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ESPN’s 16-year-old West Coast SportsCenter experiment is coming to an end.
The sports media giant plans to shutter the Los Angeles–based production of SportsCenter, as well as soccer studio coverage from that location. The 35 employees impacted will be asked to relocate cross-country to Bristol, Conn. Sources say the decision will impact about 13% of the 229 employees in ESPN’s LA production center. The last SportsCenter LA show will likely air in late May.
The status of Los Angeles-based SportsCenter anchors Linda Cohn and Stan Verrett is still to be determined. It’s unclear if they will relocate to ESPN’s corporate campus in Bristol. Back in 2023, Front Office Sports was the first to report ESPN was parting ways with Verrett’s popular Los Angeles-based partner Neil Everett. Conversations about the future of Cohn and Verrett are ongoing, said sources. Cohn is the company’s longest-tenured SportsCenter anchor, having joined in 1992.
ESPN opened its Los Angeles-based production branch, then launched its West Coast–based SportsCenter, in 2009. The show, which traditionally follows Scott Van Pelt’s midnight SportsCenter, will continue to air at 1 a.m. ET time slot. However, it will be produced in Bristol rather than Los Angeles.
“Based on our current business needs, we are relocating the L.A.-based SportsCenter and soccer studio shows to ESPN’s Bristol headquarters, including the limited number of employee positions related to these shows,” ESPN said in a statement. “The Los Angeles Production Center will continue to host ESPN’s NBA studio productions and provide office space to additional L.A.-based employees.”
