By Design: LAPC graphics

Sunshine, palm trees and beautiful tanned people — our LA crew must have all the fun.

But it’s a serious operation, our West Coast production facility. Located in LA Live next to the Staples Center, its studios generate the SportsCenter 1 a.m. ET show for “the wheel” (which means it is the show that gets rebroadcast).

It’s also where the new NACION show emanates from (the Spanish language equivalent of SportsNation).

The bureau cams in this facility support many other shows, including Around the Horn, Audibles, and The Next Round with Jim Beam.

They are also the primary point of broadcast for The Longhorn Network and our Caribbean network.

It’s a busy place.

Perhaps even more critically however, it serves as the backup for the entire Bristol broadcast center should anything ever happen to it…like a hurricane or an earthquake. (Let’s not mention any names, but she was an unwelcome East Coast guest and rhymes with “styrene.”)

“Our LA production center needs to be able to assume transmission for all our networks within seconds of a cataclysmic event,” said Judi Cordray, who is the one in charge of the entire operation.

No pressure, Judi.

When this facility opened in 2009, it drew a large portion of its personnel from the Bristol, Conn. headquarters.

To make them feel at home, we designed several murals that spoke of the home soil. This mural features some of the best-loved archival images of the campus and the original SportsCenter.

In this new setting, these familiar pictures take on a whole new meaning and inspire some pride in how we’ve grown.

Another oldie but goodie is the This is SportsCenter mural, which shows frames from each of the award-winning promos from over the years.

It’s a crowd-pleaser that still prompts viewers to quote their favorite lines.

In the dramatic stairwells of the building (which is a modern wonder in itself), we feature giant blow-ups of the SportsCenter graphics package, called Goliath, which is instantly recognizable for its association with our flagship program. It’s almost like you walk inside the SportsCenter opening sequence. 

The lobby is a cool area, with sandstone and slate.

Here we feature out brands behind the security desk, and invite visitors to test their sports knowledge on the What Color Do You Bleed? interactive sculpture. Clues written on the moving colored panels correspond to popular teams from all sports.

We have a several more exciting opportunities to do graphics for our West Coast crew.

Now, where are my sunglasses?