Game Over: ESPN Zone Shutting Down?

Way over on the West Coast the Los Angeles Times is reporting that Times Square's ESPN Zone (which they refer to as an "upscale eatery") is calling it quits. Allegedly Disney is shutting it down, along with most other ESPN Zones around the country. No word on when the place will go dark, but we're surely they'll stay open ~~through the World Cup~~ until next week.

An ESPN spokesman told the paper, "Since their inception, the Zones have served sports fans very well. But from a pure business perspective, the economics have been challenging." And 1010Wins explains that "the closures occurred amid a wide-ranging review of Disney businesses."

Could be the de-Disneyfication of Times Square?

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By Jen Carlson in Food on June 9, 2010 4:41 PM

Comments [rss]

boogpowell

is this the end to the ultimate couch potato competition? http://www.espnzone.com/ultimatecouchpotato/

Kitty Graves

last day of biz is Tuesday.

Powerhugs

That place is so 1990's. Sounds like a new Apple Megastore is coming there.

ddhboy

So now we're going to have an empty giant storefront that no one is going to rent out. Fantastic, just what Times Square needed.

Phil

Upscale eatery? Soon you'll be telling me Gray's Papaya won a James Beard award.

HBHB

I used to walk by this place every day and I thought it was closed for years. I never saw a single soul walking in or out it's doors.

JMH

A friend who works there told me it's closing next week.

OTC

They're saying all of them will be closed by June 16th

gattopardo

I'm not surprised they couldn't make it work. I'm sure their rent was crazy.

MT

Probably not. They were up and running when the Conde Nast building first opened. I'm sure they got a pretty sweet deal for being a pioneer in Times Square back in the day.

WesleySnipesAlot

A pillar of Times Square has fallen... Shall the pediment hold? Fear not! for the foundation is still strong, supported by the presence of the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Twilight-themed "airbrush your name in pretty colors" card salespeople, and the angry black Israeli pharaoh guys.

Noreaster76

Those black pharaoh guys creep me the eff out. And they're not Israeli, btw. They're some sort of militant, anti-white, anti-Semitic group. I'd love to talk back to them one of these days (I don't think it's particularly cool to shout and preach at passersby, especially with a bullhorn), but my especially keen common sense tells me they wouldn't exactly react very positively.

rasputinsghost

The Black Israelites are a misinformed racist black nationalist group whose fun claims include that none of the Jews who died in the Holocaust were true Jews. They're reprehensible shitbags.