We are announcing the creation of a consolidated West Coast production center at Hollywood Park in Inglewood,” ESPN said in a statement provided to Sports Media Watch. “Featuring state-of-the-art technology, this facility will continue to serve as the home of NFL Network and NFL RedZone while also adding NBA Today and WNBA Countdown. As part of this process, we are closing our LA Production Center at L.A. Live, relocating production employees to Hollywood Park. We look forward to all of ESPN’s LA-based studio content originating from a single location, further enhancing creativity and collaboration, with expansion possible in the future.”
ESPN first started airing shows out of the L.A. Live space in April 2009, including a Los Angeles edition of “SportsCenter” with anchors such as Stan Verrett, Linda Cohn and Neil Everett. The network ended that edition of the show last year, opting to centralize most editions of the studio program to its Bristol, Conn. studios. Verrett and Cohn have since left ESPN.
The facility has also served as the home for a majority of NBA studio programming, such as “NBA Today” and the “NBA/WNBA Countdown” franchises. The shift does not directly impact ESPN LA 710, which will continue to broadcast from the Good Karma Brands offices in the area. Good Karma Brands purchased the radio station from ESPN as part of a larger transaction announced in December 2021.
Phillies have reportedly begun examining what would be required to launch their own network
The Philadelphia Phillies have done groundwork on trying to create their own television network, according to a report by Matt Gelb of The Athletic. The organization is in the midst of a deal with Comcast-owned NBC Sports Philadelphia under a reported 25-year agreement that gives them a 25% minority stake in the network. Gelb cited sources who said there are “legitimate doubts” as to “how much longer [the network] will last as NBCUniversal divests from its RSN business.”
The network, which like all other NBCUniversal properties will be spun off from Comcast in the next year, is facing an “uncertain financial future,” according to Gelb. NBC Sports currently owns four regional sports networks that air live game broadcasts for nine professional teams across the four major sports leagues. The company formerly owned a Chicago-based RSN that ceased operations in 2024 (prior to the launch of Chicago Sports Network) and the prior year sold its equity stake in the D.C. RSN now known as Monumental Sports Network. Prior to these divestitures, the company also shuttered NBC Sports Northwest, which broadcast Portland Trail Blazers games prior to Root Sports.
The RSN business has been in a state of flux for the last several years, headlined by bankruptcy and eventual collapse of Main Street Sports Group. Warner Bros. Discovery exited the RSN business a few years ago, including the sales of AT&T SportsNet Southwest, Root Sports and AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has indicated that MLB plans to centralize local media rights in 2028. The league has also tied media-related concerns, particularly equal revenue sharing, to the economic system it is proposing as part of ongoing CBA negotiations.
ESPN to air upcoming PGA Tour coverage on linear network
ESPN will carry coverage of the PGA Tour FedExCup Playoffs on its flagship linear network for the first time this year, airing a total of 12 hours across six days during the FedEx St. Jude Championship, BMW Championship and Tour Championship. The telecasts will air in two-hour windows, primarily on Friday and Saturday mornings.
ESPN acquired a PGA Tour media rights package in 2020 that has almost exclusively consisted of streaming coverage on ESPN+. One exception came earlier this year, when ESPN simulcast coverage of the Farmers Insurance Open — featuring Brooks Koepka‘s return to the PGA Tour from LIV Golf — on its flagship network.
The PGA Tour is in a state of transition under CEO and future commissioner Brian Rolapp, who previously worked for the NFL as its chief media and business officer. Since joining the PGA Tour last year, Rolapp has introduced several changes, including forthcoming alterations to its competitive structure that includes a two-tiered system with promotion and relegation. The PGA Tour also introduced a limited-time returning member program under Rolapp that permitted golfers who departed for LIV Golf to come back, albeit with some limitations.
The primary PGA Tour media rights deals with CBS and NBC do not expire until 2030, but John Ourand of Puck reported earlier this year that Rolapp had told the incumbents he is open to negotiating “in the next year or two.”
Plus: NBA, Elle Duncan, ESPN.com, Jonathan Jones
- The National Basketball Association laid off some employees on Wednesday as the league seeks to prioritize “key growth areas,” including local media, the WNBA and the looming NBA Europe league, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in an internal memo obtained by Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal. The league recently hired former NESN GM Matt Volk to lead its local media department, a move that comes ahead of the NBA reportedly looking to launch a streaming hub for local broadcasts. Silver said that the investments “will best position us to achieve our key objectives, including a better understanding of our fans, improving the game and viewership, and driving global growth across our leagues.”
- In an upcoming interview on the “Sports Media Watch Podcast,” Netflix Sports host Elle Duncan said that the streamer plans to use a consistent studio team for its expanded NFL schedule this season. “We’re not doing an 18-game slate,” Duncan said. “We want every single one of our events to, yes, have a through-line and some consistency, and you’ll get that with the desk and the talent, but, ‘How are we making each one of those things feel special and different and honor where we’re doing it at?'” The streamer will still use separate crews for its pre-existing Christmas doubleheader, Duncan said.
- CBS Sports senior NFL reporter and insider Jonathan Jones “is in advanced talks” to depart the company and join The Athletic, according to a report by Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports. Jones has worked with CBS since 2019 and has previously appeared on “The NFL Today” while also writing for the company’s website. Jones would reportedly not take on the same role previously held by Dianna Russini, who resigned from the outlet under controversy.
- ESPN.com took down an article it published two weeks ago about NFL free agent DL Mike Pennel Jr. regarding the death of a woman in the Dominican Republic, writing that “the story contained errors.” The story claimed that Pennel “had an ongoing relationship with a young woman whose body was found on a property he owned when she went missing.” The company wrote that Pennel’s representatives “have provided ESPN with documentation, including travel and financial records, supporting Pennel’s statements to ESPN that he was not in the Dominican Republic at the time the woman disappeared.”
