Good morning! ESPN’s downtown Los Angeles era ends this week, and where it’s going says as much as what it’s leaving. Elsewhere, Zach Neto had the kind of night that ties franchise records, the Raiders scored twice in the final minute to stun Houston, and the Aces got right at home. Let’s get into it.
🚨 HEADLINES
📺 End of a downtown era. ESPN is closing its L.A. Live studio and consolidating West Coast production at Hollywood Park — The Sporting Tribune in Los Angeles.
⚾ Seven RBIs. Zach Neto had five hits and tied a franchise mark in an 18-3 Angels rout of the Astros — Jack Haslett at Daikin Park.
🏈 Late heroes. The Raiders scored in the last minute and picked off Houston to win 22-20 — Derek Hegna at Reliant Stadium.
🏀 Back on track. Jackie Young, the defense and the bench carried the Aces past Connecticut, 101-78 — Arion Armeniakos at Michelob ULTRA Arena.
🏀 Nightmare at Crypto. Atlanta blew out the Sparks, 124-88 — Rey Moralde at Crypto.com Arena.
🏈 Work to do. Jim Harbaugh after the Chargers’ preseason loss to San Francisco: “A lot of things to work on” — Fernando Ramirez at SoFi Stadium.
🤼 Hawaii, twice. WWE expanded its long-awaited islands return to two nights after strong ticket demand — The Sporting Tribune in Honolulu.
See what else is trending at The Sporting Tribune.
📋 SCOREBOARD — THURSDAY
⚾ MLB: Angels 18, Astros 3
🏈 NFL Preseason: Raiders 22, Texans 20 · 49ers 41, Chargers 17
🏀 WNBA: Aces 101, Sun 78 · Dream 124, Sparks 88
📺 SEVENTEEN YEARS, AND TEN MILES SOUTHWEST
ESPN’s Los Angeles Production Center opened in April 2009 as an original tenant of L.A. Live — 129,000 square feet, two studios, a real West Coast counterweight to Bristol. Its signature was the late-night SportsCenter with Stan Verrett and Neil Everett, later Linda Cohn, broadcasting from the middle of downtown a block from the Lakers and Kings. That show went back to Bristol last year. Everett left in 2023; Verrett and Cohn have since departed too. This week the building goes dark.
Roughly 160 employees worked out of L.A. Live. Studio staff are relocating to the NFL Network facility at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, others to a Disney facility in Glendale, with no layoffs planned as a direct result. NBA Today and WNBA Countdown will now originate alongside NFL Network and NFL RedZone under one roof — the practical consequence of ESPN acquiring NFL Network and other league media assets earlier this year, a deal that also gave the NFL a 10 percent equity stake in ESPN.
The destination is the point. The Inglewood facility sits across the street from SoFi Stadium, which hosts Super Bowl LXI on Feb. 14, 2027 — the first Super Bowl ESPN and ABC will televise. The network has already branded this its “Year of the Super Bowl” and used Hollywood Park for World Cup studio shows in both English and Spanish this summer. ESPN LA 710 stays downtown at the Good Karma Brands offices. Everything else moves ten miles southwest, to the building that will anchor the biggest events on the network’s calendar for years.
GO DEEPER
› ESPN closes L.A. Live studio, consolidates West Coast production at NFL Network facility in Inglewood (The Sporting Tribune)
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⚾ NETO’S NIGHT
Five hits. Seven RBIs. A triple short of the cycle. Batting cleanup in Houston, Zach Neto tied Freddie Patek for the most RBIs in a game by an Angels shortstop and led an 18-3 demolition of a division rival in an AL West race — the most runs the Angels have scored since their franchise-record 25 against Colorado in 2023, and the most they have ever put on the Astros.
The six-run fourth was built on small ball: a Tyler Heineman sacrifice bunt, walks to Wade Meckler and Mike Trout, hits from Neto, Moisés Ballesteros, Vaughn Grissom, Josh Lowe and Adam Frazier. The fifth was worse for Houston — and it turned on a scary moment, Meckler taking a Bryan King pitch off the helmet and walking off under his own power before Nolan Schanuel beat out a double play to keep the inning alive for Neto’s three-run shot. “If it wasn’t for him getting on and Nolan beating a double play, the inning would have not kept going,” Neto said. “It’s just the small things that matter.” Denzer Guzman added a two-run homer in the ninth off Astros outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr., who had been sent to the mound. For a lineup that has spent the season near the bottom of baseball, it was proof there’s still something there. “We look at it as like if we’re not in it, then we got to beat people so they can’t be in it,” Neto said. “And who other than the Astros?”
