ESPN’s time at the ballyhooed Seaport studio in New York is reportedly coming to an end.
Per Puck News, the company is planning on relocating from the Seaport studio to a new building at 7 Hudson Square, roughly a mile away, by the 2025 fiscal year.
Puck reports that ESPN also “is likely” to shut down its Los Angeles production center, with staff working there either moving back east or remotely working.
ESPN moved into the Seaport studio in the spring of 2018. At the time, the company signed what was called a multi-year lease for 19,000 square feet of the roughly 150,000 square feet of available office space at the Seaport.
Over the years, the Seaport studio has hosted several ESPN studio shows, most notably Get Up and First Take. The Sunday Night Baseball KayRod Cast has also originated from the Seaport studio, but Alex Rodriguez’s new deal with Fox Sports will put an end to that alternate broadcast after the 2023 season.
Sunday NFL Countdown was another show broadcast from the Seaport, originating there from 2020-22 (a 2020 rooftop show is seen at top) before moving back to Bristol this season. NBA Countdown and Around the Horn also are housed at the Seaport.
Moving out of the Seaport studio once the lease expires makes sense. Back in 2018, Disney purchased a property in Lower Manhattan for $650 million to eventually house ABC’s headquarters. Construction on the building is coming along and is expected to be finished in 2024. If the company owns that building and the studio space contained within, why would Disney also pay to lease another studio in the city, roughly two miles away?
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.