ESPN Adding Lab At Disney To Test Graphics Packages

ESPN's studios and on-site setups are obviously always in use year-round, so the "WWL" has decided to create a testing lab at their headquarters at Disney's Wide World of Sports. The "ESPN Innovation Lab" won't be a tourist attraction, but rather a full-time research facility. Via the Orlando Sentinel....

Dubbed the "ESPN Innovation Lab," the facility will allow the cable-sports giant to test new applications such as virtual graphics during events staged at Disney's sports venues. Think concepts such as the "EA Virtual Playbook" that ESPN has used as part of its pro football and basketball coverage or the strike-zone graphics used during baseball games.

The lab, which will be housed in a renovated building at Wide World of Sports, won't be a typical tourist attraction. ESPN intends it to be a working research facility, though it'll likely include big bay windows that allow people to look in and see the company's emerging-technology staff at work.

ESPN has already moved five employees to Orlando from its Bristol, Conn., headquarters to work at the lab, and more could follow. The Innovation Lab is expected to formally open this fall.

Seems like a good idea, given all of the new technology that keeps popping up on the network. Heck, maybe they could use the place for focus groups as well. You know, to test out the reaction to nonsense like "Who's Now" or "Mount Rushmore".

ESPN to open new research facility at Disney's Wide World of Sports (Orlando Sentinel)