ESPN Zone is a Southern California-based chain of two sports-themed restaurants that include arcades, TV studios, and radio studios that are currently franchised, but formally owned by the American cable network ESPN. The first ESPN Zone opened in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 11, 1998, in the Power Plant on the Inner Harbor. It transformed what was once a massive brick building that housed coal-fired generators for the city trolley system into a dining and entertainment complex. It proved to be a cornerstone in the development of Baltimore's Inner Harbor before its sudden closure in June 2010.
As of June 16, 2010, there are two ESPN Zones, both located in Southern California. Besides the L. A. Live location, the other ESPN Zone is located in nearby Anaheim in Downtown Disney at the Disneyland Resort As part of the decision by The Walt Disney Company through their Disney Regional Entertainment division to no longer operate the restaurants in 2010, they sold the rights to operate the location in Anaheim to Zone Enterprises of Anaheim, and the Los Angeles location to Anschutz Entertainment Group, the company that owns the L.A. Live and Staples Center locations.
There is also a restaurant called ESPN Club at Disney's BoardWalk Inn and an ESPN Grill at ESPN Wide World of Sports, both located within the Walt Disney World complex in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. However, they are not related to ESPN Zone restaurants.
Read more about ESPN Zone: Use As Broadcast Facility, Events, Closures
Famous quotes containing the word zone:
“In the zone of perdition where my youth went as if to complete its education, one would have said that the portents of an imminent collapse of the whole edifice of civilization had made an appointment.”
—Guy Debord (b. 1931)