GO DEEPER
› Jack Haslett: Zach Neto ties franchise record in Angels blowout of Astros (The Sporting Tribune)
🏈 THE RAIDERS FOUND SOMETHING IN HOUSTON
Down 17-0 after one quarter, this looked like the Arizona game again. Fernando Mendoza got his welcome-to-the-NFL moment in his first start — an interception returned for a touchdown by Wade Woodaz, who stiff-armed him along the way — and finished 8-for-15 for 86 yards. “There’s a lot more learning to do,” Mendoza said. “One tiny mistake can lead to catastrophe.”
Then the parts nobody was watching took over. The secondary that got shredded by the Cardinals didn’t allow a passing touchdown, with rookies Treydan Stukes, Hezekiah Masses and Jermod McCoy all showing up. Patrick Johnson and undrafted rookie Jahfari Harvey each had strip sacks. Aidan O’Connell went 15-for-24 for 166 yards, found Brandon Johnson for 33 yards to the goal line in the final minute and ran it in himself for the lead. Rookie safety Devin Lafayette sealed it with an interception. Raiders 22, Texans 20. “Plenty to clean up, plenty to get better at,” Klint Kubiak said. “But what great heart that we showed in the second half.”
GO DEEPER
› Derek Hegna: Raiders stun Texans thanks to unlikely group of heroes (The Sporting Tribune)
🏀 TWO ARENAS, TWO VERY DIFFERENT NIGHTS
Las Vegas snapped a two-game slide with a 101-78 win over Connecticut, and the fix was the thing that had been broken — defense, plus a bench that finally produced, with Jackie Young leading the way again. It’s the third time in two weeks Young has been the difference in a game the Aces needed.
In Los Angeles, the Sparks got run out of their own building. Atlanta won 124-88 at Crypto.com Arena, a sixth straight loss and the kind of scoreline that lands differently in a season that just became Nneka Ogwumike’s last. Also in Las Vegas: multiple Aces were officially named to FIBA World Cup rosters, a nice piece of news in an otherwise uneven week.
GO DEEPER
› Arion Armeniakos: Jackie Young, defense, bench the keys as Aces get back to winning ways (The Sporting Tribune)
› Rey Moralde: Sparks run into a nightmare as Dream blow them out at home (The Sporting Tribune)
› Derek Hegna: Pleasant surprise for Aces officially selected to play in FIBA World Cup (The Sporting Tribune)
📺 WATCHLIST — FRIDAY, AUGUST 21
⚾ MLB: Angels at Rangers — Globe Life Field — 5:10 p.m. — ABTV
⚾ MLB: Twins at Padres — Petco Park — 6:40 p.m. — Padres TV
⚽ NWSL: Utah Royals at San Diego Wave — Snapdragon Stadium — 7:00 p.m. — Prime Video
⚾ MLB: Pirates at Dodgers — Dodger Stadium — 7:10 p.m. — SNLA
Coming up: San Diego opens a six-game homestand against a Minnesota club in its own Wild Card fight, and the Dodgers return home after a week on the road.
🎟️ GOING TO A GAME?
Get-in prices across Southern California, Las Vegas and Hawaii — brought to you by TickPick, the no-hidden-fee ticket marketplace.
⚾ Twins at Padres — Petco Park — $34
⚾ Pirates at Dodgers — Dodger Stadium — $38
⚽ Utah Royals at San Diego Wave — Snapdragon Stadium — $15
🌴 TWO-MARKET TRIVIA
ESPN’s L.A. Live studio opened in 2009 and became known for the West Coast edition of SportsCenter. Which two anchors debuted the show from Los Angeles?
Answer at the bottom.
🎧 THE SPORTING TRIBUNE TODAY
Today’s episode looks at what ESPN’s move from downtown to Inglewood means for Los Angeles sports media heading into a Super Bowl year, Zach Neto’s seven-RBI night in Houston, and a Raiders comeback that came from all the wrong names. Hear it on the radio across Southern California, Las Vegas and Hawaii via Westwood One Sports, The Bet Las Vegas, Hawaii Sports Radio Network and KIRN in Los Angeles.
› Listen to the latest episode
Trivia answer: Stan Verrett and Neil Everett, who debuted the Los Angeles edition of SportsCenter in April 2009.
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