A decade ago, early in the evolution of sports fan consumption habits, ESPN opened Digital Center 2 (DC2) – a one-of-a-kind production, distribution, and technology facility at the heart of its Bristol, Connecticut, campus.
(Allen Kee/ESPN Images)
The inventiveness and investment put into the 194,000-square-foot facility illustrate that Disney and ESPN understood a changing media future. The cutting-edge, highly flexible DC2 was way more than a building with studios: It was an IP-based content engine, designed and built to enable ESPN storytellers to create content and produce events of every kind, unlock new and innovative ways to do that, and then deliver it all to any screen and platform (current and future) that fans use.
Ten years later, DC2 remains one of the most advanced production and distribution facilities in the world. It lives up to the original vision of a facility whose flexibility and scalability would ensure nimble and efficient progression at the pace of technological change and make it as close to “future-proof” as possible.
In the video above, SportCenter anchor Shae Peppler Cornette and employees from ESPN and Disney – some of whom have been part of the journey from launch through present-day – take a look at DC2.
Jon Shoer and Paul Melvin produced the video above
Kristie Adler produced the content, Rich Arden the illustration for the infographic below
INSIDE DC2, HOME TO SPORTSCENTER, BY THE NUMBERS
