- ESPN is reportedly considering shutting down their New York studio by 2025
- ESPN might close their Los Angeles studio, as well
- Stephen A. Smith’s ‘First Take’ is filmed in New York
ESPN has been the most popular sports network for quite some time. Their recent massive layoffs are something that came as a surprise to many.
A new report has suggested ESPN could possibly shut down their New York studio. This studio is the home to many popular shows, like ‘First Take’.
Puck, a news media publication, reported that ESPN plans to close its New York City studio by 2025. The publication also stated that ESPN is “likely” to close its Los Angeles studio, as well.
This is huge news as ESPN continues to navigate through its recent haul of layoffs. On top of ‘First Take’ being a show filmed at the New York studio, these other shows are also filmed in New York:
– ‘Get Up’
– ‘NBA Countdown’
– ‘Around The Horn’
If the New York studio gets shut down, it’s likely these popular shows will be canceled. What will the future of ESPN look like? It’s hard to imagine, but the recent layoffs were hard to imagine, as well.
ESPN’s Massive Layoffs
ESPN made front-page news back in June when they laid off around 20 people. This included big names like Jeff Van Gundy, Jalen Rose, Max Kellerman, Suzy Kolber, and Keyshawn Johnson.
Jalen Rose, who played 13 years in the NBA before joining ESPN, poked fun at being laid off. Rose posted this photo on his Instagram. It shows him with sunglasses on, looking stylish on the left. On the right, he’s back in college, bald. The caption read, “Before Layoffs” and “After Layoffs.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/p:CusUeUFyXt7
ESPN was back in the news a month later when they let go Mark Jackson, who called NBA games with Van Gundy for ESPN. These massive layoffs have upset and confused most fans.
Stephen A. Smith, who is the network’s most popular face and the host of ‘First Take’, once spoke about how he believes he could be next in line to get fired.
“Have you all been paying attention to the business landscape?” Smith said on his K[no]w Mercy Podcast. Disney itself announced that over 7,000 employees are going to be let go. ESPN is under the Disney umbrella. They’re going to have cuts coming. Hell, for all I know, I might be one of them. Now I doubt that. But it’s possible. No one knows.”
ESPN is a subsidiary of Disney, Inc., and has been since 1996. Disney is the reason why the layoffs are occurring, as they try to navigate through this new streaming media world.
It’s been reported that Disney is in the middle of a multibillion-dollar cost-cutting initiative aimed at streamlining the company’s operations in a period of media industry turmoil. This doesn’t bode well for ESPN.
As we can’t predict the future, we can’t say what will happen next at ESPN, but if the trend continues, we will likely see more layoffs, including Stephen A. Smith.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
