ESPN’s Studio G, located in the Digital Center 1 building on the Bristol campus headquarters, is the network’s most recently remodeled studio. The new home for college football shows on ABC, among other programs across ESPN networks, went live on Saturday, Sept. 5, at 3 p.m. ET with the Nissan Countdown Show.
The remodel includes a main desk, a new ticker for scores, an interview area and a telestration location. These spaces provide the host and analysts a variety of options to discuss and dissect games and news of the day.
(Rich Arden/ESPN Images)
“I think this is a terrific set, with a great mix of new technology and organic elements that creates a very unique look from our other sets,” said Vice President of Product Enhancements, Robert Toms. “The new interview area, which was derived from what we learned around our Super Bowl host sets and our late-night World Cup show in Rio, is a really good example of that mix.”
“This is the first time we’ve had three distinct locations inside our studio for ABC college football shows,” said Phil Skender, supervising director.
Bill Graff, senior coordinating producer added, “The set has a very welcoming feeling and helps to define the content being discussed. This upgrade in look will benefit our shows across all of the networks.”
College football is the busiest time of the year, which was top of mind when designing the new studio.
“We are hosting shows on three different networks – ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC – on fall Saturdays,” said Noubar Stone, senior creative director. “From an aesthetic standpoint, as it will be the home for ABC, there’s a unique feel incorporating a lot of brick and wood along with a number of displays and monitors to showcase our new college football graphic package.”
Many different departments worked together for the relaunch. Said Corey Neal, studio operator, “Working on the rebuild of the studio provided opportunities to both learn, create new workflows and interact with peers from various groups – both inside and outside of ESPN.”
