"The Sports Reporters," a Sunday morning staple on ESPN since 1988, will have a new home -- with weekly tapings set to shift from New York City to Bristol, Conn., the all-sports network's main campus.
The show with a panel of national sportswriters addressing issues of the week has been taped in New York City at the ESPN Zone in Times Square since 1999. But, ESPN announced this week that its chain of restaurants would be closed by June 16.
So, colorful, spacious, but unprofitable locations in Baltimore, Chicago, Las Vegas, New York City and Washington, D.C., will be shuttered. Several of those restaurants served as on-location studios for ESPN radio or TV shows. Most prominent in that group was "The Sports Reporters" in New York City.
If the June 16 date remains firm for all locations, "The Sports Reporters" would be taped for the last time this Sunday in New York. In subsequent weeks, the show will originate from ESPN headquarters.
From 1988 to 1999, the show was taped at a different location in New York.
The change in location also might impact who serves as guests on the show, or shakeup how often guests appear on the show. After all, it's not as easy to get to Bristol as it is New York, and if the network already has somebody on site it will be interesting to see if they keep that person around for another assignment, such as "The Sports Reporters," or now.
Also, it's certainly easier for Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News, one of the critical, opinionated anchors of the show, to work in the Big Apple than travel to Connecticut each week. So it'll be interesting to see how the move impacts him and all the show's contributors.